Posted on 10/19/2002 6:37:58 PM PDT by 1stFreedom
NEW YORK, NY. (c) 2002 ----/
IPOL TO USE HIGH TECH TO DETECT AND PREVENT VOTER FRAUD
(October 19th, 2002) The recent discovery of fraudulent requests for absentee ballots in South Dakota has prompted IPOL (Institute to Protect Our Liberty) to use a high tech system to detect voter fraud.
In South Dakota, several hundred requests from Democrats for absentee ballots were mailed in to the registrar in a single envelope. Included in these requests was one from a woman who died in early September yet whose ballot request had a date much later in the month.
The group was formed in 2001 in response to widespread voter fraud among college students during the 2000 Presidential election. Although the system in its infancy, the group says that recent breakthroughs will allow a subset of the system to be used in this election.
For years Republicans have alleged that Democrat activists often "vote early, and vote often." Republicans are suspicious of efforts to attract out of State activists to States where same day voting registration is allowed.
“In some States, one can register and vote on Election Day if another registered voter vouches for them. No other proof is required. In other States, the students will show up for people who aren’t even alive anymore but still on the registration rolls. Obviously, these students are not coming to get out the vote, they are coming to get in the booth.” said the group’s leader, James Thompson.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of college students allegedly voted twice in the Presidential election of 2000. After the elections, it was reported that many students from the University of Wisconsin campuses publicly bragged about voting multiple times.
To combat this growing problem, IPOL going to utilizes hidden cameras near polling places. These cameras are connected to a network of high speed laptops running the group’s facial recognition software. The resulting data is forwarded to a cluster of high speed computers which are used to detect multiple voting attempts at different locations within the same State.
This isn’t the first time a facial recognition system was used in public. Similar technology was used in Florida at the Super Bowl. The system in Florida compared faces to a database of wanted persons. The IPOL system doesn’t use an existing database of faces and uses a less advanced technology to perform the recognition.
The cameras will be positioned well outside of restricted zones surrounding the polling places but angled to reach right into these zones. IPOL declined to disclose exactly how they will handle any incidents.
“Our tactics will differ from State to State. In some States we’ll perform citizen’s arrests and turn the perpetrators over to local authorities. In others, different tactics will be used” said Thompson. “These students have to realize that they are old enough to do some jail time if they are caught. Being a student is no excuse.”
The group further declined to specify the locations it will utilize the system in. Thompson did, however, indicate that they would be used in some key States. Thompson said “I can tell you that we are going to use it in New Jersey, Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota, Florida, and possibly Wisconsin.”
Thompson says that any legal challenges won’t hold up. “First of all, we are a private organization. We are not associated with any government entity or political party. We can legally and constitutionally record people coming into a public place. Nobody will know we are there, so nobody should feel the least bit intimidated. We aren’t out to prevent or intimidate anybody from voting legally. Our sole purpose is to prevent voter fraud.”
Thompson said that the system has no stored information and cannot provide the identity of voters. It only stores facial features and constantly compares new face patterns to patterns it has stored earlier in the day. If a face is recognized twice, a high resolution image of the person is recorded, along with over 30 seconds of video, to provide legal evidence of fraud.
The most surprising aspect of this group is that over half of the $1.6 million dollar budget the group has to work with comes from a handful of wealthy Democrats. They are intent on proving that the Republican accusations of voter fraud are baseless.
But, actually, for now I would be satisfied if people just had to show a driver's license (or government ID) to be allowed to vote. Liberals think that showing ID is the equivilent of a $1000 poll tax.
Too f***n cheap to spend for separate envelope postage!
Good! Here in NJ, I would like to see this IPOL, and cameras, and fingerprinting, and handwriting analysis, and photo ID's, and a Bible on hand to swear on.
Yes, I completely agree. I'd be even happier if the people who cancelled out my vote were put in the same jail cell with a 300-pound pervert for a couple of years. Stealing votes should be treated at least as seriously as shop lifting.
That wouldn't hurt.
Don't trust it already. Any more ideas?
Or just too dumb. Either way, it worked against them in this case.
DITTO !!!!
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