VOTER FRAUD ARREST TO BE MADE - SD

Mobridge SD Tribune ^ | 11/12/02 | LANA JOHNSON

[Elkiejg]

Becky Red Earth-Villeda, also known as Maka Duta, the Flandreau woman hired by the South Dakota Democratic Party to recruit voters, will be arrested for alleged forgery of absentee ballot applications.

According to Attorney General Mark Barnett, Red Earth-Villeda is suspected of forging the signatures on 500 to 1,000 absentee ballot applications in 25 counties statewide, including Dewey County. She will face the multiple charges in Minnehaha County.

"Maka Duta will be arrested in the ordinary course of events," said Barnett. "No evidence has been obtained that shows she has cast or made an attempt to cast actual ballots."

Red Earth-Villeda was interviewed by investigators extensively on Wednesday, Oct. 30.

Hired as an independent contractor, Red Earth-Villeda was fired by the Democratic Party after it was discovered in early October that two of the people she "registered" were invalid. One such "registration" was discovered by Ziebach County Auditor Cindy Longbrake.

Longbrake received a ballot application for Denise Red Horse. The main problem with the application is that it was dated Sept. 21, 18 days after Red Horse had died in an automobile accident. An application for Red Horse was also received in Dewey County.

Dewey County Auditor Adelle Enright said another application for a deceased woman, Marjorie Clown, was also received by her office.

Currently, there are 30 South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation agents working on the case.

[#3Fan]

I believe that the forged ballot applications were detected before the election, so this bunch of ballots, on which the charges were based, were not cast. However, 30 investigators looks to be a bit more than is necessary to arrest one woman. My guess is that the DOJ is still investigating.

Not only that, but the timing of this arrest looks to me like investigators are encouraging Thune to ask for a recount. If the investigators thought this was no big deal, they would've waited until the deadline had passed before making an arrest it seems to me.

[cajun-jack]

and she will do her very best to get re-elected the same way on dec 7th.

[RushLake]

That's because she was actually in the Great Beyond at the time she voted. Well, all right, maybe it was her spirit that voted.

I am more confused than usual. Are the evil white mans going to invade the happy hunting ground to arrest Becky Red Earthhyphenwhatsherface? I need to apologize. I've been apologizing to africanhyphenamerican victims all my life for being white. I guess its ok to apologize to the nativehyphenamericans now too.

[Skooz]

Sen. Mary Landreu made it to office via vote fraud.

Well, yeah, but that's Louisiana.

[TN4Liberty]

Someone can tell me if I am wrong, but I don't think this can help Thune in any way. If 10,000 fraudulent voters are found, we can prosecute them, but we cannot "withdraw" the votes because we don't know who they voted for (secret ballot and all that). Similarly, if corrupt election officials allowed illegal voters to vote, we can go after them, but we can't change the vote totals.

I hope they find the illegal voters and the people who let them vote (or voted for them) and put them in jail. Any simple fines would be paid by the DNC, but a legitimate threat of jail time would curb this kind of thing. But I don't see how the election could be challenged at this point due to voter fraud.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

the application was dated Sept. 21, 18 days after Red Horse had died

Red Horse slow. Take many day, application arrive.

[RobFromGa]

I agree totally with you on South Dakota-- we are only going to ask for a Recount when we know Thune will win.

Throwing some DemocRATS members of McAuliff's "Get-Out-The-Dead" Task Force-- South Dakota Chapter in jail sounds pretty good to me. Hope that they are doing a VERY THOROUGH investigation.

[Movemout]

Most of this fraud is based on paper. Recall that absentee voting has jumped from 5% of the total vote in SD to about 30% of the total vote in SD over the years. Fraudulent votes may be erased from the legitimate total, never mind for whom the vote was cast. A recount merely checks the math and ensures no votes were uncounted. That may not help Thune. Identification of fraudulent votes will help Thune immensely. This may end up in a federal court.

[nicmarlo]

I don't buy for a minute the comment "no actual ballots cast" - why did she go to all that trouble if no ballots were cast??? WHERE IS THE RNC IN SUPPORT OF A RECOUNT FOR THUNE??

I don't buy it either; and I've written already to the RNC, telling them to support a recount due to already known fraud and due to the likely possibility of additional fraud. They haven't responded to my e-mail last week.

[RobFromGa]

I think that the penalties for Vote Fraud should very long for the individuals involved, AND that the Party, IF LINKED TO THE FRAUD, should have to sit out the Post-Season for the next two years, and also forced to change leadership.

[KSCITYBOY]

I think your absolutely right. No reason to be gorish.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

As someone said here on FR a couple of weeks ago: "If voting worked, it would be outlawed."

[ampat]

Thune asking for a recount won't necessarily change the numbers. What is needed is a match of cast ballots to living bodies in those two or three areas. By the way, why is the fraud just showing up on indian reservations?

[bert]

bump

[SteveH]

What is Johnson's pronouncement on all these suspicious voting patterns? Have the media taking the adversarial position and in asking him appropriate questions? Or is he getting and taking a free pass?

On a larger scale, is there an institutional bias in the media in favor of more registration over accurate (non-fraudulent) registration? (Hmm, guess the answer to this one is obvious...)

[EternalVigilance]

I think that the penalties for Vote Fraud should very long for the individuals involved, AND that the Party, IF LINKED TO THE FRAUD, should have to sit out the Post-Season for the next two years, and also forced to change leadership.

You're right. Actions such as these make the Democratic Party a criminal enterprise...hardly fit to lead anything but a chain gang...but of course they would find a way to corrupt that too.

[RGSpincich]

why did she go to all that trouble if no ballots were cast???

Because the DNC pays a bounty for each application completed.

[Congressman Billybob]

I have run the subject of vote fraud in South Dakota through GoogleNews. There is an interesting split. The in-state papers all say, as does this article, that the fraud did not affect the election. The out-of-state papers all say the opposite.

Denial, in short, is the defense mode within the state. But if South Dakota officials are not willing or able to get to the bottom of this and produce honest and reliable results from their election, the US Senate can do the job for them. The Senate has the power to refuse Johnson and seat Thune because of corruption in the S.D. election, regardless of whether S.D. ignores the corruption and claims that Johnson was the winner.

Congressman Billybob

"to Restore Trust in America"

[SuziQ]

And if a recount occurs, it is my hope that massive election fraud perpetrated by the dems is uncovered.

I believe that there was to be an automatic recount since the vote totals were so close.

[backhoe]

Appreciate your comments and link... this?

The Senate has the power to refuse Johnson and seat Thune because of corruption in the S.D. election, regardless of whether S.D. ignores the corruption and claims that Johnson was the winner.

Jarred loose some half-forgotten lessons from school long ago. Let's hope they will do the right thing.