Free Republic

HARRISBURG -- Grand jurors here and in Pittsburgh cataloged what they described as a culture of corruption that allowed former state Rep. Michael Veon, current Rep. Sean Ramaley and 10 current and former Democratic staffers to divert millions of dollars in state resources, including more than $1 million in illegal pay bonuses. The jurors said Mr. Veon and the staff members conspired to arrange hefty year-end pay bonuses to House employees who worked on political campaigns over a three-year period, while Mr. Ramaley is accused of working full-time on his 2004 House campaign in Beaver County while drawing a taxpayer...

Jane Drury voted last year in an election in Stonington, Conn. The only problem is, she died eight years ago. Her daughter Jane Gumpel thought someone must have goofed. “I was surprised because this is not possible,” she said. But it did happen. The town clerk’s record clearly shows Drury’s vote, marked by a horizontal line poll workers put next to her name. And it turns out, Drury isn’t the only voter to apparently cast a ballot from the grave. [snip] 8,558 deceased people who were still registered on Connecticut’s voter rolls. They discovered more than 300 of them appeared...

President Robert Mugabe devoted his first major speech since the unresolved election three weeks ago to denouncing whites and former colonial ruler Britain, an attempt to convince Zimbabweans their political and economic troubles stem from abroad. The scene at the official 28th Independence Day celebration Friday had all the pomp of old, with air force jets sweeping overhead and Mugabe, bedecked in sash and medals, striding past soldiers at attention. But any private observances by ordinary Zimbabweans were likely muted _ prices for food, gasoline and drinks have more than doubled just in the past week amid an economic meltdown...

We know most of our readers need no further proof that inter -nationalist organizations such as the Commonwealth, the United Nations and the African Union (AU) are nothing more than toothless debating societies. But those few who need more convincing need look no further than Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe is stealing last month's elections in plain sight, and not one of the major talk-shops is lifting a finger to stop him. Sunday will mark three weeks since Zimbabweans voted for a parliament and president, and still the official results have not been released. The country's national election commission, appointed by Mr....

MEXICO CITY (AP) - This year, for the first time, expatriate Democrats can cast their ballots on the Internet in a presidential primary for people living outside the United States. Democrats Abroad, an official branch of the party representing overseas voters, will hold its first global presidential preference primary from Feb. 5 to 12, with ex-pats selecting the candidate of their choice by Internet as well as fax, mail and in-person at polling places in more than 100 countries. Democrats Abroad is particularly proud of the online voting option - which provides a new alternative to the usual process of...

RIVERDALE, Ga. — Two unsuccessful city council candidates in Riverdale say a fellow candidate committed fraud when she ran as a woman. Georgia Fuller and Stanley Harris — who lost bids for council seats — filed petitions in Clayton County Superior Court last week asking the judge to stop the upcoming runoff election. The lawsuit alleges that incumbent Michelle Bruce — who identifies herself as transgendered and goes by Michelle Mickey Bruce — misled voters by identifying herself as a female during the Nov. 6 election. The suit, which identifies her as "Michael Bruce," asks a judge to rule the...

Should voters have to show a valid photo ID in order to vote? Yes No

Anti-Photo ID Legislation Would Promote Election Fraud, Says Group For Release: November 5, 2007 Contact: David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 x11 or dalmasi@nationalcenter.org Washington, D.C. - Legislation introduced by Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) to prohibit photo ID requirements for voting in federal elections would promote election fraud, say members of the black leadership network Project 21. "Representative Ellison's proposal is fundamentally flawed and potentially harmful to the integrity of our democratic process," said Project 21 chairman Mychal Massie. "Why invite that which can only lead to unimaginable fraud and corruption?" Imposing existing Minnesota election law on a national scale, the...

Republican Dino Rossi, who lost the country's closest race for governor in 2004, said Thursday he'll seek a rematch with Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire next year. Rossi announced his closely watched decision in separate interviews with KOMO News and The Associated Press and planned campaign kickoff events in Issaquah, the heart of his old legislative district, and in Spokane. "It's time for fresh air in Olympia," he said. "I'm ready. I'm very excited about the prospect of changing this state." Rossi, the former state Senate budget chairman and a real estate investor, said he's running as an agent for change...

The Registrar of Voters, the Piñata Supremo of RivCo government, is mailing absentee ballots laced with instructions that are confusing and maybe even contradictory! "It's something we didn't pick up on the design of the ballot," said Registrar Barbara Dunmore. (Translation: Oops! They did it again!) Exhibit A: An 8 x 11 sheet of paper with two headings: 1. Absentee Voting Instructions. 2. How To Mark Your New Paper Ballot. The Absentee Voting Instructions: "Use a black ball point pen. DO NOT use a RED pen or felt tipped pen. (Yes, "ballpoint" is one word and felt tipped needs...

July 23, 2007 Senate Republicans are looking to subpoena records held by Gov. Spitzer and his 82-year-old mega-millionaire father, Bernard, dealing with a controversial $5M loan that helped Spitzer get elected AG in 1998.....a recent profile of Spitzer in New York magazine suggested the governor broke state election law in obtaining a loan to bankroll his first winning campaign.......that may have been a willful effort by Spitzer and his father to circumvent campaign-contribution limits and then conceal their actions . . . "I didn't realize how necessary it was to be transparent about every personal financial transaction," Spitzer was quoted...

One of the more clever country song titles I ever heard was If the Phone Don’t Ring, You’ll Know It’s Me.That’s something like the predicament of searchers after the menace of voter fraud, who can’t seem to find much of it. The New York Times today reports that “scant evidence� exists of a significant problem.Voter fraud is the idea that individuals might vote multiple times, in multiple jurisdictions, or despite not being qualified. This is distinct from election fraud, which is corruption of broader voting or vote-counting processes. While voter fraud (and/or voter error) certainly happens, it is apparently on...

The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will rule on whether or not photo identification can be required to vote. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey conducted during Election 2006 found that 77% of likely voters across the country believe that displaying a photo ID should be required to cast a vote. A Georgia survey conducted last week found that 84% of the state’s voters agree. The Supreme Court will rule on an Indiana case and consider a state law that was upheld by the Appeals Court. The 2005 law has been challenged by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court said on Tuesday it would decide whether voters can be required to show photo identification, a move that can limit participation of the elderly and poor in elections. The justices, acting ahead of next year's national elections, said they would review Indiana's voting law, which is considered one of the most restrictive in the country. It requires voters to present photo ID like a driver's license or passport. The 2005 law has been challenged by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Indiana Democratic Party, who charge it unfairly limits the right...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide whether voter identification laws unfairly deter the poor and minorities from voting, stepping into a contentious partisan issue in advance of the 2008 elections. The justices will hear arguments early next year in a challenge to an Indiana law that requires voters to present photo ID before casting their ballots. The state has defended the law as a way to combat voter fraud. The state Democratic party and civil rights groups complained that the law unfairly targets poor and minority voters, without any evidence that in-person voter fraud exists in Indiana....

The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide whether voter identification laws unfairly deter the poor and minorities from voting, stepping into a contentious partisan issue in advance of the 2008 elections. The justices will hear arguments early next year in a challenge to an Indiana law that requires voters to present photo ID before casting their ballots. The state has defended the law as a way to combat voter fraud. The state Democratic party and civil rights groups complained that the law unfairly targets poor and minority voters, without any evidence that in-person voter fraud exists in Indiana. The party...

The state of New Mexico has issued an estimated 30,000 driver's licenses to foreign nationals, requiring them to present only one form of identification such as a card issued by the Mexican consulate. And the Richardson administration has fought tooth and nail to keep from providing a list of those licenses to state Republican Party officials who want to cross-check them against the rolls of registered voters. The GOP argument is that the licenses, which aren't distinguishable from those issued to citizens, can be used as identification to register to vote— which non-citizens are not allowed to do. So far,...

Officials involved in a joint federal-state probe say that some of the dozens of people under investigation in a months-long Bexar County voter fraud case may be charged with both state and federal crimes. Federal investigators are to meet this week with local prosecutors to coordinate the cases being developed and determine who'll face state felony charges for voting illegally and who will be deported for violating federal immigration law. No arrests have yet been made. Authorities said they are anticipating charging some of the undocumented people alleged to have voted in Bexar County with felony violation of state law...

NEW YORK — The mystery of where a dirty Democratic fundraiser got the money to lead a lavish lifestyle, fund political campaigns and post a $2 million bond to get out of jail appears to have a Woodstock connection, according to a report published in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reports that a company run by Norman Hsu, who donated nearly $2 million to Democratic candidates since 2004 — including presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton — recently received $40 million from a Madison Avenue investment fund run by Joel Rosenman, one of the creators of the fabled Woodstock rock...

After an extensive audit, the Internal Revenue Service has exonerated Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson of accusations from liberal watchdog groups that he violated his organization's non-profit status by endorsing GOP candidates -- including President Bush -- during the 2004 election. "No dings. No criticisms. Not a single allegation was found to have substance," Dobson said regarding charges made against him in 2005 by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Citizens Project, a Colorado group that states its purpose is "creating a community valuing diversity, equality and religious freedom." [ snip ] CREW's original complaint,...

A federal judge in Rome has thrown out a lawsuit challenging Georgia's photo voter ID law. In a ruling issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy declined to issue an injunction suspending the law and also dismissed the case. The plaintiffs failed to prove that the 2006 law's photo ID requirement unduly burdens the right to vote, Murphy ruled.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A top Democratic fundraiser wanted as a fugitive in California turned himself in Friday to face a grand theft charge. A judge in San Mateo County Superior Court ordered Norman Hsu handcuffed and held on $2 million bond. A bail hearing was scheduled for Sept. 5, at which the judge will consider reducing his bail to $1 million. Hsu appeared in court here Friday following reports that he had skipped his sentencing on a 1991 grand theft charge. In the ensuing years, he became a top donor to numerous Democratic candidates, including presidential contenders Hillary Rodham...

Ayad Allawi, the former interim prime minister of Iraq, hinted in a television interview last weekend at one of the war's least understood turning points: America's decision not to challenge Iranian intervention in Iraq's January 2005 elections. "Our adversaries in Iraq are heavily supported financially by other quarters. We are not," Allawi told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "We fought the elections with virtually no support whatsoever, except for Iraqis and the Iraqis who support us." Behind Allawi's comment lies a tale of intrigue and indecision by the United States over whether to mount a covert-action program to confront Iran's political meddling....

A federal court upholds Arizona's voter I.D. law. The Phoenix judge found that citizenship counts when determining who has the right to vote, and that Arizona's voter-approved law does not conflict with federal law. "They have no conflict of us requesting that people show citizenship when they register to vote nor any conflict when we ask for ID at the polls," Brewer said. Secretary of State Jan Brewer said more than 99 percent of voters had no problem complying with the new law in the 2006 election. Prop. 200's requirements were enacted by voters in 2004.

Video at link Investigators with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the Tunica County Sheriff's Department are trying to determine who is responsible for illegally mailing several fraudulent absentee ballots for elections held Tuesday, August 7, 2007. Officials say of the 301 absentee ballots about 30% are a fraudulent. The sheriff's department investigation revealed many of the ballots in question had the names of people who were deceased or no longer living in the county. Investigators with the MBI Crime Lab tested the questionable ballots for fingerprints and other DNA, at the Tunica County Justice Courthouse, in hopes of matching...

The statewide push to hang onto the Bay State's 10 congressional seats after the 2010 census will be tested in the efforts to count illegal immigrants, officials said yesterday. With federal money distributed based on a number of factors, including the population, it is especially important that all residents - regardless of their immigration status - are included in the census, they said. In many countries, a census often isn't done at all or doesn't carry the same weight as it does in the United States. According to Kathleen Ludgate, regional director for the United States Census Bureau's Boston office,...

  King County flubs 400 voter registration cards 06:49 AM PDT on Friday, August 24, 2007  By ROBERT MAK / KING 5 News   Luke Esser  BELLEVUE, Wash. – The King County Elections department made a mistake with the state Republican Party chair's voter registration card this year. Luke Esser was one of 400 poll voters who received voter notification cards that were incorrect. For many years, Esser voted at Cross of Christ Lutheran Church in Bellevue. But in July, he got a letter and a new registration card from King County Elections, notifying him that it had changed his precinct location...

('I forgot' doesn't get 'Tosa resident off hook) Sure, Michael Zore told police, he'd voted twice in last November's election, using the city hall polling stations of two different Milwaukee County suburbs in the space of six hours. The evidence against him included him signing up to vote using a false address in West Allis, after he'd already voted in Wauwatosa. But Zore, 44, told a jury Wednesday there was a good reason he shouldn't be convicted of felony counts of double voting and giving a poll worker false information: He forgot. "It is hard to believe, I don't discount...

A Californian who set up a vote-swapping Web site for supporters of Ralph Nader and Al Gore in 2000, before the state shut it down with a threat of prosecution, said Tuesday he may try again next year now that a federal appeals court has ruled that online vote-trading agreements are constitutionally protected. It all depends, Jim Cody said, on a candidacy by Nader or some other third-party hopeful that might siphon away enough votes from the Democratic nominee to tip the scales to a Republican in one or more states. His short-lived Vote Swap2000.com was meant to counteract that...

For most of post-Civil War history Democrats have controlled political outcomes by tampering with access to the ballot box and by perfecting and engaging in every conceivable kind of fraud, violence, and intimidation. They have registered and voted innumerable dead and non-existent persons. They have intimidated many thousands more through arson, violence, and the threat of violence. And they’ve sent night-riding bands of KKK marauders to lynch thousands of blacks and more than a thousand white Republicans. They’ve done all of these things, and much of it continues to this day. For example, in the 2000 General Election, more than...

California’s top election official on Friday decertified three voting systems widely used in the state but said she would let counties use the machines in February’s presidential primary if extra security precautions were taken. The official, Debra Bowen, the secretary of state, said she made the decision in response to studies showing that the machines could be hacked.

NAPOLEONVILLE -- Eighty-five people were eligible to vote in an Assumption Parish election held two weeks ago. Only one person did. And she shouldn’t have. On Friday, Tammy Gros of Pierre Part confirmed what documents in the parish Registrar of Voters Office show -- she cast the lone vote in the July 21 election and single handedly decided how $17,500 in taxpayers’ money should be spent on drainage over the next decade. The trouble is, she lives just south of the drainage district’s boundaries and wasn’t eligible to vote on the measure. Officials say they aren’t sure why she was...

ASHLAND Mississippi-- Four people, including a candidate for Benton County sheriff, were arrested Friday and charged with voter fraud - just five days before Tuesday's primary election. The arrest Friday of Democratic candidate Clint Moffett and the others by investigators for the attorney general's office brings the number to seven arrested in a probe of vote selling. Attorney General Jim Hood said the investigation began a month ago, but would not provide details. "Let this be a warning to those in other counties who would corrupt our voting process," Hood said. "We will come after you." David Massey, 40, of...

Expressing concern that several brands of electronic voting machines used in California were vulnerable to tampering, Secretary of State Debra Bowen late Friday ordered new security protections be added and limited the use of two types of machines that were to be used in next year's elections in several Southern California counties. Bowen also withdrew state approval of the InkaVote Plus machines used in Los Angeles County, saying that the machines' maker, Election Systems and Software, had failed to submit its equipment to her office in time to analyze its vulnerability to hacking. She said her office would examine the...

Diebold Election Systems Inc. voting machines are not secure enough to guarantee a trustworthy election, and an attacker with access to a single machine could disrupt or change the outcome of an election using viruses, according to a review of Diebold's source code. "The software contains serious design flaws that have led directly to specific vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit to affect election outcomes," read the University of California at Berkeley report, commissioned by the California Secretary of State as part of a two-month "top-to-bottom" review of electronic voting systems certified for use in California. The assessment of Diebold's source...

Is there something more than arrogance that would cause someone to commit a serious crime and not only expect to get away with it but to successfully insist upon it; something more pragmatically important? You’d be talking impunity if not immunity and if you listen to Peter Franklin Paul, that’s exactly how Hillary Rodham Clinton has conducted herself. Before you label him a partisan hack or someone with an axe to grind, consider the signs. Oh, and take a look at the videotape of Hillary committing “several felonies under Federal election law for which she will almost certainly never be...

Embattled San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew surrendered to Burlingame authorities Tuesday night after San Francisco's chief prosecutor filed criminal charges against him and issued a warrant for his arrest, saying the lawmaker lied about where he lives in order to run for office. Jew, who turned himself in with his bail bondsman at his side, posted $135,000 bail and was released. The arrest and felony charges bring to a head a City Hall scandal that has dogged the rookie supervisor ever since FBI agents last month raided his city office, his residences and his Chinatown flower shop. San Francisco District...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Marion County residents who were denied the right to vote Tuesday may never find out who directly caused their problems. County clerk Beth White said Thursday that she will not release the names of the inspectors who failed to show up, causing many precincts to open late or not at all, 6News' Norman Cox reported. White said she doesn't think anything can be gained by releasing the names. By her own estimate, about 150 who had signed up to be inspectors failed to show up, resulting in as many as 100 precincts opening as late as 4 p.m....

A second congresswoman said Thursday she is quitting the Congressional Hispanic Caucus over opposition to its male leadership. The announcement came from Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., whose sister, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., quit the caucus in January and accused the group's leader of calling her a "whore." The chairman, Rep. Joe Baca, also a Democrat from Southern California, has denied saying that. But other women also have complained about his leadership. When Baca was elected chairman in November, he was supported by only one of the six women in the caucus. Since January, the 21-member, all-Democratic group has been meeting...

There appears to be a coordinated effort on the part of Democrats and their media allies to prevent investigation of voter fraud by US attorneys. Reasons for the firing of 8 US Attorneys have varied. Some, like Carol Lam, were ousted for failure to pursue cases against illegal immigrants. Others, like John McKay and David Inglasias were fired for failure to pursue voter fraud. Voter fraud, unlike many other crimes, strikes at the very heart of our system of government. We do not need to be reminded of the closeness of recent elections for the very highest offices from President...

The Senate on Tuesday turned an annual election-code cleanup into a broad overhaul that would let felons on parole vote and close public access to ballots cast in questionable elections. The bill also would increase oversight of vote centers and institute a "Joe Lieberman clause" to keep primary losers from running in the general election under a different party. Lieberman, a Connecticut U.S. senator, lost the Democratic primary but was re-elected as an independent in the general election. After more than three hours of debate that spanned two days, the Senate initially approved on party lines the bill that sponsor...

CLEVELAND -- Two election workers were convicted Wednesday of rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election to avoid a more thorough review in Ohio's most populous county. Jacqueline Maiden, elections coordinator of the Cuyahoga County Elections Board, and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer each were convicted of a felony count of negligent misconduct of an elections employee. They also were convicted of one misdemeanor count each of failure of elections employees to perform their duty. Prosecutors accused Maiden and Dreamer of secretly reviewing preselected ballots before a public recount on Dec. 16, 2004. They worked behind closed doors for three...

(Cuyahoga County) – About 12,000 votes were illegally cast in last month’s election in Cuyahoga County. Problems stem from people getting in line for there voting cards without signing the registration book. Election leaders say more training is needed to help poll workers understand how to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen. They are surprised by the number – and note when we used punch cards – the number of votes with problems was about 100. However, that was after years of using the same system and we have only had two elections with this system so far....

"Ballot-bag problems may slow counting of 8th District votes" ?King County Elections staff said about 100 bags -- containing up to 20,000 absentee ballots that had been dropped off at polling sites on Election Day -- remain uncounted because of an array of problems caused by the bags' being overstuffed. ?Jim Buck, King County's interim elections director, acknowledged that the problems -- including broken zippers and unclosed bag seals -- could potentially have allowed ballots to be cast after voting ended. Not clear yet whether any of the ballots are actually ineligible, and it's unlikely there could be nearly...

Just heard on the radio that a heavily republican precinct in NM district 1 (Wilson / Madrid race) had only 150 printed ballots this morining. As of 7 AM, there were over 200 people in line to vote. This is a mostly GOP-favorable precinct. The poll workers were actucally turning people away, telling them they'll call them (yeah, right) when new ballots are available. Heather Wilson was interviewed and she said it is criminal to have so few ballots (150 for over 2000 registered voters) for this polling location (this problem wasn't reported for Dem-leaning locations, of course). Lawyers for...

Click the link below to verify that your vote has been registered if you voted early in Florida See early voters header in the box, find your county and click the link with the correct date. Click on the file and it will open up to a Notepad file listing the people who has voted early.If you know any moonbats in Florida who think their votes don't count, you know where to point them Link

Elections: If missing smart-cards and multiple ballot-casting buttons aren't enough trouble from electronic voting machines, the one complication we don't need is a foreign predator at the controls. Think it can't happen? Well, it already has, with Smartmatic, an electronic voting firm that owes its presence in U.S. markets to Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez's abundant cash. Until 2004, Smartmatic was a little-known startup in Boca Raton, Fla., run by two 30-year-old Venezuelan engineers who claimed their only motivation was to prevent another 2000 Florida hanging-chad controversy. They were worth at most $2 million and operated out of one of their...

The Tarrant County, Texas, Democratic Party has filed suit against the Texas secretary of state, claiming electronic voting machines violate federal law. The party and four local voters filed the federal lawsuit Monday claiming the lack of a paper trail that voters can use to check their votes violates the Texas Election Code, the Help America Vote Act, and the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported. Art Brender, chairman of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, said the suit would not yield results before next week`s midterm election but was designed to get...

Video the Vote claims to be non-partisan effort to call attention to voter irregularities. It cites 2000 and 2004 as elections fraught with voter intimidation, suppression, disenfranchisement, machine malfunctions, etc. It encourages volunteers to videotape and post their findings on YouTube for all to see. I noted that it fails to mention voter irregularities such as non-citizens voting, people voting more than once, slashing tires on Republican buses, etc. I wonder just how "non-partisan" this organization really is. You can view its video on youtube.com and decide for yourself:YouTube video If this organization is truly non-partisan, it will welcome our...

A federal appeals court blocked an Arizona state law requiring voters to present identification at polling stations and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an emergency motion by opponents of the law for an injunction to prevent the law's voter identification requirements from taking effect for the November 7 elections. Opponents of the Arizona law said it discriminated against minorities and the poor, who might not have funds to obtain the necessary proof of identification. “The law sets a burdensome requirement,” Victor Meiser, attorney for the plaintiffs. “To get a driver’s...