Free Republic

Voter ID didn’t reduce turnout, but the IRS may have. By John Fund The 2012 election season was filled with angry cries of “voter suppression,” almost all of them regarding attempts by states to require voter ID and otherwise improve ballot integrity. Bill Clinton warned that “there has never been — in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the other Jim Crow burdens on voting — the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today.” Democratic-party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said “photo-ID laws, we think, are very similar to a poll tax.”

Husted: voter fraud exists, not an epidemic By Darrel Rowland The Columbus Dispatch Thursday May 23, 2013 10:54 AM Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said this morning that voter fraud does exist in Ohio but it is not an epidemic. During a press briefing, Husted outlined 135 possible voter fraud cases during the 2012 presidential election that were referred to law enforcement for more investigation. Twenty of those cases included people who apparently voted in Ohio and another state — including 8 in Florida — and have been sent on to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. A total of...

Any ID requirements to prove citizenship for registering and/or voting is labelled as racism, profiling, or violating 'civil rights' of those within our borders.

Millions of Californians who contact the state's new health exchange to buy insurance will be given the opportunity to register to vote, too, a move that some Republicans fear could benefit Democrats. Secretary of State Debra Bowen made California the first state to designate its health exchange as a voter registration agency Wednesday, but others are expected to follow suit, said Shannan Velayas, Bowen's spokeswoman. "This is about making sure that all eligible Californians are offered the chance to register to vote," Velayas said Thursday. A 1993 federal law requires states to designate their agencies and offices that provide public...

The foreign-headquartered company that recently purchased the leading U.S. electronic voting firm is boasting that it was highlighted in a report on how technology is making the election process more efficient, secure, transparent, accessible and reliable. The report, WND has learned, was authored by a firm with links to billionaire activist George Soros. The information comes after WND reported two weeks ago that SCYTL recently acquired the software division of a non-profit election organization tied to Soros’ Open Society Institute. Yesterday, WND reported SCYTL announced its technology will be deployed at more U.S. jurisdictions ahead of the 2014 midterm elections....

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate election integrity org True the Vote and its associated Tea Party group, King Street Patriots, immediately before the IRS and DOJ began targeting the group in June 2010. Rep. Jackson Lee sent a letter to Holder which alleged that True the Vote was intimidating voters and their election monitors were crossing the line in unspecified “instances” of voter intimidation. The letter went on to directly assert that the “alleged events” were factual and that the True the Vote effort was behind the crimes. The letter offered no documented...

The Battle of Athens (sometimes called the McMinn County War) was a rebellion led by citizens in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, United States, against the local government in August 1946. The citizens, including some World War II veterans, accused the local officials of political corruption and voter intimidation. Here is what happened: Following World War II in 1946, violence erupted when returning American soldiers discovered their Tennessee county had been taken over by political corruption. Their plan to take it back involved bullets—lots of bullets—and dynamite. Why Athens in McMinn County, Tennessee became a battleground was due to Paul Cantrell,...

In a bitter fight, Colorado Democrats recently muscled through the Statehouse a massive elections reform bill that allows voters to register up until Election Day and still cast their ballots. It’s the latest—and most substantial—development in a nationwide Democratic Party effort to strike back at two years of Republican success in passing measures to require identification at polling places and purge rolls of suspect voters. Democratic-controlled states like California, Connecticut and Maryland also all have sought to make it easier to cast a ballot as late as possible. They recently passed versions of same-day voter registration measures, which traditionally help...

Talkin a lot more than a tax audits now... Houston-based True the Vote is an organization dedicated to preserving the integrity of the voting process. They're a outfit any normal, good-faith American ought to be glad exists, what with 160 U.S. counties showing more people registered than the actual number of live, eligible voters in existence. Alas, the compulsively-crooked Obama White House despises them. True the Vote IS NOT a Republican outfit, and promotes no candidates nor political issues- they're merely focused on ensuring legal/fair/inclusive voting. In just the previous 18 months, voter fraud cases have been prosecuted in 36 states, so...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. • The uncle of a Democratic Missouri lawmaker has pleaded guilty to voter fraud in an election that his nephew won by a single vote — a circumstance that the lawmaker described Tuesday as "an unfortunate situation."

Conservatives who have been wondering how Obama survived the 2012 election now have fuel for the common complaint that he stole the election by cheating. And no, I’m not talking about the vote rigging in precincts where he had more votes than voters. Nor am I talking about petitions where signature gatherers illegally forged names in order for Obama to qualify for a state primary ballot. I’m also not talking about Obama’s failure to vote on much legislation when he was an Illinois state senator, nor on his ability to produce any meaningful legislation for the three weeks he acted...

Something is happening in Colorado, and you better pay attention. Colorado Democrats, with the active help of some Republican county election clerks interested in shirking work, have devised a revolutionary plan to remake future Colorado elections. The plan is simple: ballots are automatically mailed out to every single person on the voter rolls. Ballots are even mailed to people listed as “inactive” voters at their last known address. Ballots are then voted and returned by mail. No more polling places. No more voters actually demonstrating an interest in participating in an election. The government will decide that for them, and...

Something is happening in Colorado, and you better pay attention. Colorado Democrats, with the active help of some Republican county election clerks interested in shirking work, have devised a revolutionary plan to remake future Colorado elections.This bill is about power, not good government. If it passes, Colorado will likely remain blue for years. Those who doubt that don’t understand how important process is to election outcomes. ...The Left cares about process so much they are pouring $100,000,000 into the “Democracy Initiative,” a plot to permanently reshape American politics by altering election process laws. The conservative and GOP response? Next to...

The foreign-headquartered company that recently purchased the leading U.S. electronic voting firm has just announced the acquisition of the software division of a non-profit election organization tied to George Soros’ Open Society Institute. Gov4U is currently partnered with Soros’ Open Society to support and develop a group called the Declaration on Parliamentary Openness. The group runs a website, OpeningParliament.org, .....Gov4U, meanwhile, has eight partners of its own listed on its website, including the Soros-funded and partnered National Democratic Institute, or NDI. Aside from receiving financial support for Soros, NDI has co-hosted scores of events along with Soros’ Open Society. The...

Two Mississippi counties are facing lawsuits filed by the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) that seek injunctions to compel election officials in Jefferson Davis and Walthall Counties to clean up their voter rolls. The two cases could have a nationwide ripple effect if the plaintiffs prevail. "We hope to get an affirmative ruling from this court, and then proceed to other counties that have irregularities," said ACRU Chairman Susan A. Carleson. "The goal is to ensure the integrity of the voting process, without which we cannot continue as a self-governing nation." Former U.S. Justice Department attorney J. Christian Adams and...

Yesterday Colorado’s Governor John Hickenlooper signed a bill that gives illegal aliens in-state college tuition as long as they can prove that they are residents of Colorado. You don’t have to prove you’re a resident of the United States now, just a resident of Colorado, and you get an education subsidized by taxpayers on the federal, state and local level. This follows a bunch of recent “reform� legislation, passed by the circus that they call the Colorado legislature, such as the legalization of marijuana, the restriction of the right to bear arms and proposals to get rid of the death...

Last Thursday, according to Fox News, a jury in Indiana found that “fraud put President Obama and Hillary Clinton on the presidential primary ballot” in the 2008 election. We wrote about the discovery of this fraud in our book, Who’s Counting? How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk. The mastermind behind the ballot-petition fraud was one Butch Morgan, then the Democratic-party chairman of St. Joseph County. With the help of three other employees of the county board of elections, Morgan faked names and signatures on ballot petitions that qualified Obama and Clinton for the May 6 Democratic primary....

On Friday, Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) introduced legislation that would effectively ban requirements that voters show some form of official identification in federal elections. Under the proposed law, voters without required identification would still be able to vote by signing a sworn affidavit that they are the person they represent themselves to be.Voter identification laws have proliferated in the states in recent years, with critics charging that they are nothing more than a poll tax to suppress the votes of groups, such as people of color and students, that traditionally vote for Democrats. Think Progress reports:"Voter ID laws, which require...

Democrat officials convicted of making up names for qualifying petition" Two Democrats in Indiana have been found guilty of submitting unauthorized names on the petition that placed then-Sen. Barack Obama on the 2008 presidential election primary ballot, meaning he likely did not qualify. Some of the issues that were uncovered: •Seventy-five GOP vote inspectors were ordered to leave Philadelphia poll locations by Democrat poll judges. One judge was caught on audio. A court order sent them back but it’s unknown what happened when they were gone. These poll locations were all within the 59 precincts where Romney received no votes....

Officials found guilty in Obama, Clinton ballot petition fraud: A jury in South Bend, Indiana has found that fraud put President Obama and Hillary Clinton on the presidential primary ballot in Indiana in the 2008 election. Two Democratic political operatives were convicted Thursday night in the illegal scheme after only three hours of deliberations. They were found guilty on all counts.

RALEIGH — The state House passed a bill Wednesday requiring voters to show a photo ID when they go to the polls in 2016, after an emotionally charged debate that underscored North Carolina’s political polarization. House Republicans pushed through the measure saying that the public demanded more stringent ballot security at polling places, that voter fraud was more prevalent than is understood, and that in a modern, mobile society fewer election officials personally knew voters. “Our system of government depends upon open and honest elections,” said Rep. David Lewis, a farm equipment dealer from Dunn and a Republican. “Having people...

It comes as no surprise to those who were paying attention that there was voter fraud to launch Obama into the Oval Office. During the 2008 election cycle, the evidence for voter fraud was abundant, but the majority of Americans did not see the evidence due to the typical mainstream media blackout on any news item that doesn't advance the Statist / Liberalism agenda. The evidence of voter fraud in the 2012 election is equally available and occurred in various states, but again, few heard the evidence from mainstream media.

The trial is underway for a former Democratic official and a Board of Elections worker who are accused of being part of a plot that has raised questions over whether President Obama's campaign -- when he was a candidate in 2008 -- submitted enough legitimate signatures to have legally qualified for the presidential primary ballot. The two face charges of orchestrating an illegal scheme to fake the petitions that enabled then-candidates Obama, and Hillary Clinton, to qualify for the race in Indiana. Former longtime St. Joseph County Democratic Party Chairman Butch Morgan Jr. faces multiple felony conspiracy counts to commit...

Questions will soon be answered as to whether or not Barack Hussein Obama actually qualified to be on the 2008 Presidential ballot as the trial gets underway for a former Democrat Party official and a Board of Elections worker who are accused of submitting illegitimate signatures on petitions that enabled both Obama and Hillary Clinton to qualify for the race in Indiana. Former longtime St. Joseph County Democratic Party Chairman Butch Morgan Jr. faces multiple felony conspiracy counts to commit petition fraud, and former county Board of Elections worker Dustin Blythe is charged with nine felony forgery counts and one...

States are implementing laws requiring voters to produce photo identification (ID). Democrats are fighting these initiatives claiming voter disenfranchisement. Are Democrats supporting voter fraud? Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, a Republican, signed into law a requirement for voters to provide a photo ID in order to vote. The law provides free photo ID cards to registered voters and requires notifying voters of the requirement prior to the next election. The law takes into account the need to prevent voter fraud and provides state voters with free photo IDs if they do not already possess one. While the law seems to be...

Burying the dead is a work of mercy. So, too, is voting for them, according to Sister Marguerite Kloos. Or at least that’s what she thought last year until Ohio investigators nabbed her for an act of voter fraud. This week she plead guilty to the charge of voting twice, acknowledging that she forged the signature of a deceased nun, Sister Rose Marie Hewitt, on an absentee ballot.“When the absentee ballot was received at Ms. Hewitt’s address, (Kloos) opened the envelope, forged Ms. Hewitt’s signature, voted Ms. Hewitt’s ballot, and mailed the ballot back to the Board of Elections,” according...

Last week, Jennifer McCoy the Director of the Americas Center for The Carter Center went to Venezuela to observe that country's presidential election. According to lefty website dailycensored.com just a day before the election McCoy claimed that Venezuela’s electronic voting system was “the most comprehensive (she’s) seen in the world.” In fact she pre-certified the election by saying that post-election audits “never had any significant discrepancy between the paper receipts and the electronic system.” But now there are widespread and credible allegations of fraud and the Venezuelan government won't allow a recount. In fact the government has taken violent actions...

The latest partisan slugfest to take place in the Democratic-held Colorado legislature is shaping up to be about election reform, with Democrats preparing to introduce a bill mandating that every registered voter be allowed to cast a ballot by mail and allowing new voters to register through Election Day. After a brief lull in partisan bickering that has dominated the legislative session — mostly over gun control — battle lines are again being drawn, with Republicans described by the Durango Herald as “livid” over the proposed legislation. Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler — who sued two Democratic-majority counties before...

A 122-page bill prepared for sponsorship by Pueblo’s Democratic Sen. Angela Giron would alter the way Coloradans vote, and its provisions are canted toward Democratic candidates. Secretary of State Scott Gessler, a Republican, opposes the bill because of four provisions it contains. They are: 1. It allows for people to register on Election Day, leaving no time to verify a person’s identification or to check whether he or she is registered in more than one county. This is an invitation for fraud on a massive scale. 2. It virtually mandates mail ballots, which are sent automatically to every registered voter....

Project Vote Deputy Director Amy Busefink is busy lobbying the Texas legislature on election-integrity issues — trying to stop Texas from checking to see if Texas voters are registered in multiple states. She recently organized a letter of various left-wing groups trying to stop legislation before the Texas House Elections Committee. Members of the Texas legislature shouldn’t take Busefink seriously — she has a history of participating in voter fraud. Busefink enters her plea in court to voter fraud. Busefink sent a letter on April 8, 2013, to the Texas House Elections Committee asking them to block a law that...

Click Here for Part One: Speaking Of Progress Kentucky’s Shawn Reilly And Other Problems…Shortly after the request for a Special Bailiff was made in the Zachary Scarpellini murder/manslaughter civil suit, Shawn Reilly surfaced in Louisville working on the Congressional campaign of Democrat and Iraq War veteran Andrew Horne. (Full disclosure: I was a part of the Horne Campaign but that’s where my involvement in that part of the story ends)Horne, who lost in the May 2006 primary to now-Congressman John Yarmuth, employed Reilly to staff fundraising events, hold house parties and organize voters. But he wasn’t just handling campaign grunt...

Early last year, as the voter fraud trial in upstate New York was getting under way, a Democrat Committeeman named Anthony DeFiglio claimed that falsifying records and forging signatures on ballots was simply “a normal political tactic”. He himself would plead guilty to falsifying business records, and was identified as being one of three Democrats who convinced two mentally disabled men to sign absentee ballots, which were later filled in for them. For his efforts, DeFiglio was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. Other colleagues received similar sentences for similar crimes, with one former Councilman being hit with six...

The allegations stem from the election of Eugene Jefferson to the District 10 City Council seat in 2010. Investigators said Jefferson, wife of Eugene Jefferson, and Ivery asked voters to sign absentee ballots that were already completed, fraudulently obtained absentee ballots, and attempted to influence or deceive persons into signing absentee ballots.

Democrat used trickery for gaining power, court papers show. Now resigned, state Assemblyman Nelson Castro---a Dominican Republic native---schemed to illegally register dozens of latino voters, and forged signatures on petitions to seek office earlier as a Democrat district leader. The revelations were spelled out in a deal in which feds agreed not to prosecute in return for Castro's wearing a wire to nail his shady Democrat colleagues. Castro admitted to lying about dozens of (illegals) registered to vote using his address.

Five new bills in Congress threaten an unconstitutional federal power grab over elections. No fewer than five bills to increase federal control over American elections have been filed in the 113th Congress. The Obama administration has appointed a bipartisan presidential commission supposedly for the purpose of streamlining election procedures and reducing the long lines. However, even a cursory review of the bills already proposed reveals that passage of these bills would enable an unconstitutional federal power grab over American elections accompanied by drastic reductions in the safeguards against electoral fraud that remain in at least some of the states. The...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas legislators passed a law Monday requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, overriding Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of the bill, which he called an expensive solution to a non-existent problem. The Republican-led state House voted 52-45, largely along party lines, to complete an override that started in the GOP-controlled Senate on a 21-12 vote last week. Only a simple majority was needed in each chamber. "We are trying to protect the integrity of one of the most fundamental rights we have here in America," said state Rep. Stephen Meeks, a Republican...

The Associated Press announced Tuesday that it will no longer use the term “illegal immigrant.” On NBC’s Tonight Show, host Jay Leno said, “They will now use the phrase ‘undocumented Democrat’” (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary)...

State Sen. Malcolm Smith and city Councilman Dan Halloran were arrested this morning on charges they plotted to rig this year’s mayoral election through fraud and bribes. The pols allegedly formed an alliance built on cash payments and fraud to get Smith — one of the state’s top Democrats — placed on the GOP mayoral ballot, sources said. FBI agents arrested them both at their Queens homes shortly after 6 a.m. “I have no idea,” Republican Halloran, in handcuffs, told a Post reporter when asked if he knew why he was being arrested. “I’m sure the truth will come out...

From time to time, I will read of some outrageous scheme by which the mafia obtained or kept power and I will begrudgingly admit to myself that the crooked and vicious grabs for power, as malevolent as they were, were quite impressive and often strokes of brilliance. I sometimes wonder what people like Al Capone or Lucky Luciano would have achieved if they had used their tremendous brain power for good instead of evil. Likewise, sometimes I look at the underhanded corruption that occurs in the Obama political machine and wonder what America could accomplish if these “leaders” would dedicate...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to promote the efficient administration of Federal elections and to improve the experience of all voters, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Establishment. There is established the Presidential Commission on Election Administration (Commission). Sec. 2. Membership. (a) The Commission shall be composed of not more than nine members appointed by the President. The members shall be drawn from among distinguished individuals with knowledge about or experience in the administration of State or local elections, as...

On Saturday, Barack Obama was accused of nationalizing U.S. elections for Democratic partisan advantage through the president's issuance of a new executive order on the electoral process.

Mark Levin opened his show tonight discussing Obama’s new executive order to create an election commission to study problems that Obama says exist on the local and state level, like people standing in line too long in waiting to vote. But Levin wants to know where the evidence exists to substantiate these so-called problems. In fact, he believes that Obama is trying to nationalize the election process so the federal government will have more control over it. Here’s an short excerpt: In the ratification debates in the states, after the Constitutional Convention ended, after they sent draft copies of the...

On March 11 Hamilton County, Ohio, Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters announced charges against Russell Glassop, Melowese Richardson, and Sister Marguerite Kloos for voter fraud. The Hamilton County Grand Jury returned a one-count indictment of illegal voting against Glassop, an eight-count indictment of illegal voting against Richardson and an information was filed against Kloos charging her with one count of illegal voting. According to the press release posted March 11 on the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s website: Richardson is charged with 8 counts of Illegal Voting for voting twice on her behalf and voting on behalf of others in various elections. Count...

RALEIGH, N.C. - 9 On Your Side has new information about the investigations of voter fraud in our state. 5 people in North Carolina are under investigation for possible voter fraud. The State Board of Elections says they are registered in both our state and in Florida. Voter Integrity Project of NC has researched election records. The executive director there tells 9 On Your Side the organization has every reason to believe this is just the tip of the iceberg. The group reports it found more than 300 people who appear to be registered in Florida and North Carolina. We...

Milwaukee County prosecutors Thursday filed voter fraud charges against 10 people, including two accused of double voting in 2012 elections and two felons ineligible to vote. Also among the fraud cases: a Milwaukee woman who is accused of signing a recall petition against Republican Gov. Scott Walker three times; and the petition circulator who collected those signatures. Leonard K. Brown, 55, is charged with voting more than once, providing false information to an election official and four counts of voting as a disqualified person for ballots cast April 5, 2011; and Feb. 21, April 2, June 5 and Nov. 6,...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two more people face charges as Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz's crackdown on voter fraud continues. A Melbourne man is charged with election misconduct and fraudulent practice. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says 53-year-old Nickie Dean Perkins -snip- Authorities also have charged 64-year-old Jesus Castorena, of Hampton, with perjury for claiming on 2010 driver's license and voter registration applications he was U.S. citizen. He had been deported to Mexico in 2007.

President Obama is issuing a new executive order on Thursday aimed at cracking down on election problems — but specifics are still scarce. Read between the lines of the group’s mission statement, and it seems the group will be overseeing state election laws, to at least some degree. Politico reports Mr. Obama’s order creates a new presidential commission on election body, co-chaired by two lawyers, Bob Bauer and Ben Ginsburg. Mr. Bauer served on the campaign of Mr. Obama in 2012; Mr. Ginsberg, on Mitt Romney’s campaign, Politico says.

The executive order will direct the commission to produce a report for Obama within six months of its first public meeting, principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said. The panel will be tasked with considering "a variety of ways to shorten lines and promote the efficient conduct of elections" and its findings will be "intended to serve as a best practices guide for state and local election officials to improve voters' experience at the polls under their existing election laws."

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas Senate voted Wednesday to override Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of legislation that would require voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot. The Republican-led Senate voted 21-12, along party lines, to override the veto. There was no debate beforehand. The bill's sponsor, Republican state Sen. Bryan King, said he expects the House to vote to override the veto on Thursday. Each chamber needs only a simple majority to override a veto in Arkansas. Beebe vetoed the bill Monday, saying it amounts to "an expensive solution in search of a problem" and would...

On Monday, the Democrat Governor of Arkansas, Mike Beebe, vetoed the common-sense voter identification law passed by the Republicans in the State Legislature. How predictable and tiresome these Democrats are! They loudly deny there is any problem of election fraud and then bend over backward to make sure election fraud is easier to commit. If there is no election and voter fraud occurring, then what’s the harm in requiring voter ID? Yes, we know the answer to that. Gov. Beebe claims his “reasons” for the veto are that the law would cost the state too much (it wouldn’t) and that...