Dead man on voter rolls sparks inquiry

Painesville - At least one Lake County voter would have made quite a comeback to cast a ballot Nov. 2. He has been dead for more than two decades, elections officials said. In a seemingly lesser miracle of wayward democracy, an elderly nursing home resident who only scrawls a shaky "X" when signing official documents suddenly regained a firm, crisp cursive signature when she registered. Both the dead man and the elderly woman were signed up by voter registration advocacy groups, Lake County elections officials said. "Those were not their signatures," Lake elections board Director Jan Clair said Wednesday. "Now, we're talking about election fraud here, and we're going to take some of these cases to the prosecutor." Clair said the veracity of dozens of registration cards and maybe hundreds of absentee ballot requests are being investigated by the Lake County board in an election year with possibly record-setting registration efforts. The 12,000 new registrations in Lake County this year more than double the last two years combined, she said. "Let's just say there are a lot of voter advocacy groups out there this year with a number of zealous participants who maybe don't understand the law regarding this type of activity," Clair said. "We're not going to be allowing anyone to intrude on the integrity of democracy," Clair said. She said that the registration of the deceased man was filed by the National Voter Fund, the registration arm of the NAACP, and the woman in the nursing home was registered by the group Americans Coming Together, known in this state as ACT Ohio. She said ACT Ohio had been to two Lake County nursing homes and a number of registrations were now in question. A spokesman for the National Voter Fund could not be reached. Its Web site, www.naacpnvf.org, says it is a nonpartisan effort to increase participation of the African-American voter. Jess Goode, state communications director for ACT Ohio, said the Lake County allegations would turn out to be nothing. "We honestly believe that there is nothing to this and that it was based on confusion and miscommunication," Goode said. "We have tough, professional standards and . . . a well-trained staff. "Our goal is to make sure more Ohioans are able to vote legitimately." ACT is a partisan group formed with the specific intent to oust President Bush from office and promote Democrats on all ballots, according to its Web site, www.actforvictory.org. Groups like ACT are known as 527 organizations because of the number of the section of the tax code that governs political committees. Published reports have said that the organizations have raised nearly $184 million since the end of 2002 to use for get-out-the-vote operations, political advertising and contributions to state and local candidates. Clair said she is also investigating a potentially fraudulent registration effort by a political candidate, whom she would not name unless the case gets referred to Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson. None of the cases has been turned over to Coulson yet, although board members Wednesday gave Clair the OK to pursue the cases criminally. There are other apparent irregularities in Lake County, like dozens of people on one street who filed for absentee ballots. "Like one entire neighborhood that says it's going to be out of town on Election Day?" Clair asked. "That seems more than a little strange, so we're going out to have a talk with some people."

Dead man on voter rolls sparks inquiry
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Michael Scott
Plain Dealer Reporter
Painesville - At least one Lake County voter would have made quite a comeback to cast a ballot Nov. 2.

He has been dead for more than two decades, elections officials said.

In a seemingly lesser miracle of wayward democracy, an elderly nursing home resident who only scrawls a shaky "X" when signing official documents suddenly regained a firm, crisp cursive signature when she registered.

Both the dead man and the elderly woman were signed up by voter registration advocacy groups, Lake County elections officials said.

"Those were not their signatures," Lake elections board Director Jan Clair said Wednesday. "Now, we're talking about election fraud here, and we're going to take some of these cases to the prosecutor."

Clair said the veracity of dozens of registration cards and maybe hundreds of absentee ballot requests are being investigated by the Lake County board in an election year with possibly record-setting registration efforts. The 12,000 new registrations in Lake County this year more than double the last two years combined, she said.

"Let's just say there are a lot of voter advocacy groups out there this year with a number of zealous participants who maybe don't understand the law regarding this type of activity," Clair said.

"We're not going to be allowing anyone to intrude on the integrity of democracy," Clair said.

She said that the registration of the deceased man was filed by the National Voter Fund, the registration arm of the NAACP, and the woman in the nursing home was registered by the group Americans Coming Together, known in this state as ACT Ohio.

She said ACT Ohio had been to two Lake County nursing homes and a number of registrations were now in question.

A spokesman for the National Voter Fund could not be reached. Its Web site, www.naacpnvf.org, says it is a nonpartisan effort to increase participation of the African-American voter.

Jess Goode, state communications director for ACT Ohio, said the Lake County allegations would turn out to be nothing.

"We honestly believe that there is nothing to this and that it was based on confusion and miscommunication," Goode said. "We have tough, professional standards and . . . a well-trained staff.

"Our goal is to make sure more Ohioans are able to vote legitimately."

ACT is a partisan group formed with the specific intent to oust President Bush from office and promote Democrats on all ballots, according to its Web site, www.actforvictory.org.

Groups like ACT are known as 527 organizations because of the number of the section of the tax code that governs political committees. Published reports have said that the organizations have raised nearly $184 million since the end of 2002 to use for get-out-the-vote operations, political advertising and contributions to state and local candidates.

Clair said she is also investigating a potentially fraudulent registration effort by a political candidate, whom she would not name unless the case gets referred to Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson.

None of the cases has been turned over to Coulson yet, although board members Wednesday gave Clair the OK to pursue the cases criminally.

There are other apparent irregularities in Lake County, like dozens of people on one street who filed for absentee ballots.

"Like one entire neighborhood that says it's going to be out of town on Election Day?" Clair asked. "That seems more than a little strange, so we're going out to have a talk with some people."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

mscott@plaind.com, 440-602-4780

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