Vote Fraud Watch: Double Voting in Colorado

In addition to problems with dead voters, Colorado also has problems with double voting:

An ongoing CBS4 voter fraud investigation has uncovered a dozen cases where Coloradans are suspected of voting twice. . . . In six of the new cases, voting records show the same people voting twice in Colorado elections. In another six cases, people are suspected of voting in Colorado and another state during the same election cycle. . . .

Five of the double voters are being prosecuted in Kansas, and people voting in both Kansas and Colorado is a perennial problem:

[Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach] says after each election, Colorado and Kansas crosscheck voters to identify double ballots and clean up their databases. But Kobach still believes 10,000 people are registered to vote in both Colorado and Kansas. 

“Any one of those 10,000 people could probably succeed in casting two votes,“ Kobach said. “We want to get the word out, ‘Don’t do it, we’ll catch you.’”

Problems of double voting inside Colorado are amplified by Colorado's new vote-by-mail system:

[In addition to a pending double voting prosecution in Colorado, Colorado Secretary of State Wayne] Williams admits other Coloradans are getting away with it. Combing through voter data, CBS4 found three suspected double voters in Denver, one suspected double voter in Arapahoe County and one suspected double voter in Douglas County. All five cases that CBS4 uncovered have now been referred to prosecutors for possible criminal action. 

“It’s a relatively small number,” said Williams, “But, it is a problem of any magnitude because we have close elections in Colorado.” . . .  

Since ballots were mailed out last week, CBS4 has been contacted by a handful of voters who have received more than one ballot.

We applaud Secretaries of State Williams and Kobach for taking the problems of double registration and double voting seriously.

Day 1: Vote Fraud Already in Florida?

Intentionally or not, according to this post by Lawyers Democracy Fund, election officials in Miami-Dade County in Florida are “increasing the election's vulnerability” to vote fraud:

Sources tell LDF that the poll workers, on orders from the Supervisor’s office, are now erroneously informing early voters to keep the mail ballot instead of returning it to the possession of the Elections Office.  This procedure is in direction violation of Florida Election Code Section 101.69, and there is already canvass evidence that that some voters who early voted have also attempted to vote twice by mail balloting.

The attachment linked above also includes more troubling information.  Eight absentee ballots (called vote by mail in Florida) were rejected because the voter is deceased.  While much like winning Powerball, it is technically possible that the person received the vote by mail ballot, voted, mailed it, died, and the county received and processed the death record, it seems unlikely.  What seems more likely is eight dead people's ballots were “voted” by someone else.  It is great that the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections caught these but how many others were missed?  Especially in light of the increasing vulnerability in Florida by such actions as returning mail in ballots to those who vote in person.

Most importantly, who is trying to vote in the name of the dead?    

Vote Fraud and Poor Election Administration in California: Recent Examples

California has long had problems with vote fraud and poor election administration.  Why does California have so many issues?  Single-party rule in the state is one possible answer.  Here are some of the remarkable recent examples of problems. 

California has widespread problems with voter registration, leading to issues for the June 7 primary:

Questions about the security and integrity of California voter information have surfaced after Riverside County’s district attorney described several online tampering incidents in which residents’ party registration was changed without their knowledge. . . . Many voters who said their party affiliations weren’t correct ended up using provisional ballots, which take longer to count because the voter’s eligibility has to be verified, or not voting at all.

Another indication of the inaccuracy of California's voter registration rolls is that hundreds of dead people have been voting in many recent elections:

A comparison of records by David Goldstein, investigative reporter for CBS2/KCAL9, has revealed hundreds of so-called dead voters in Southern California, a vast majority of them in Los Angeles County. “He took a lot of time choosing his candidates,” said Annette Givans of her father, John Cenkner.  Cenkner died in Palmdale in 2003. Despite this, records show that he somehow voted from the grave in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010.

There was double voting during the June 7 primary:

The June primary election exposed an unacceptable potential for voter fraud in California that the state Legislature must immediately fix.  In just three counties, Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara, 194 people voted twice, suggesting the abuse statewide might run into the thousands. 

There were widespread problems during the June 7 primary:

California voters faced a tough time at the polls Tuesday, with many voters saying they have encountered broken machines, polling sites that opened late and incomplete voter rolls, particularly in Los Angeles County. The result? Instead of a quick in-and-out vote, many California voters were handed the dreaded pink provisional ballot — which takes longer to fill out, longer for election officials to verify and which tends to leave voters wondering whether their votes will be counted.

Exacerbating the issues, California may have mishandled early and provisional ballots after the June 7 primary:

Internet sleuths of varying expertise have attempted to prove that the millions of ballots left uncounted on election night contained a Sanders victory over Hillary Clinton, but were prevented from being added to the count. The fact that 2.5 million early and provisional ballots were not yet counted when the networks called the primary has become another reason to doubt that the media can fairly cover the race. 

California has opened the door to more fraud through mandatory voter registration:  

California has found a way to drive up voter participation. Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed the New Motor Voter Act last October that automatically registers individuals to vote when they obtain a driver’s license and — taking nondiscrimination up a notch — driver’s licenses are available to illegal immigrants. Technically, noncitizens aren’t eligible to vote, but the law decrees that one who does “shall be presumed to have acted with official authorization and is not guilty of fraudulently voting or attempting to vote, unless that person willfully votes or attempts to vote knowing that he or she is not entitled to vote.”

Because of its 53 House races and numerous important state legislative races, California's election administration will be very important in November.

Taxation Without Representation as a Way to Justify Vote Fraud

A Tennessee man for years has been voting in multiple states for years and was convicted.  Pasco Parker has a reason for voting in three states:

He declined to speak on camera, but said he voted in three states because he wanted to elect local leaders in each. He felt he should be able to vote where he owns property and pays taxes.”

Mr Parker’s attitude is not unique and has been present in the highest level of Democrat politics.  For example, this is not the first time we at the Republican Lawyer have heard this reason. No less than Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro, former Democrat nominee for Vice President, gave the same reason in 2006 when voting in Saltaire, New York and Manhattan.  She said to not be allowed to vote both places would be like “taxation without representation.”

The biggest difference between Mr. Parker and Ms. Ferraro was Parker was actually prosecuted.  Mr. Parker is a rarity not because he voted in multiple states but because he was prosecuted for it.  

Even More Incredible than Voting Twice

Once again we have a liberal leader urging vote fraud, this time in one of the most targeted and watched races during the 2014 campaign:

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s chief-of-staff was present at an event held a day before the midterm election in which his father, a Louisiana mayor, urged people to vote twice in order to re-elect Landrieu.

 “If you early voted, go vote again tomorrow,” Cravins Sr. told the crowd which was gathered at the Charcoal Lounge.

As bad as Mayor Cravins’ statement is and as much news as it is getting just as important is the next thing the Mayor says:

“One more time’s not going to hurt,” Cravins Sr. says. “Tomorrow we’re going to elect Earl Taylor as D.A. so he won’t prosecute you if you vote twice.”

There is a large problem with fighting vote fraud.   Liberal leaders such as Al Sharpton are giving standing ovations for those who commit vote fraud and attacking the police in places for even investigating it. 

But worse of all liberals can commit this crime without fear of retribution as district attorneys such as Earl Taylor won’t prosecute.  The left tries to define voter fraud as impersonation and only counts convictions.  Now we know why the left only counts convictions for vote fraud, they know that Democrat DAs won’t prosecute.  

Suspected Double-Voting Referred to Prosecutors in Virginia

Local election officials in Fairfax County, Virginia have referred seventeen cases of suspected double-voting to the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney. These individuals are suspected of having voted in both Maryland and in Fairfax County, Virginia in the 2012 General Election. Some individuals are suspected of having double-voted in Maryland and Virginia in multiple elections. Click here for the press release from the Fairfax County Electoral Board.

This incident underscores the importance that states share voter registration data on a regular basis. Programs RNLA have endorsed like ERIC and Crosscheck can help both identity and prevent illegal double-voting.  

However, sharing the data is useless if states don't act on it after receiving it. It is essential that officials take decisive action to remove these voters from the rolls once they receive the data from other states. Secondly, it’s important they refer suspected instances of voter fraud to prosecutors. Unfortunately Democrats and their allied liberal groups such as Project Vote and the Brennan Center have repeatedly worked to prevent officials from taking action based on concerns that voters will be mistakenly removed from the voter rolls. They ignore the fact that provisional ballots and other remedial measures can fix any potential mistakes made by officials. Of course, we all know there is no way to retrieve a fraudulently cast ballot by a voter that officials should have removed but did not out of fear that the Democrats would cry "voter suppression". 

There is little that can be done to stop someone from casting ballots in multiple states without states sharing this data and acting on it. It is particularly critical in areas with highly transient populations and in election jurisdictions that border other states. Fairfax County is both highly transient and shares a border with Maryland. It would be relatively easy for a voter to vote in-person in both a Virginia and Maryland polling in the same day, especially since Maryland has few election integrity protections such as voter ID. Based on the news from the Fairfax County Electoral Board, it seems like that very well may have been happening. 

More Proof of the Need for Voter ID

To hear the vote fraud deniers like Justin Levitt and Al Sharpton talk Voter ID does nothing to stop vote fraud because it only stops impersonation.  In other words, someone pretending to be you or someone else they are not.  Maybe in their vain worlds that is their biggest concern: someone trying to be them.  The reality is Voter ID does much more than that.

Take the story yesterday that detailed 14,646 duplicate registrations in just one county in Northern Virginia (Fairfax County) and Maryland.  The election official says there is no way they can sort through all the double registrations before the November election and there are serious questions whether election officials can do anything other than put these voters on the “inactive” roles. 

This allows unscrupulous party operatives (and there are many party operatives in the metro DC area) and other political activists to vote in the state of their choice in different elections.  We are not talking double-voting either, rather more of an "a la carte" voting depending on the election.  For example, in the very blue or Democrat state of Maryland you could vote in the Democrat primary and then for the General Election vote in the purple or toss up state of Virginia.  Furthermore, Virginia has off year elections (2013 and 2015) when there are no elections in Maryland. 

While clean election rolls would also stop this, it should be remembered that the law firm of Presidential Commission on Election Administration (PCEA) Co-Chair Democrat Bob Bauer filed in Virginia what a judge called a groundless suit to stop efforts by Virginia election officials to clean up the rolls.  This baseless partisan effort, while typical of Democrats, even runs afoul of the Bauer-led PCEA’s recommendations. 

Which is why Voter ID is part of the solution.  Everyone should be allowed to vote but only where they live.  Thus Voter ID would prevent the Maryland residents from driving 30 minutes and voting in Fairfax County and vice-versa.  Since Virginia law does not allow for a Maryland Driver's License for acceptable ID, these voters would be deterred from voting in Virginia. Voter ID does not disenfranchise anyone and actually prevents the disenfranchisement of legal voters. 

But Sharpton, Levitt and the Democrats who filed the groundless suit in Virginia will have none of that.  And unfortunately it effects elections and not just their vanity.  

More Vote Fraud in Ohio, More Voters Disenfranchised

Hamilton County Ohio is finding more people who committed vote fraud. 

Two more people were indicted today on charges of illegal voting, bringing the total of indicted voters in Hamilton County to eight.

One of those indicted today - Ellen Elizabeth Duncan of Avondale - was a poll worker at the Urban League offices on Reading Road. She is accused of voting by absentee ballot and in person at last fall's election.

The other, Timothy Merman of Fairfax, is accused of using a Fairfax business address as his residence when voting in 2012. Prosecutors say Merman actually lived in Kentucky at the time.

Hamilton County has a long history of vote fraud problems.  Take 2008 for example.

In Hamilton County, near Cincinnati, there is overwhelming evidence that fraudulent votes have already been cast during the week when voters could register and cast their ballot on the same day. Attorney Mike O'Neill has been appointed to investigate 41 percent of the 610 ballots that were subpoenaed by Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters. Deters stepped down from the case amid controversy over his Republican Party affiliations.  Assistant County Prosecutor for the Board of Elections Dave Stevens said, "We should be able to resolve some of these fraudulent votes before the election, but my guess is there are over 100 illegal votes in the system already and they will not be taken care of until after the election."

The only difference is now they are doing something about it.  However the problem remains that people who voted legally were disenfranchised as a result of the double voting.  Unlike the fail-safe of provisional ballots which allows voters who were wrongly removed from the voting rolls to still have their vote counted, there is no remedy for the voters who have been disenfranchised as a result of these crimes.  

Obomination: Democrats Fighting for Ineligible Voters in Virginia

The election of Governor in Virginia this November is likely to be a very close race.  As a result, the Democrat Party and their candidate for Governor, Terry McAuliffe, are pulling out all the stops to “turn out” voters, including non-people and ineligible voters.

Democrats in Virginia are stopping just short of opening polling places in the graveyards to make sure every ineligible voter is counted. The state Democratic Party last week asked a federal judge in Alexandria for an injunction to block state and local election officials from deleting the names of ineligible voters. When the roll is called up yonder, in the updated hymn, the dead Democrats will still be here.

The suit is about ineligible voters, not dead ones, but some dearly departed Democrats are no doubt on the rolls, too. Election officials have compiled a list of 57,000 names of former Virginians who have moved and put down roots elsewhere in the country. Election officials want to cross-check the names of nonresidents against the voter-registration list and cross off the names of everyone who shouldn’t be voting in Virginia.

When voter rolls aren’t cleaned up on a regular basis, the result is a voter-registration list that swells beyond the total number of residents. The Huffington Post reported in April 2011 that this happened in 14 out of the 102 counties in Illinois. Just last month, a federal court ordered Walthall County, Miss., to purge the voter rolls, which list 124 percent of the county’s voting-age population.

 . . . Virginia officials counted 7,934 duplicate names on the Fairfax County voter rolls, and the Democratic lawsuit asks that every one of those be allowed to cast a ballot on Nov. 5. We suggest that Mr. McAuliffe court eligible Virginians, and leave be the Virginians who have moved on. Any dead ones, too. They don’t really have much interest now in what goes on in Richmond.

For those who think the ineligible don’t vote in Virginia, look no further back than last year when it was found “solicitors” went around encouraging ineligible felons to vote in the 2008 election in Virginia.  Of course it took four years for that to come to light, which is why Mr. McCauliffe is fighting so hard.  He knows it will take years for the ineligible to be brought to justice, if ever. 

That encouraging ineligible voting was done by “solicitors” supporting President Obama and is trying to be continued by Terry McAuliffe is this week’s Obomination.   

Obama DOJ Too Partisan. States MUST Ensure Integrity of our Elections

Part of the bipartisan Help America Vote Act was a provision for list maintenance.  List maintenance meant simply the removal of ineligible voters and duplicate names.  Democrats have fought this tooth and nail even calling it “purging” in an effort to cast a bad light on any effort to improve the integrity of our elections.  Democrats conviently forget that there are protections against a name being wrongly removed or purged from the roles through tools such as provisional ballots.  No voter will be disenfranchised through the performing of list maintenance but many voters will be disenfranchised by having their vote canceled out when an illegal “voter” votes. 

But the efforts of liberals and Democrats to prevent list maintenance goes further than negative public relations.  A high ranking Obama appointee, Julie Fernandes, in the Department of Justice refused to enforce list maintence (Section 8).  As detailed in the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report:

Thirteen witnesses told the OIG that Fernandes stated that she “did not care about” or “was not interested” in pursuing Section 8 cases, or similar formulations. For instance, Chris Herren, who was later promoted by current Division leadership to Section Chief, told the OIG that Fernandes made a controversial and “very provocative” statement at this brown bag lunch. In particular, Herren stated that Fernandes stated something to the effect of “[Section 8] does nothing to help voters. We have no interest in that.”

Fernandes was really saying list maintenance does not help the Democratic party.  By refusing to perform list maintenance, she knew exactly what she was doing. 

And the scope of this problem cannot be under estimated.  Even the left leaning PEW Charitable Trusts concluded.

·         More than 1.8 million deceased individuals are listed as voters.

·         Approximately 2.75 million people have registrations in more than one state.

·         About 12 million records have incorrect addresses, meaning either the voters moved, or errors in the information make it unlikely any mailings can reach them.

It is for this reason that House Administration Committee Chairman Candice Miller purposed H.R. 2115, The Voter Registration Efficiency Act.  Miller said of the bill in a recent hearing:

Our bill gives states the ability to collect and share the information necessary to identify and prevent millions of duplicate voter registrations nationwide – an overdue update that will undoubtedly improve the integrity of our electoral process.

The bill is essential to ensure that states do what the Obama Justice Department won’t:  Ensure that our elections are open, fair and honest. 

Another Vote Fraud Scheme the Left Will Ignore

While left is sure to ignore the vote fraud found in Mount Vernon, New York, the following facts remain that  “voters” who were dead, did not live in the area anymore, or never existed voted in 2012:  

·         In 2008, Derek Scott, of 315 S. Ninth Ave., died of colon cancer.  In 2012, he voted in the Mount Vernon school board election.  Asked what she thought of her son’s name turning up on the voter list, Scott’s mother said: “It shouldn't have appeared on it. I don’t know who could have signed his name.”

·         In District 4, voter 35 is listed as Michael Spruill, of 52 W. Fourth St. When a reporter visited that address, Joseph Camp, a retiree, answered the door and said Spruill, a cousin of his wife, was in the military and hadn’t lived in Mount Vernon for years, though he visits now and then. Referring to the name on the voter list, Camp said, “I don’t know who that Michael Spruill is.”

·         A “voter’s” residence is a city owned sports complex.

·         One of the candidates, Dyanan Jaikaran voted twice in the last election.  Jairkaran claims:  “It tells you that they were committing fraud,” he said. “I don’t know who, but somebody was.”

Of course, this fraud could be prevented by cleaning up voter rolls, which the left opposes even though it is the law, or by tools such as Voter ID. 

Thus the legitimate complaint of the “Concerned Citizens of Mount Vernon” will likely be ignored and vote fraud will continue:

The group said that it hopes to have an equitable election on May 21. A letter from the group said people were picked up in the Bronx before being transported to polling stations to use names that haven’t been utilized in years. Documents show voters who had phony addresses, duplicate names and at least one name was of a deceased person, the Journal News reported.

It is important to note this is NOT about an individual voter.  This is a scheme to steal elections.  Too bad the left does not care about the disenfranchisement of legitimate voters. 

Double Voters Get Double the Trouble... in Court

States are checking for double voters… and have successfully prosecuted the offenders. 

Rodney Paul Jones, Peter Canova III and Gina Thi Canova are some of the offenders who illegally cast two ballots.  Jones cast a mail-in ballot in Arizona for the November 2008 presidential election and also cast a ballot in Colorado where he lived.   He pled guilty to a misdemeanor.  An Arizona judge last year sentenced him to 50 hours of community service, fined him $4,600 fine and put him on one month unsupervised probation.

As for the Canova couple, they voted in both Arizona and Nevada.  Peter Canova III and his wife Gina cast a ballot in the fall 2008 general election, in Maricopa County, Arizona and Douglas County, Nevada.  Gina also voted in Arizona's August 2010 primary election and Nevada's June 2010 primary election. Peter’s court-ordered punishment was 200 hours of community service, a $9,200 fine and two years of unsupervised probation. Gina got 300 hours of community service and a $13,800 fine.

The program which cross-checks voting in two or more states has been growing since it started in Kansas.   In 2008, Kansas had three cases while Arizona had four.  In 2010, Kansas had 11 and Arizona had 9.  To read more about the Canovas and Jones in addition to many more cases of vote fraud, visit the RNLA's vote fraud page.