It’s Time to Worry About Houston (Voter fraud)

Pajamas Media ^ | September 7, 2010 | Bryan Preston

[jazusamo]

Voter fraud and a suspicious fire threaten the November elections in Texas’ largest city.

I could’ve gone with the “Houston, we have a problem” headline but that’s so … cliché. Nevertheless, the fact is that Houston has a major election problem, one which threatens the integrity of elections in Houston and across the Lone Star State. And when you work in the fact that Texas stands as the nation’s largest solidly Republican state, well, what happens in Houston will not stay in Houston — with next year’s redistricting, it won’t even stay in Texas.

The problem centers on a massive voter registration problem in Houston, and the suspect fire that followed closely once the registration problem became public. On Tuesday, August 24, Harris County’s tax assessor-collector, Leo Vasquez, held a press conference in which he detailed what he called systematic and organized voter registration fraud across the county. Texas Watchdog reported on Vasquez’s presser that day. Vasquez accused two nominally nonpartisan groups, the Texas Together Education Fund and its elections arm, Houston Votes, of engaging in massive voter registration fraud that put as many as 25,000 fraudulent registrations on the county’s roll. Vasquez offered substantial evidence to back up his claim, and likened the groups to ACORN.

That accusation isn’t without some foundation: ACORN was so active in Houston prior to the stings that discredited it, that it had its own state rep. from the Houston area in Kristi Thibaut. Elected in the 2008 Obama wave to represent Texas House District 133, Thibaut was recently outed for her work as a lobbyist for ACORN in the 2007 legislative session (full disclosure — as communications director of the Republican Party of Texas when Thibaut was outed, I played a central role in exposing her ACORN past). As for the group’s “nonpartisan” veneer, well, blogHouston exposed the left-wing nature of their entire leadership. For a nonpartisan group, it lists heavily to the left. And by the way, the SEIU purple-shirt union is involved too, in the person of Houston Votes’ director, Sean Caddle.

Mr. Vasquez is a Republican, so the Democrats’ response to his accusations was to accuse him of suppressing the minority vote in Harris County. That’s their standard line whenever anyone looks into enforcing ballot integrity of any kind anywhere in America, so no surprise there. The two groups, Houston Votes and Texans Together Education Fund, denied any wrongdoing, also to no one’s surprise.

What happened next is what threatens everything. In the overnight/early morning hours of Saturday, August 28, a warehouse in Houston burned down. Within the warehouse were all of Harris County’s 10,000 voting machines. They were a total loss. That they were insured doesn’t change the fact that they’re gone, and the county has been scrambling ever since to replace them.  Working with the state government and other counties, Harris County is moving swiftly to replace the destroyed machines and has pledged that none of the Nov 2 polling places will close because of the fire.

That’s not good enough for the Democrats. Rather than pull together and work with the county and the state to support the Apollo-level effort to maintain the vote, the Texas Democratic Party, controlled by a Washington activist, is suing Vasquez. But even more dangerous, the Democrats have used the occasion to call for the Justice Department to step in and “monitor” Harris County’s elections.

Think about that. This is the same Justice Department, led by Attorney General Eric Holder, that keeps trying to give al-Qaeda terrorists full access to civilian courts for trial. This is the same Justice Department that is suing Arizona for enforcing an immigration law that mirrors a 70-year-old federal immigration statute. This is the same Justice Department that, as J. Christian Adams reports on PJM, has chosen not to enforce the ballot integrity provisions of the Motor Voter law. And this Justice Department represents an administration led by ACORN’s former trainer and lawyer, Barack Obama. This administration had planned to put ACORN into an important role in gathering US census data this year, a plan that would certainly have gone into effect had ACORN not been exposed by Breitbart.tv in 2009.

The Obama administration has repeatedly shown its lawless ways, and it has repeatedly singled out Texas for economic attack via the EPA and its offshore drilling moratorium. For their part, the Texas Democrats have repeatedly fought against sensible ballot integrity efforts like voter photo ID – even going so far as to wreck the 2009 legislative session in order to stop a voter photo ID bill from passing.  So with all of this in mind, it’s time to worry about Houston. The vote there could determine the outcome of the race for governor between incumbent Rick Perry and his Democratic opponent, former Houston mayor Bill White.  It could also impact the balance of power in the state House, which could in turn impact the state’s redistricting. That could impact the balance of power over the next decade in the US House of Representatives, as Texas stands to gain as many as four seats after redistricting. So what happens in Houston will impact the entire nation. It’s a big deal.

Going back more than five years ago, Democratic activists in Washington led by Matt Angle targeted Texas, pledging to take a statewide office or a majority in the Texas House (it’s currently 77-73, a slight Republican majority). They set 2010 as their deadline, to have Democrats in place so they could influence the state’s redistricting.  And here we are, with a president in popularity freefall and a Democratic party on the verge of a massive national beating in November. Desperate times, desperate measures, you know the drill.

Is the Houston Votes fraud project part of the Angle Democrats’ overall 2010 effort? It’s certainly fair to say that nothing happens in Texas on the left without Angle’s input – he literally controls the Democratic Party in Texas and, via a massive slush fund left to him by the late Dallas trial lawyer Fred Baron, he orchestrates the activities of other “nonpartisan” groups that have ties to the likes of George Soros and John Kerry. It’s also fair to say that on issue after issue, Democrats simply are out of step with Texas voters and therefore stand little chance of winning much on their own. So the Angle Democrats resort to innuendo and attack, and perhaps in Harris County, outright voter fraud. And now with the fire of undetermined cause, they may have the Obama/Holder Justice Department descend on Texas to help out.

Bryan Preston has been a leading conservative blogger and opinionator since founding his first blog in 2001. Bryan is a military veteran, worked for NASA, hails from Hot Air, was producer of the Laura Ingraham Show and, most recently before joining PJM, was Communications Director of the Republican Party of Texas.

[a fool in paradise]

Houston PING

[a fool in paradise]

Houston PING

[edzo4]

This is small potatoes compared to the dem plan to give illegals ammnesty and voting rights and implementing a national popular vote plan (recently passed in ma)

That way they make millions of new democrats and only the most populus states like ma ny ca would decide the election

[terjon]

with all the issues that face us,voter fraud is near the top of my list.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_OzLHKFN5s

[Steely Tom]

Old fashioned paper-ballots: the vote goes on, with supplies obtained from local paper suppliers and printing houses. The investigation can take as long as it needs, but the election happens on schedule.

New electronic voting machines: an “unfortunate accident” like this one threatens the whole process. If the vote takes place on time, lawsuits will fly saying that “there weren’t enough machines,” or “every voting district didn’t get an identical machine, and the minority districts got the substandard machines.” If the vote is delayed, all kinds of chicanary results, including lawsuits from both sides.

Now we know why the Democrats were so insistant on excrement-canning the old, reliable, simple, easy-to-audit, easy-to-replace-on-a-moment’s-notice, paper ballot system. Their voters were too stupid to make it work, if you recall.

[skr]

Other than those who can’t physically get around, people should have to register at the Supervisor of Elections’ office in their county.

[jazusamo]

Agreed...The biggest voter ripoff in our history was doing away with the paper ballot, IMO.

[deport]

If they can get an early vote of some 60% or better then it shouldn’t be a problem.

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/09/07/bay_area_citizen/news/9hcvoting9.txt

Harris County presents voting plan after fire destroyed machines

Updated: 09.01.10
Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman went before the Harris County Commissioners Court on Monday and presented a plan for the conduct of the Nov. 2 election.

The plan calls for the use of the electronic voting system which is familiar to county voters during the early voting period and on Election Day. In addition, as a back-up plan on Election Day, paper ballots will be available at every poll.

“The public should know that a plan had to be enacted quickly to be able to conduct the election in accordance with the election calendar set by the state,” said Kaufman, the chief election officer of the county.

“Early voting will be conducted in a manner that is familiar to voters. We will obtain enough electronic voting equipment that is compatible with technology we have in place and allocate it to early voting locations as usual. The goal is the same for Election Day. But, if we fall short of the goal, paper ballots will be on hand to ensure that all voters are afforded equal access to the voting process at the poll.”

“As we face this unforeseen challenge, I’m hearten that all entities that have a role in creating the county’s election infrastructure are working as a team to ensure all registered voters are provided access to the voting process in a manner consistent with voting laws,” added Kaufman.

Texas election law provides that the administration of an election must be a coordinated effort between the chief election officer of the county, the chairpersons of the political parties, citizens (via their political party structure) and County government officials.

For this election, at least one electronic voting machine that provides people with disabilities the opportunity to vote independently, the Disabled Automated Unit (DAU), will be allocated to each of the polling location. More importantly, on Election Day, 736 polling locations are scheduled to be opened. An increase of eight compared to the 728 polls opened during the 2008 November election.

“It is more important than ever for voters to know the all the important dates leading up to Election Day and take advantage of the voting options which the law affords them,” Kaufman concluded, urging registered voters to visit the County Clerk’s election website or Texas Secretary of State’s website to obtain the calendar for this election cycle:

The important dates for the upcoming election are as follows:

First Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (does not apply to FPCA), September 3, 2010

Last Day to Register to Vote, October 4, 2010

First Day of Early Voting, October 18, 2010

Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (Received, not Postmarked) October 26, 2010 (must be received, not merely postmarked)

Last Day of Early Voting, October 29, 2010

General Election Day, November 2, 2010

For more information, voters may visit www.sos.state.tx.us, www.harrisvotes.com or call 713-755-6965.

[devane617]

This is how the Dims plan to hold seats in, local, county, state and federal offices. Fraud is the only way to keep a complete take-over by Republicans. Everyone, PLEASE, keep an eye open in your local polling places for fraud. IT’S COMING!

[jazusamo]

Thanks for your post and link.

[Spitzensparkin1]

Exactly. Expect massive voter fraud attempted in the NV races, too.

[spodefly]

If trust in the system, especially where voting is concerned, cannot be maintained, then we move on to the next phase of our social disintegration ... war.

[Zeppelin]

ping!

[Crapgame]

but...but...but...Harry Reid said he didn’t understand how any Hispanic could be a Republican. I guess Leo Vasquez is is probably Irish...

[Steely Tom]

If trust in the system, especially where voting is concerned, cannot be maintained, then we move on to the next phase of our social disintegration ... war.

I'm afraid you're right. If this keeps up, and I believe it will because evil always overreaches, someone is going to get hurt. Maybe a lot of someones. If they're on our side, it'll be a one-day story, immediately forgotten. If they're on the other side, it'll be turned into a Reichstag incident and used to tear the whole country down.

If they're on both sides, in approximately equal numbers, it'll be the first battle in CWII.

[freekitty]

They are doing that right now. Some senators are trying to pass a bill behind our backs. Something to do with private land.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-opinion/ci_16005398

[jazusamo]

LOL! Could be...Years ago I worked with a guy named Sanchez and he was Irish as Irish could be, even had red hair. People would ask about his last name and he’d just tell them that was his fathers name. :)

[demkicker]

Thanks for the ping - The Dems will do ANYTHING to hold onto their power. This is very alarming. When I heard about the fire, I immediately suspected the Rats were involved somehow.