Posted on 10/25/2004 9:57:51 AM PDT by Dubya
As many as 60,000 people may be registered to vote in both North and South Carolina, according to an investigation by The Charlotte Observer and WCNC-TV. A computer comparison by the news organizations found more than 60,000 people who appear to be registered to vote in both states, one of several instances of possible voter fraud cited in an Observer article Sunday.
Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson and other critics also said illegal immigrants are registering to vote using false documents at driver’s license offices. And North Carolina is investigating two groups that may have falsely registered new voters, including a 15-year-old Wake County boy.
Elections officials say voter fraud – a federal and state crime – is rare, but does happen. North Carolina officials said they’ve found only a few examples. “We investigate any allegation,” said Don Wright, general counsel to the N.C. Board of Elections. “That’s our job.”
Problems with dual registration in the two states could be exacerbated because officials say they check their own records for double registrations, but don’t share data across state lines.
South Carolina Elections Commission director Marci Andino said officials in her state sometimes turn irregularities over to law enforcement, but the system basically relies on trust. “People are taking an oath that they haven’t voted anyplace else when they sign that registry,” Ms. Andino said.
The Observer and WCNC compared computer records for about 7 million registered voters in both states. They found 60,000 or so people who appear to be registered in both, and up to 180 who were listed as having voted in two places in either the 2000 or 2002 general elections.
Reporters found no one who admitted to double-voting and discovered plausible explanations for many of the duplications. In one case, an Army captain was registered to vote in Fayetteville, where he was stationed in 2000, and Greenville, S.C., where he grew up and his father still lives.
Computer records showed Capt. Charles Booker voted in both states in 2000. But, reached at his current post in Fort Bliss, Texas, Capt. Booker says he voted only in Fayetteville. His father, also named Charles Booker, said he did vote in Greenville that year, though election records show he did not.
The elder Mr. Booker guesses that he was mistakenly recorded under his son’s name when he cast his ballot. That could happen, officials acknowledge. “You’re going to have some poll workers that, when they check off a person, check the person above or below, but that is not common,” Mr. Wright said.
The news organizations’ computer comparisons matched people based on their first and last names, middle initials, birth dates, race and gender, as recorded with the elections boards.
Elections officials acknowledge it would be hard to catch anyone who intentionally double-voted across state lines, because states don’t share their voter databases.
“It’s the big loophole in the whole system,” Mr. Wright said.
After the confusion over the 2000 presidential election, both presidential campaigns are keeping a close watch for voting irregularities this year, with teams of lawyers across the country to contest any problems at the polls.
In the Carolinas, both parties will have hundreds of lawyers and volunteer observers at polling places, especially in the largest and most-contested precincts. “North Carolina has not faced the problems that we’ve seen in other states, but we can’t take it for granted,” said Hampton Dellinger, former legal counsel to Gov. Mike Easley, who is helping coordinate the legal effort for the Democrats.
Election officials in the Carolinas acknowledge the potential pitfalls but say they go to great lengths to prevent cheating.
“During a highly charged presidential election, I’m sure there’s more suspicion than it happens,” said Gary Bartlett, executive director of the N.C. Board of Elections.
Critics are worried about other possible forms of fraud. A Washington-based advocacy group for tougher immigration laws recently said that it believes illegal immigrants may be registered to vote in North Carolina because they were able to sign up when obtaining driver’s licenses without Social Security numbers.
“North Carolina has been a magnet for people looking for an easy way to get driver’s licenses,” said Charlotte attorney Tom Ashcraft, a Republican activist and former member of the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections. “The question is, what effort has been made to make sure there aren’t noncitizens voting?” State elections and Division of Motor Vehicles officials say they’ve run two checks – one in 2002 and again this year – of people who received driver’s licenses without proof of citizenship and found only a handful who had registered to vote. Those cases are being investigated, they said.
North Carolina officials also are investigating two groups that appear to have submitted fake voter registration cards. An advocacy group known as ACORN, for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has had trouble across the country because it pays workers to register voters, and some have decided to pad their work.
The group’s chief organizer in Charlotte discovered a few weeks ago that one worker had faked about 70 registrations. The employee was fired and the information turned over to the state board, which is investigating.
A similar problem with a consumer-interest group in Wake County, where the 15-year-old boy was among those signed up to vote, was also turned over to state officials. ––– Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotte.com
South Carolina is definently going to Bush, no doubt. Lots of Bush/Cheney signs here.
I'm OK with what ever side wins, as long as it is fair. I may not want Kerry, but if he wins on the up and up, well, I can suck it up for 4 years. But voter fraud, that really makes me angry. People have died to give us the vote. Do we let people just step all over that? Voting is the ultimate right. I wish it were in the Bill of Rights, because it is the right that protects all others.
Is there anyway to see if people vote in both states? If they do they need to be prosecuted..after proving they actual did the double vote and the dems didn't vote in their place.
I guess they know the cheating is going on. I think if anything happens to the people who cross state lines it will have to be handled by the Feds.
I don't know for sure.
DUB
Those republicans are at it again - trying to suppress the fraud vote - how dare they!?
Thanks. I missed that in my quick read. If they voted in both locations then they need to be charged. That is the only way to keep most folks from doing it.
Takes provisional votig to a new low, doesn't it..forget wandering into the wrong precinct....they wandered into the wrong state...
"I may not want Kerry, but if he wins on the up and up..."
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He won't. The Dems have been rigging elections since the days of Tammany Hall...after what we have seen not only the DNC do to date, but the criminal activity of the MSM on top of it, don't expect ANYTHING from these people that is fair and honest. NEVER!!!
Totally agree with you!!
FINALLY.
Some Dimocrats that understand supply-side economics: incentives work.
Unfortunately, in this case, for an illegal outcome.
If the MSM can run these cross-tabs, why the HELL can't the state election officials?
Add this to the story about NC having so many people registered here and in Florida!
I saw that; wish there was a national registry to prevent this.
God help us. Remember too that the snowbirds in Florida reside in NY during the summer and I pray their names will be cross checked.
I am concerned about fraud and these hinky registration drives, but there probably is a good reason for some of these dual registrations.
I was thinking about this just a couple days ago. In 1998 we moved from Wisconsin to Arizona. My understanding has always been that if one votes in the presidential general election that will keep you on the voter rolls and you get purged if you miss one.
So, we voted in 1996 in Wisconsin in the general and we didn't do anything to remove our names when we moved.
When we arrived in Arizona we registered here so then a review of the voter rolls in both states would have found us "dual registered".
This is why proof of residency is so important. We have a proposition on our ballot this time that would require presenting voter ID at the polling place. Needless to say, we will vote YES.
I forgot how many they found; I'll try to find the article for you.
Thanks to gore....voting will never be the same again..
bump
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