6 accused of voting twice may face charges

Houston Chronicle ^ | October 28, 2004 | KEVIN MORAN

[Cincinatus' Wife]

GALVESTON - A half-dozen Galveston County voters could face criminal charges if a grand jury decides they intended to cast more than one early election ballot and commit voter fraud, officials said.

Since early voting opened Oct. 18, daily checks indicated that six people might have voted twice as of Monday, said Galveston County Clerk Mary Ann Daigle.

District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said the cases will be submitted to a grand jury and indictments will be issued if the jury believes voting fraud occurred.

Voting twice is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Sistrunk said.

More than 30,000 people had filled out ballots in Galveston County by the time the early-voting locations closed for the day Tuesday, Daigle said. The county has 185,880 registered voters.

"With the mail-in ballots that have been returned, the total vote is 36,452 so far," Daigle said.

Daigle said her staff is scrambling to keep 16 early-voting locations supplied with ballots for all 101 voting precincts. Because of the large turnout, some voters have had to wait until more ballots were delivered or return to vote an hour or so later, Daigle said.

"It makes us look bad, but we're doing the best we can and we're moving as fast as we can," Daigle said.

Early voting ends at 7 p.m. Friday.

kevin.moran@chron.com

[estrogen]

What the heck.....when did it become OK to vote before election day? Frank Luntz on Fox this AM said 78% of votes have already been cast. This election stuff is a mess.

Thanks, Al Gore,you miserable POS

[MarkL]

Actually, I've been a long time advocate of the death penalty for voter fraud.

While it seems that the majority of people (and, of course, the MSM) see voter fraud as something you acknowledge with a "wink and a nod," it's really an attack at our entire way of governing ourselves. It poisons the political process, and it alienates good people from becoming involved in the process.

Oh well. Hopefully, they will get the full 10 year sentence. But I doubt it.

Mark

[Mr. Wright]

"Motor Voter" was the downfall of the voter registration process. There was not failsafe method established to check on each registration. Simply show up for driver's license
and you were given a voter registration card. Because one has a driver's license does not, in any way, prove that they are a citizen of the United States nor does it prove residencey in a state for any particular amount of time.
Motor Voter was pushed by the Demmy's just like the 18 YO vote,
with the only purpose being to get more Dem's on the registration rolls. I can't believe the Repub's went along with this very bad idea!

[eeriegeno]

Maybe Ashcroft could do a little media event, concerning federal laws covering voter fraud. He is, after all, the sitting Chief Law Enforcement official.

Who? Oh yeah, you mean that guy who is investigating the Sandy Berger classified documents theft???????

[Redleg Duke]

Same thing happened a few years ago in New Hampshire. The legislature passed a law requiring ID at the polling place only to have it vetoed by, you guessed it, Jean Shaheen, the RAT Gov there.

[Arrowhead1952]

Time for jail for these six. No party affiliation listed, so I'd bet they have a (D) on their card.

[Allegra]

Aw, come on...y'all are being too hard on these folks. It's hard to keep up with things like this in our busy lives.

I mean...I can't remember if I've already voted either. Did I?

I get distracted by shiny objects.

[MeekOneGOP]

Time for jail for these six. No party affiliation listed, so I'd bet they have a (D) on their card.

Oh, yeah !

To ALL Freepers and Lurker voters:

GO to the polls and vote for Bush. Take your friends with you to do the same. If you know any Zell Miller type Democrats that support Bush and they are voting for him, take them as well.

Vote EARLY to avoid the rush. If you wait until November 2nd, make SURE to go and vote!! And if you do wait until November 2nd, remember:

IGNORE ANYTHING IN THE MEDIA YOU HEAR (i.e., making a fast, early call in Florida for Kerry, etc.). WE CAN AVOID A REPEAT OF THE FLORIDA ELECTION DEBACLE OF 2000 THIS YEAR IF GOP TURNOUT IS STRONG, imho.

[Expletive deleted] !!!

[UsnDadof8]

How stupid do these people need to be to not realize that no amount of voter fraud is going to help Kerry win Texas?

[LadyPilgrim]

Any body from Texas needs to file charges against these folks, because the people of Texas have been denied the due process if these cheaters don't go to prison!

[RedWhiteBlue]

Idiots. Texas isn't exactly a swing state... Did they really think a few people voting a few extra times would be enough to give the state to Kerry?

This might be related to the congressional race. The Democrats are in danger of losing their seat in the House of Representatives.

[monday]

"will someone tell me the brilliance behind 'early voting' again? We give the democrats weeks to vote again and again instead of just one day?"

People who vote twice early are more likely to be caught, (like these people) than those who vote twice on election day.

[I'm ALL Right!]

What's this "may face charges" crap? CHARGE them. Do it TODAY. Give them the full 10 years. Make it a BIG DEAL. Send a message. Voter fraud is punishable and WILL BE PUNISHED by law! If they don't, things will just continue to decline. Afghanistan will be teaching us how to have free elections....

[BellStar]

PING!

[Temple Owl]

Voting twice is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Sistrunk said.

If found guilty, I hope they get the max. It is a far more serious crime than burglary.

[BellStar]

The way I read the law is it is a crime but has no punishment prescribed to it.

[TheLawyerFormerlyKnownAsAl]

Their defense will be the well-known Boo Boo Defense. Lawyer to judge: OK, Your Honor, my client admits it, he made a boo boo . . . .

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Then we'll give them the boo-boo punishment.

Public humiliation.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[gnarledmaw]

"voter roll"

Unless you are talking about the stale donuts the old ladies leave in the shack called the town hall, we dont have such a thing.