Posted on 12/07/2004 8:02:07 AM PST by mn-bush-man
Man Pleads Guilty To Voter Registration Scam
Dec 7, 2004 6:38 am US/Central
Minneapolis (AP)
A 19-year-old St. Louis Park man arrested this fall with hundreds of filled-out voter registration cards in his car told authorities that he forged some signatures to make extra money.
Joshua Reed pleaded guilty Monday in Hennepin County District Court to two felonies. He will be sentenced next month. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors said they would recommend 60 days in the county workhouse, plus 15 days of community service.
County Attorney Amy Klobuchar said Reed admitted he failed to promptly turn over the voter registration cards to the Secretary of State or a county auditor, and he admitted he forged signatures on 18 voter registration cards.
Klobuchar said Reed never intended to use the forgeries to allow anyone to vote twice. Instead, he wanted to increase his earnings -- he told authorities that ACORN paid him $1.50 for each new voter he registered, she said.
"He was trying to get some extra cash for registering voters," Klobuchar said. ACORN, known as Associated Community Organizations for Reform Now, was one of several groups that hired canvassers to register new voters this year.
An ACORN official previously said Reed was paid $1 per registered voter.
"It was very important for the public integrity of our electoral system that somebody, if they do something like this, gets charged, gets convicted and gets consequences," Klobuchar said.
The forgeries were first noticed in June by a Hennepin County elections employee, who found 23 apparent duplicates. County elections officials notified authorities, who began investigating. At that point, ACORN fired Reed.
Reed was stopped in September by police on an unrelated traffic offense. His car was towed because he didn't have a valid driver's license. Boxes of filled-out voter's registration cards were in the trunk, according to the criminal complaint.
My only wish/hope is that Republicans are taking advantage of this voter fraud scam, by the democrats, and exposing all the dead voters once and for all. Sadly, there has been no mention of any Republican groups investigating. Is anyone clecking all these votes to see just how many are fake??
I always thought that "ACORN" was the perfect name for that group of nuts.
Oh yeah, 60 days will really make him think twice about doing it again. Not.
ACORN is a left wing organization.
We should post this at DU and watch the nutbags blame Karl Rove for secretly running ACORN. LOL!!!!
Acorn is a leftwing organization.
This is a constant problem with ACORN. There have been many threads on FR about ACORN abuses and no reprecussions with them.
I was hoping 20 to Life.
True, but the two felonies will haunt him forever.
And can never vote again.
At least for 10 years..In Minnesota he can petition to regain his rights(voting,owning guns,etc) after 10 years of crime free behavior
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS GENERAL - electionresults.sos.state.mn.us
http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20041102/PrecRpt.asp?M=TPR
Begs the question, what if he was a republican, what would his sentence be?
You mean he's not! I want proof, hard proof!
Interesting serendipity here: "Reed was stopped in September by police on an unrelated traffic offense. His car was towed because he didn't have a valid driver's license. Boxes of filled-out voter's registration cards were in the trunk, according to the criminal complaint."
Would he have been prosecuted on his prior false registrations alone, or was it considered adequate that ACORN fired him? -- "The forgeries were first noticed in June by a Hennepin County elections employee, who found 23 apparent duplicates. County elections officials notified authorities, who began investigating. At that point, ACORN fired Reed."
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