Posted on 03/28/2006 8:30:32 PM PST by Sybeck1
The infamous North Memphis precinct where ballots were cast in the names of dead voters no longer exists.
The Shelby County Election Commission has dissolved Precinct 27-1, consolidating it with an adjoining precinct.
And all the 27-1 poll workers are barred from working future elections.
"On its face, someone committed an illegal voting act,'' said commission Chairman Greg Duckett. "Until it's resolved ... we as a body felt it was important that no one affiliated with that ward and precinct works for the organization.''
A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe is in its fourth month following reports that someone used the names of two dead voters at Precinct 27-1 to cast ballots in last fall's District 29 state senate race.
Following those reports in December, a Senate committee voted to void the election Democrat Ophelia Ford narrowly won over Republican Terry Roland. The full Senate stopped short of final action when a federal judge intervened.
Duckett has said he believes a poll worker or someone with election expertise was behind the fake votes, and in recent weeks the TBI has taken handwriting samples from at least one Precinct 27-1 poll worker.
Verline Mayo, the officer in charge of the 27-1 polling place at the fire station at 924 Thomas, said agents have taken samples from her on a couple occasions.
Still, she said doesn't know how someone signed in and cast ballots in the names of two elderly voters who died weeks before the Sept. 15 election.
The Election Commission had planned show-cause hearings for Mayo and six other Election Day workers, but opted against it, given the ongoing TBI probe.
Commissioners agreed instead to terminate the workers.
Duckett said any of the workers can still have a hearing if they ask, but won't be reinstated until they are cleared of any misconduct.
The terminated workers are Mayo; Republican judge Martha Hensley; Democratic judge Vatricia McKinney; Democratic judge Gertrude Otteridge; Democratic registrar Latoya Wilson and inspector Eddie Hayes.
Also terminated is McKinney's sister, Mary McClatcher, who signed in as McKinney and secretly worked for her that day.
The commission consolidated Precinct 27-1 with adjoining Precinct 27-2, forming a new precinct, 27-0.
Because of difficulties securing polling places, commissioners also eliminated three other precincts by consolidating them with adjoining precincts.
-- Marc Perrusquia: 529-2545
--------------------
Consolidated precincts
The Shelby County Election Commission has merged the following precincts:
Precinct 27-1, at 924 Thomas, is merged with 27-2. The new polling site is Humes Junior High, 659 N. Manassas.
Precinct 31-3, 1683 S. Parkway, is merged with 26-1. New polling site: Eternal Peace Baptist Church, 1251 S. Willett.
Precinct 89-3, 5565 Shelby Oaks, is merged with 89-2. New polling site: Whitten Memorial Baptist Church, 6773 Macon.
Precinct 75-2 (north of Winchester) is merged with 75-1. New polling site: Mitchell Road Community Center, 602 Mitchell.
Precinct 75-2 (south of Winchester) is merged with 75-7. New polling site: Ford Road Elementary School, 3336 Ford Road.
Copyright 2006, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.
Hope they put the heat on McClatcher. If they do, her sis could be taking an early retirement from the bench.
At the risk of repeating myself: Slowly, quietly, all around the country voter fraud is being eradicated.
The RATS are in trouble.
Not going to do any good. They should have merged Memphis with Nashville.
Damn! I'll betcha Harold, Jr. already counted those votes.
The way voting is handled still leaves me shaking my head. The idea that we still have not eliminated the holes which allow for flagrant voter fraud should alarm us all. All those people saying "today they will march and tomorrow they will vote" are most likely not talking about the future after they obtain citizenship but the next election.
Never heard of such thing. (sarc)
Isn't it amazing how democrats can always find boxes of "uncounted" ballots after a close election? Also amazing, is how democrat judges try to and in fact do change the election laws, during the election itself.
Not in the people's republic of Washington State. The rats are fat & happy here!
That's what I was about to say.
It would be nice if they did the same thing in Washington where the freaking Governors race was decided by crap like this. I mean, no offense, State Senate is important too, but nowhere near as important.
I wish I could share your optimism.
I think the scumbag Democrats will only get more sophisticated about their vote fraud. The only REAL answer is to throw real people into real jails when they are convicted of vote fraud. Make it hurt real bad. Until Justice gets serious, the games will continue.
While it's not immune to fraud, the good old fashioned single race PAPER ballot, marked with a pencilled "X" in the box beside your choice's name seems to be far more tamper and controversy resistant.
The big problem with such a system is the vast number of ballots that would have to be sorted, then tabulated.
Colour coding or numbering on the outside of each ballot for each race/initiative would aid in the sorting, but you are still stuck with hand counts.
It seems to work up here, but we don't have near as many elective choices, either. Judges are appointed, police and fire chiefs are hired by city gov't, sherriffs are fedgov employees etc.
Then again, we have A LOT more names on an average ballot. Green, NDP, Lib, Conservative, Marijuana, communist, socialist, libertarian, marxist-leninist, 3 independents (and a couple of affiliations I can't remember) were on the ballot I cast in our last federal election.
I suggest the death penalty for precinct workers who commit vote fraud. There is nothing more that goes against the founding fathers' intentions for this country.
There should be a big penalty for actively cancelling out a fellow American's vote.
I'd like to believe this is true. If so, this is the only good news (outside of real progress in Iraq and the diet thread) that I've read this morning.
I suggested the same for politicians who raise taxes. I think they both have as much chance.
If this keeps the the Rats wont get any votes!
Now they need to look at the rest of the precincts in Memphis. They are probably just as bad. The RATS control the election commission in Shelby Co so much won't get done.
"Still, she said doesn't know how someone signed in and cast ballots in the names of two elderly voters who died weeks before the Sept. 15 election."
Yeah... right.
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