Vanity: My opus on combating vote fraud

I have been involved in campaigns and volunteering at the polls since 1994. In every election where I have been involved there was evidence of vote fraud. Based on personal experience I estimate that in important national elections up to 10% of all votes cast are fraudulent. Did you notice how polls that favor Republicans to win on Election Day are almost always off by a significant amount when the votes are counted? Have you noticed how Philadelphia turns in more ballots than the number of adults in the city?

Who are the perpetrators? Every time that I have observed fraud it was carried out by Democrats. Why do they do it? Zeal and greed are reason enough. Democrats, especially activists, often tell me, “Everyone is crooked. Both parties commit fraud.” This is their justification. Besides, they are usually paid for results.

After evidence of massive fraud in a California congressional election the investigator from the California Attorney General’s office told me, “For $500,000 in cash you can be guaranteed to win the Primary, the General Election, and a seat in Congress. The candidate willing to commit the most felonies always wins.” At a Texas precinct a guy wearing a union jacket walked up to a Republican Poll Watcher and said, “OK, I voted. Where’s my $40? I have seen vans full of people going from one precinct to another voting repeatedly and being paid every time they got back on the van.

Vote fraud in some precincts approaches Third World levels of corruption. I am convinced that vote fraud is the single greatest threat to our Republic since it can thwart the will of the electorate.

In this short pamphlet I will outline vote fraud methods I have seen and suggest ways to combat each method.

In California the professional vote fraud scam perps drive down a typical, middle class, residential street copying down addresses where the mailbox is accessible from the street. For example, the Wilson family lives at 300 Elm Street. The perp then creates fictional voters, sometimes one, sometimes an entire family of phantoms named Jones. He then registers the phantoms named Jones to vote (no ID required) at 300 Elm Street. On the day that Sample Ballots are delivered a small army of homeless and illegals hired by the perp go down Elm Street collecting the Sample Ballots addressed to the phantoms on their list. Mind you, they don’t steal the Wilson’s ballots; they let the Wilsons vote. The perp then uses the Sample Ballots to vote the phantoms as absentees. For example, in the 1998 Congressional election, California had a statewide turnout of 63%. In an off year? Unheard of! In my survey during the 1996 elections across 7 precincts in Orange County (200 voters personally surveyed) I discovered that 50% of the registered voters did not exist. By the way, I gave interviews to reporters from the LA Times and Orange County Register offering my evidence of vote fraud. They were not interested; and not one word about the fraud got into print.

With dead people and felons you can get lists of registered voters to challenge, and you should. However, with phantoms you must establish that no such person exists at that address. My approach was direct. I simply rang the doorbell and spoke to the Wilsons. Since they don’t know the Joneses and have lived at the home (typically) for over 10 years it’s a good bet that the Joneses are phantoms. With the internet and our current resources you can zoom in on potential phantoms using resources such as Reverse Lookup directories that give you the phone numbers of whoever lives at 300 Elm Street. It’s a bit tedious to work your way through the official Voter Roll, but remember that changing a swing voter from Democrat to Republican can cost more than $50 in advertising, phone calls, etc. per vote while eliminating a phantom drives a stake through the heart of someone who always votes Democrat and cannot be swayed since he’s bought and paid for. There are other resources out there such as marketing lists, the U.S. Census, etc. I am not sure exactly how to use these resources, but a bit of experimenting will tell you what works best. Ask a friendly Private Investigator how he would uncover phantoms to get more ideas.

Once you have identified phantom voters, what do you do about it? Well, you can approach the Registrar of Voters, however, if the Registrar is a Democrat who is well aware of the scam, then expect to be stonewalled. You can call a press conference or create publicity (you know how much cockroaches hate the light). You could make sure that every phantom voter has a subscription to the LA Times, NY Times, and Rolling Stone. Maybe when the bills come back undeliverable these publications will get interested in the problem of phantom voters.

A bold approach would be to identify a street with lots of phantoms registered to vote and follow the mail truck on the day when Sample Ballots are delivered. Once you see the winos stealing ballots, you simple follow them back to the perp’s headquarters. With luck this may be the local Democratic campaign HQ, a union hall, or wealthy Democrat’s residence. Be sure to videotape the ballot theft and delivery. By the way, when you follow perps it’s a good idea to have video cameras with telephoto lenses, lots of tape, spare batteries, cell phone with emergency numbers, and a tool that punches large holes at 100 meters. Remember that vote fraud perps are sophisticated criminals who may not take kindly to surveillance and exposure. Go in teams so that you can follow perps switching out the following vehicle to prevent them from knowing that they are followed. Get in the spirit and have some fun being a good citizen.

Once you have identified specific perps you can contact appropriate law enforcement agencies. For example, creating phantom voters involves mail fraud, identity fraud, violating state voting laws, defrauding all voters in a precinct or district, etc. That last one is my favorite. When I think of a class action suit against a union with deep pockets on behalf of 150,000 voters in a Congressional district, I get goose bumps. Wow, we could bankrupt the vote fraud scam artists and provide a payout to every voter at the same time! We might even become popular.

One of the most effective scams that I have seen is where the Election Judge and Election Clerks are all Democrats and they are paid based on how many ballots they deliver. They simply wait until the end of the day, close the doors, and cast a ballot for every registered voter who did not show up. This is far cheaper than buying box lunches, renting vans, and pushing people to vote. In a precinct in Port Arthur, Texas in the 1998 election I watched a precinct that had a 110% turnout in the 1996 election. How many voters showed up? Zero! However, when the votes were counted that precinct once again had over 100% turnout.

BE THERE! For example, in Texas every candidate can send Poll Watchers to precincts in the district where that candidate is running. Be prepared for a confrontation with the crooked Election Judge if you show up as a Poll Watcher since you are threatening his paycheck! However, in Texas the Secretary of State has become much more supportive of Poll Watchers and has cracked down on crooked election officials. In fact, the Election Judge can be arrested on the spot by an investigator from the Secretary of State’s office if the irregularities are extensive.

An even better way to be there is to volunteer as a Republican Alternate Election Judge. In that case, you receive training in election law and arrive as an official. It’s very difficult for the crooks to throw you out. However, once again, be prepared for a confrontation. This is an ideal assignment for some of you macho guys to take on. My experience has shown that you can seriously disrupt vote fraud if you are an Alternate Election Judge. Just know the law and follow it to the letter. Be nice but firm about following the rulebook. You need to know the appropriate state and federal officials to call and have their numbers with you on Election Day.

Better yet, go undercover and register as a Democrat. This is a difficult assignment which takes years to really pay off, but has rich rewards. Just steep yourself in Democrat-think and get in there and volunteer. Eventually you will find yourself in a position to blow the whistle on vote fraud or other illegal activities. Be sure to keep records and gather evidence until the time comes to bust the perps. Be especially mindful to get the goods on the Big Fish. Oh yeah, don’t tell anyone you are doing this. Perfect cover and security is assured when ONLY YOU KNOW.

In the 2000 election an attorney that I know flew to Florida to watch the recount. After a while he noticed something like snow on the carpet under the chair of one of the ladies counting paper ballots. Upon closer examination he discovered that she had sharpened a fingernail to make a punch and had punched out HUNDREDS of chads for Gore. This is the source of the “confusing, overvoted, butterfly ballots” canard that showed up in the press. Luckily, the attorney grabbed James Baker and promptly stopped the recount. Other famous cases involve crooked workers putting the same ballot through the counting machine repeatedly ( I have that on video), punching holes in ballots before handing them out to voters (Yup, saw pre-punched ballots handed out in Houston in the 2000 election), Democrat judges taking Ballot Boxes home to punch holes, etc. If the ballots are paper you must find a way to observe them until they are properly counted.

Once again, BE THERE. Crying about vote fraud the day after the election is useless. Get out there and volunteer as a Poll Watcher, Election Judge, or in some capacity where you can make a difference. With today’s technology you could use hidden video cameras to capture proof, of ballot tampering, however, recording devices are ILLEGAL in Texas precincts. Check your state laws and penalties before going this route. In some cases, the video camera could be in a remote location recording and observing through a window into the place where ballot tampering is taking place. For example, you might be able to record precinct workers opening the Ballot Box and tampering with ballots.

There may be a way to use invisible ink to prove ballot tampering. For example, you could vote your ballot, mark it with invisible ink, and shoot a photo while still in the booth of the ballot showing how you voted. Later using the invisible ink for identification you could retrieve your ballot and see if it had been tampered with. It would be a good idea for state or federal officials to run a sting with marked ballots and RFID chips to see where ballots were when someone tampered with them. RFID chips or GPS can also be used to record where ballot boxes are taken.

In the 1998 election one of our Poll Watchers at an Early Voting location noticed that the Democrat clerks were steering all elderly and confused voters to one machine at the end of the line. Upon checking the voting machine he discovered that a perforated plastic strip had been inserted into the machine. If you voted Democrat the hole could be punched. However, if you tried to vote Republican the stylus could not punch all the way through the plastic strip and you ended up with PREGNANT CHADS.

BE THERE, be observant, be cynical, be suspicious. If there’s a way to scam the vote, they will try it.

In the 2000 election I stood behind the Democrat Election Judge as he told a newly-minted citizen which hole to punch for a straight Democratic ticket and stayed to watch the voter meekly comply. Since I speak Spanish, I told the Judge that what he just did was illegal. He looked like he might faint.

In addition to BEING THERE, you must speak the language. Determine what languages are spoken at your chosen precinct and recruit Poll Watchers or other helpers who speak those languages.

The time to combat vote fraud is NOW. Get the Official Voter Roll and start looking for felons, dead people, phantoms, 20 people living at one address, etc. Using sampling techniques start auditing door-to-door. Interview people registered to vote. For example, after Bob Dornan lost his seat to Loretta Sanchez, his volunteers got over 500 people to sign affidavits stating that they voted illegally (they were non-citizens who had been pressured to vote by Hermandad Nacional Mexicano, a FEDERAL CONTRACTOR operating on taxpayer funds!!!). I learned a lot from personally interviewing people registered to vote. Just ask questions; you will be amazed when they unburden themselves and tell the truth.

Get involved as a Poll Watcher, Election Judge, Precinct Clerk, or infiltrate the other party. I know from personal experience that you CAN make a difference that will win elections.

This is similar to my thoughts on the matter. One thing this would do is to destroy the idea that the US is a democracy. In fact, until 1913, with passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, Senators were elected by the state legislatures. And of course, the President is not elected by popular vote,

Many years ago, a conservative thinker (and millionaire, whose name I have forgotten) recommended citizens get an extra vote for every million dollars of their net worth. That would give more electoral weight to property holders. In addition, taking an idea from RA Heinlein, I would give one extra vote for each two years of active duty military service. For each of these, I would give a maximum of ten extra votes.

To summarize:
Every citizen gets 1 vote.
A citizen with 20 years active duty military service gets 11 votes.
A citizen with $10 million of net worth gets 11 votes.
A citizen with 20 years active duty military service and $10 million of net worth gets 21 votes.

As you suggest, these would not be direct votes for candidates, but votes for electors who would then elect the office holders.

I have to present SSN information to the driver’s license bureau because of the problem of “deadbeat dads” not paying child support.

Certainly we can require proof of citizenship for those registering to vote.

I have a problem with “every citizen gets one vote”. Nobody should get a vote if they’re receiving government handouts of any kind. We urgently need to put an end to people voting themselves goodies from the public treasury, i.e. from other people’s pockets. Trouble is, about 99% of the US population either currently is receiving, or expects to be receive in the future, some kind of government handout.

I think you are underestimating the extent of our dependence on the government. Everyone receives benefit from the government, either directly or indirectly.

I live in a western state where a lot of people have the idea they are rugged individualists not dependent on the government. But they grow crops irrigated by government irrigation systems drawing water provided by government dams. Their electricity is provided by government cooperatives. Ranchers have their cattle roaming on government land, while loggers cut trees in government forests. And that’s not even counting the government roads and highways we drive on, the government hospitals we go to when we’re sick or injured, and the government fire, police and ambulance services we depend on.

Let’s face it, our ideas are just utopian dreams that will probably never be implemented.

Well, everyone SHOULD be receiving benefits from the government INdirectly. If it weren’t so, we should completely shut down the government forthwith. But those who are using government to transfer money and/or property from others to themselves shouldn’t have a vote. And yes, that includes a lot of people who don’t think of themselves as living on government/taxpayer handouts, including everyone who has children in public schools without paying the full tab in taxes every year (about $15,000 per child on average, and a lot higher in some areas).

“While I obviously support better election security, we CANNOT wait for our elected officials to legislate reforms. My whole post is about concrete steps we can take now to prevent elections from being stolen.”

So, lets get started, we’ve got enough bodies here. Are the election rolls accessible online? Lets pick a district to start with, maybe someone can load the list into a spreadsheet and do a “sort by address”? We can at least get a head start on tracking phantoms together. Then we can send the list of suspects to someone who can check locally.

Anyone else want to help Freep The Vote?

Great suggestions to act on now and pass on, please! May justice and righteousness prevail.

Also see:
July 10, 2008
The Threat of Non-Citizen Voting
by Hans A. von Spakovsky
http://www.heritage.org/Research/LegalIssues/lm28.cfm

A number of years ago, I attended a workshop on getting people with disabilities to vote - a cause I believe in passionately.

I stupidly thought it was going to give us some concrete information on how we could rearrange the voting sites and make it easier for folks in wheelchairs to get in and vote.

Instead, this guy who happened to be maybe the most bitter person I have ever met went into a litany of how we could and should sign up people and not verify if they were legal to vote. Examples included "you can't ask if someone is a citizen" and "you can't ask if a person has a felony conviction." He blistered the Republican party at every turn claiming that the GOP was keeping people from voting and that if we got more people voting it would balance things out.

His message didn't exactly go over very well. There were a lot of disabled vets in the room and the idea of folks who were not citizens voting did not fly.

Thanks for your post, darth.

Have you ever read “Votescam”, by the Colliers?

I have been involved in campaigns on a volunteer basis, and served as a precinct committee officer since 1952
.
I noticed in my two states that when they went to computer ballot counting it too often (nearly always, actually) happened that when the Republicans were leading, the computers would break down. When they came back up, the Republicans quickly lost their lead, bigtime!

Aside from voter fraud, four years ago it was practiced heavily with recounts of suddenly “found” uncounted ballot boxes, etc.. Dino Rossi, Republican won initially and in two ensuing recounts, until Christine Gregoire, Democrat, narrowly took the governor’s house on the third recount!

Also my county has voted down light rail twice, but the mayor and the city council recently ignored the voice of the people, and is going for light rail! So you begin to wonder how much weight a vote carries, don’t you?

There is a plea out for Christians to pray daily at 6PM for our land to be healed; to return to our Constitution, and it’s original intent; and for our leaders to turn to God for guidance. Perhaps you would be interested in joining us. Good luck to you in your endeavors.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.