South Dakota voter fraud -- looking for suggestions

[UPIDC]

Hi, this is Dan Olmsted, Washington Bureau Chief of United Press International. We're still looking at the Thune-Johnson race, and would appreciate any suggestions for how to nail down any possible fraud in the race.

[u-89]

Give up. Why bother with the frustration?

P.S. don't mind me I'm cynical. Vote fraud should be the most heinous of crimes in a democracy - but it isn't.

[EternalVigilance]

Give up

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance."

[EternalVigilance]

Vote fraud should be the most heinous of crimes in a democracy - but it isn't.

I agree with your assessment of the seriousness of voter fraud...but I also promised myself many years ago that every time I saw or heard someone refer to our form of government as a democracy, I would correct that misnomer:

We don't live in a democracy---this is a REPUBLIC!

[YaYa123]

"Yep---the nose knows!! ;-)"

And so did Dave Boyer, of The Washington Times, way back in September.

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020901-9618990.htm

[hosepipe]

--voter fraud--¿ <>< <•)))>< <•)))>< <•)))>< <•)))><--FBI

[u-89]

The point of Republic as you point out occured to me but I used democracy as it flowed with the sentence's thrust easier. Democratic republic at the end of my sentence just didn't sound as effective as simple democracy in this instance.

Yeah, eternal vigilance sounds good but what do we do when political parties, law enforcement and the media not only let fraud occure but laugh at it? How many punidts on TV laugh at LBJ's rise or Kennedy's election or dead voting in Chicago? they all joke about it. In NYC the Dems bus mentally ill patients to the polls and physically walk them into the booth to help them vote. Once some Pubs put fliers out in a hispanic neighborhood that the INS would be at the polls to check for illegals. Was the Justice Dept upset at illegals voting Democrat? no they went after the Pubs for surpressing the vote! And you wonder why I am cynical?

[EternalVigilance]

Thought I would just go ahead and post it...hope you don't mind:

Indians will cast pivotal ballots on reservations in South Dakota

By Dave Boyer
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


RED SHIRT, S.D. — Sitting on a folding chair in his front yard in the poorest county in the United States, Seth Eagle Bear could be the Democrats' secret weapon in this election year.

Mr. Eagle Bear, a member of the Lakota Sioux tribe, is a resident of South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a territory the size of Connecticut where 63 percent of the inhabitants live below the poverty level.

"I'm a Democrat," said Mr. Eagle Bear, 30. "I registered [to vote] last summer. Some woman came around, and that's what she suggested."

Indians here typically vote Democrat. President Bush won 60 percent of the vote in South Dakota in 2000, but Democrat Al Gore carried the state's Indian reservations. And that trend could play a role in South Dakota's high-profile Senate race, viewed by both parties as pivotal to gaining control of the Senate.

Polls show a virtual tie between Republican Rep. John Thune and incumbent Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson. But most polls don't survey accurately the state's Indian population.

"There are less phones on the reservations," said Laura Schoen, executive director of the state Republican Party. Sixty percent of homes in the Pine Ridge reservation lack telephones.

And with American Indians comprising 8.3 percent of the state's population — about 63,000 residents — some observers believe the tight contest could be won or lost on the reservations. South Dakota has several recent examples of razor-thin margins in federal elections, such as 1978, when Tom Daschle won his first race for Congress ,by 139 votes.

Thus it is no accident that the state Democratic Party has enlisted Brian Drapeaux, a tribal leader from the Lower Brule reservation and a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Daschle, as its Native American Vote Chair. The state Republican Party is also working for the Indian vote but has no one person devoted to the job.

When Mr. Johnson defeated incumbent Republican Larry Pressler six years ago, some political strategists credited the reservation vote for his win.

Mr. Johnson is a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and has opened re-election offices on each of the state's nine reservations. Tribal elders are said to be split in their support of Mr. Thune and Mr. Johnson.

Democrats are busy registering Indians to vote this year and working to ensure that they get to the polls on Election Day. Republicans say they, too, are making efforts on the reservations. But fears are being voiced privately in Republican circles that Democrats, through the use of absentee ballots on the reservations, could gain an unfair advantage.

A national group, Native Vote 2008, visited South Dakota this summer with its mobile voter registration camper to sign up new voters on the reservations. Its director, Russell LaFountain, said organizers are encouraging "strong absentee balloting."

The group's goal is to register 115,000 new voters in Indian country by 2008.

"We certainly are interested in getting out the vote," said Sarah Feinberg, spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party. "I don't know if we want to go into campaign strategy on the record."

Stephanie Herseth, the Democratic candidate for South Dakota's lone House seat, said Indians will play an important role in this year's races for the House and Senate.

"I know that the Democrats are probably spending more time [than Republicans] with some of these efforts on the reservations," Miss Herseth said, adding that Democrats also are paying attention to "the absentee ballot initiatives in terms of getting more people to utilize that procedure if it's difficult for them to get to the polls for one reason or another on Election Day."

"We've got a lot of tribal members that are very involved in the effort that are registering a lot of new voters, and they're very excited about this election cycle," she said.

Gov. William J. Janklow, a term-limited Republican who is running against Miss Herseth, spent seven years early in his career doing legal-aid work for American Indians. He said the Democrats' registration drive doesn't worry him.

"The more of them who vote, the better I'll do," Mr. Janklow said. "They should vote. They're Americans."

Mr. Eagle Bear, a father of four who is on disability, said his wife, Imagene, has received several mailings recently from the Democratic Party. He said he hasn't decided on the Senate race as he produced a glossy four-page brochure from the Thune campaign.

"Mostly all those higher people are Democrats," Mr. Eagle Bear said. "It's good the Democrats stood up to Bush this year. I have to learn more about Tim Johnson, since he's a Democrat."

His town is an isolated cluster of about two dozen ramshackle homes, some with rusted cars up on blocks in weed-choked lots. There is a K-8 school, but the nearest doctor is in Rapid City, about 40 miles distant.

Jobs are hard to come by on the reservation, Mr. Eagle Bear said. The unemployment rate is 86 percent. Some residents walk and hitch rides to Rapid City each day to clean out hotel rooms for $56 per day.

Life expectancy on the reservation is 45. Thirty-nine percent of the homes have no electricity.

Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a voting rights lawsuit in federal court contending that Indians on two reservations, including Pine Ridge, have been discriminated against. The suit says South Dakota has implemented more than 600 voting statutes over the past 30 years without obtaining the necessary federal pre-clearance.

Secretary of State Joyce Hazeltine has said that the state is in compliance with federal law and that her office recently filed voluminous documents with the Justice Department for review.

[Redcloak]

Check their thighs.

[EternalVigilance]

And you wonder why I am cynical?

I understand why you are cynical, but it is a vice we can't afford to indulge, IMHO.

Individual Republicans made great strides in this most recent election cycle in the heavy-lifting necessary to put a stop to DemocRAT fraud...and in 2004 we must do even better. There is no doubt in my mind that if they hadn't, the Senate would still be in Daschle and Company's hands.

Cynicism ultimately only serves the enemies of our free republic.

[u-89]

Over the years I have engaged in many vices, and some I still do however I never looked at cynicism as a vice. Will have to give that one some thought. I aspire towards Stoicism and just looked at cynicism as a natural result of observation. Wouldn't want to aid the enemies of our Republic though. Till I have things sorted out I will only think cynically and spare the public remarks lest I sow negative vibs amongst the faithful.

Keep smiling

;^)

[YaYa123]

", Native Vote 2008, director, Russell LaFountain"

A good place to start, but interestingly, he doesn't have a website. I bet the farm he's a democrat operative.

This Wall Street Journal article contains even more related names.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110002475

[EternalVigilance]

Keep smiling \

You too, my FRiend! ;-)

[EternalVigilance]

Good one!

Here's a link:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110002475

[rogue yam]

Maybe it would also make sense to ask the ones who didn't vote whether they voted (that is ask them all). That way the community can't just pass the word: "Hey! There are some outsiders snooping around trying to bust locals. If someone asks whether you voted just say 'yes'"

[DakotaGator]

ROFLMAO!

Tim Johnson's new mascot, the skunk. Symbol of a stolen election.

Maybe there's a "0 Cents" stamp idea in there for the illegitimate elections we recently experienced (SD, NJ, etc.)!

[wita]

There is some positive to all of the allegations of corruption. The republicans have a window of opportunity for change in govt, which I sceptically feel they will squander, and John Thune will have another opportunity to run for the senate, against perhaps a weakened tommy two tongues.

The state of South Dakota, will remain a political anachronism and an embarrasment to the republican party unable to figure out how to get a republican in the senate despite the apparent stupidity of the present two holders of seats in that body of corrupt power brokers, and having a majority of republican registrants vs democrat.

Another and far more important issue is that of third party votes which were a far larger issue than the indian vote in determining who the winner would be. Curt Evans, the Libertarian candidate, dropped out of the race for the senate, weeks before the election specifically because the election was going to be close, but still garnered over 3000 votes for his non-candidacy.

One need not ask the question why. I think now that I have actually seen it in print, that one of the third party platforms is as a spoiler for those who think they can be wishy washy republicans and hope to garner the "principled" vote. Had someone bothered to take those voters into account and magically not P O'd other voters, it might have been a different outcome. We won't know till next time.

Has the political process become so confused as to have to offer everything to everyone to have a chance at winning? If so, there are just too damn many unprincipled voters, and IMHO that is the height of voter fraud. I am still waiting to cast my vote for the poor schmuck who is willing to run on the principle of I ain't doing nothin for nobody that involves trashing the Constitution to do it. Even Ron Paul lost, and I believe he is probably the last Constitutionalist in the house.

[DakotaGator]

Ping

[WarrenC]

I see National Review's new issue has a cover story about the South Dakota vote fraud. The cover has a picture of Sen. Johnson with the word "South Dakota Invalid Senator" stamped over his face. By Byron York. Should be interesting.

[DakotaGator]

The cover has a picture of Sen. Johnson with the word "South Dakota Invalid Senator" stamped over his face.

I like it!

[TheLion]

FReepers Agains Vote Fraud eureka posted this link in #5 above. Maybe we can put our collective minds together and come up with something. There sure have been a lot of articles coming out of SD recently!