I Believe I Just Witnessed Attempted Voter Registration Fraud

me | December 16, 2003 | prairiebreeze

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I think voter fraud is for voting illegally. I think this woman was performing a public service.

Where I live, they mailed me the form, I mailed it back, and was registered. I am sure they verified my residence.

Heck, you could register everyone in your county, that doesn't mean they are going to show up on election day and vote.

I think you jumped the gun on this.

[prairiebreeze]

But at least she was a state official (employee). The too-small-to-read type part is disgusting.

Prairie

[sharktrager]

Heck, I registered by mail.

Nothing to see here.

[breakem]

FYI. I've seen registration tables at malls and fairs sponsored by political parties. I don't recall them asking for ID or my showing ID when I reregisterd. Good point. I also think in Califronia you are not always asked for ID when you show up at the polls. It's sporadically enforced.

[prairiebreeze]

Seems as if it facilitates fraud at minimum. Just counting on people not showing up to vote gives me for one, darned little comfort.

A link posted earlier shows two types ID required at specific locations for registration. So,......I dunno.

Would you give your drivers license number and personal info to a stranger at the store? I wouldn't

[BohDaThone]

In almost every state, a person can register by filling out a form (maybe under penalty of perjury), and mailing or sending it in to the registrar of voters. Even in the most stringent states, requiring that the form be notarized, it's easy to become a notary. I used to go door-to-door on my precinct, find the unregistered, then get my mom, the notary, to come over and get their form (if favorable!).

The only illegal things I can think of would be taking your form and throwing it away if you were GOP, notarizing data known to be false, etc. Otherwise (passing any trespassing issues), she was just doing what we should be out doing.

OTOH, she could have been mistaken on any number of points -- I could tell you hair-curling stories of just plain idiots (of all persuasions) trying to sign petitions, fill out voter forms, etc and messing up royally.

[GovernmentShrinker]

In most states, anybody can go around encouraging people to fill out voter registration forms and offer to mail them in. College campuses are full of tables staffed by students doing just this. The verification stuff is supposed to happen when the forms are processed, though of course it usually doesn't, and the law doesn't provide much opportunity (much less requirement) for serious verification anyway.

In my state, Pennsylvania, the "motor-votor" law ends up allowing absolutely anyone to get registered to vote. I once met a foreign citizen college student who had been startled to receive a voter registration card in the mail. She knew she wasn't eligible to vote here, and certainly hadn't attempted to register. Turned out when she got a driver's license and DIDN'T check the "yes, I want to register to vote" box, somebody just checked it for her (maybe they do that for everybody, or maybe they just make sure to do it for people with dark skin -- she was from India).

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Prairie. Didn't you register to vote? What was the proceedure, then?

No, I would have ignored the woman. In fact I asked for the forms to be mailed to me, so I could do it at home.

Why don't you check out your state's Sec. of State website, and see what it says?

[Bernard Marx]

This is perfectly legal as long as the person remains on public property. It goes on all the time here in CA. Once I was accosted at a Trader Joe's and since I'd just moved I said "sure." But when I tried to register as a Republican the rent-a-registrar said, "No, we're only registering Democrats." I couldn't believe my ears! I checked and found it's legal, at least in this state. I later was instrumental in setting up a Republicans-only registration desk at the local mall. It can work both ways.

[Indy Pendance]

Cameras won't help. Voter fraud is rampent in the US. In Milwaukee, the local news actually had a news team and a video of a woman from the New York DNC handing out cigarettes for votes to bums in 2000.

Smokes for votes

[GovernmentShrinker]

I am sure they verified my residence.

I am sure they accomplished this "verification" by the fact that you received the form at (or via) the address you gave them, and nothing more.

[prairiebreeze]

This is perfectly legal as long as the person remains on public property

This is what the manager tried to distinguish by saying she could be outside but not inside the store I suppose.

Prairie

[GovernmentShrinker]

No kidding -- see my post #47.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

True, and they didn't check to see if I was a citizen, of course.

Politicians do not want to make voting fraud proof.

[prairiebreeze]

What was the proceedure, then?

Darned if I remember. Been too many years. Whenever I go to vote I'm registered and in the book. I pull out ID and that's it.

[CalKat]

I don't know what state you're in, but in California, voter registration does not have to be done by state or county officials, as you said. Most voter registration is done by volunteers, standing outside stores as the woman you wrote about did, or by people at swap meets or town festivals and places like that. Is it illegal to register voters outside stores in your area, or was the woman inside the store?

[JebRudy2008]

If you want to track her down just find the local Dennis Kucenich group in your community and go to a meeting and volunteer to help sign up voters. I am sure you will find her there can't be more than 5 or 10 supporters in your community

or go and find out where and when she will be next, tell some friends who can go have a debate with her about her illegal activities and the merits of the elf boy.

forget about the government or republican associations, have fun, take care of it yourself


.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

http://www.elections.state.il.us/VoteInfo/pages/Register.htm

[CalKat]

Also, at least in California, the same registration form is used for all parties. So a Republican can easily fill out a registration form being presented by a Kucinich supporter. It's not like because she's a Kucinich supporter she's only registering Democrats.

[E Rocc]

When I told him that the woman was registering voters for Kucinich he said, "I don't even know who Kucinich is?"

He's not missing much....but such lack of knowledge benefits Dennis The Menace.

-Eric