Posted on 10/14/2002 12:22:13 PM PDT by mondonico
Voter Fraud Investigation
Every vote counts - unless ballots are being cast by people who don't exist, are dead or who don't even live in South Dakota. A major case involving those voter fraud issues has been under investigation by the FBI for the past month. KSFY has learned the investigation mainly focuses on six counties including: Dewey, Pennington, Fall River, Charles Mix, Shannon and Ziebach, although there may be other counties involved.
The focus of the investigation centers on absentee ballot registration requests in counties with or near Indian Reservations across South Dakota. A letter recently sent out by the Democratic Party confirms Party officials were notified about possible ballot discrepancies in Dewey County, and when notified contacted authorities immediately. According to their letter, a Democratic Party contractor, Becky Red Earth-Villeda was fired after at least two of the people she registered were found to be invalid.
On October 12, we found evidence that in Ziebach County a woman somehow applied for an absentee ballot after she died. The absentee ballot application for Denise Red Horse is filled out just as it should be: she has an address, she signed where she was supposed to. The major flaw? Denise Red Horse died September 3rd in a car accident. Her application was signed September 21st, 18 days after she was killed.
This is just one of the discrepancies of which Attorney General Mark Barnett has been notified and the FBI is investigating. Barnett says there was one case where the lady had apparently registered in two different counties, another case shows a lady supposedly sent in an absentee ballot some days after she was actually killed in a car accident.
Red Horse's bogus application isn't the only suspicious item Ziebach County's Auditor, Cindy Longbrake has noticed in the past few weeks. She says one person filled out 150 registration cards, and she could tell they were all filled out by the same person. Longbrake says she thought, "She either didn't know what she was doing or, I understand, she was getting paid to do these and she didn't care how she was doing them."
There are several different politically motivated groups on and around Indian Reservations trying to register that particular population. Native Americans make up 8.3 percent of the state's population -which transfers into roughly 63-thousand residents. With close races, especially on the Senate side, every vote truly does count.
According to our sister station KOTA in Rapid City, two brothers are now being investigated for turning in forged voter registration cards to the Pennington County Auditor. The auditor says most of the voter registrations were duplicates which could have been done by copying names and addresses out of a phone book. The brothers were caught after getting the "voters" birthdays wrong.
By Shelley Keohane
Those are the votes which count especially - or else why fake them?
Keep on the alert you Minnesota Freepers!
In Tiny Tommy's home state?
Gee, say it ain't so. My illusions have been shattered.
Next they'll be sayin' the Xlinton's are power-mad demagogues. Geez - gimme a break.
C-Span Washington Journal was in South Dakota this morning, talking to voters in a popular Rapid City restaurant. I tried like crazy to get through so that I could ask about voter registration fraud on Indian reservations, but didn't make it.
Candidate Thune spoke to Susan, Tim Johnson couldn't make it. Thune is very impressive, no wonder President Bush handpicked him to run against Johnson.
I didn't get to listen to Rush today, but SuzanneC told me Rush did mention SD voter fraud...fingers crossed this story grows legs the size of Hillary's.
paid... by WHOM??
This person needs to be severely GRILLED!!
I emailed the reporter who wrote this article and asked if her reporters had checked to find out if Villega, aka Duta, is registered to vote under both names.
I hope the Thune campaign can use this in some way to his advantage, but of course the South Dakota Democrats will claim they and Tom Daschle know nothing about it, aren't responsible, and moved quickly to dismiss the only person implicated.
The best way the GOP and Thune can make mileage with Indian voters is to point out how little Daschle, Johnson, and Bill Clinton did to improve Indians' impoverished lives. Bill Clinton did his "Poverty Tour" in 1999, spent a few hours on a reservation, with Tom Daschle holding his hand. Far as Iknow, that's the most memorable thing Clinton did for them. Oh, and one of his saxophones is on display in Keystone, South Dakota.
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