An election scam
Both parties are ignoring yet more stories of massive voter fraud--much of which was carried out through illegal manipulation of absentee ballots-- that seem to be getting worse each election cycle.
THE SHOCK OF LAST Tuesday's election still hasn't worn off in Washington. Republicans can barely contain their excitement, and Democrats are wondering what went wrong. Meanwhile, both parties are ignoring yet more stories of massive voter fraud--much of it carried out through illegal manipulation of absentee ballots--that seem to get worse each election cycle.
A blizzard of chads in Florida two years ago obscured news reports of a political hack for Al Gore bribing the homeless in Wisconsin with cigarettes to vote for the veep. And while federal investigators were chasing phantom charges of disenfranchisement of African-Americans in the Sunshine State, college students in the Midwest and snowbirds in Florida were freely telling the press that they had illegally cast multiple votes.
They had reason to make such bold admissions. Cheating is so easy and the prosecution of vote fraud is so rare that the payoff--electoral victory--far outweighs the fear of punishment. The smoke-pushing Wisconsin Democrat was fined just $5,000 and got no jail time. And those paid-for votes were still counted for Mr. Gore.
Late last month, Milwaukee's NBC affiliate filmed Democratic campaign workers handing out cash and free food to residents at a home for the mentally ill. After a rousing game of bingo, the patients were ushered into another room by their Democratic hosts and handed absentee ballots. But the most outrageous tale this year comes out of South Dakota, where authorities are investigating hundreds of cases of suspected vote fraud.
Republican John Thune lost to incumbent Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson by just 528 votes. Mr. Thune had a comfortable lead at 2 a.m. Wednesday morning with just three counties left to report. Those areas just happened to be where the Johnson campaign had worked hard to register Indians living on reservations--the center of the vote-fraud probe. Dewey County election officials told The Wall Street Journal's John Fund that they had received "a huge envelope of 350 absentee ballot applications postmarked from the Sioux Falls office of the Democratic Party." That county's attorney says that many of the absentee ballot applications were filled out in the same handwriting.
Denise Red Horse, who died in a Sept. 3 car crash, somehow managed to apply for an absentee ballot on Sept. 21--in two different counties. Both applications were mailed from Democratic headquarters, where a party worker was found with a history filled with local names. Many of those listed in the book ended up registering to vote, which contributed to this statistical oddity: The number of people on the voting rolls in Dewey and Ziebach counties far exceeded the 2000 Census count of residents over the age of 18.
Absentee balloting, which accounted for just 5 percent of the vote 20 years ago, now accounts for 30 percent. University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato calls absentee voting "the preferred choice of those who commit voter fraud." In an attempt to get more people to the polls, 29 states don't require voters to state any good reason to receive an absentee ballot. Those states--thankfully, Virginia isn't one--have exchanged low voter turnout for a temptation to fraud. Imagine the fun party operatives will have if the idea of Internet voting ever catches on.
Every phony vote--and hundreds of thousands, at least, are manufactured each election--cancels out a legitimate one. It is the ultimate disenfranchisement--nothing less than the hijacking of democracy that corrupts the legitimacy of our government. It seems particularly outrageous on this Veterans Day, a mockery of American soldiers' sacrifice.
President Bush last month signed a bill that will help states pay for new voting machines and update voter databases to help detect fraud. But that will all be for naught if states pass out absentee ballots like cupcakes and continue to put a low priority on the prosecution of election cheaters.
Date published: Mon, 11/11/2002
There should be a record of her voting then in both counties. That needs to be checked out. If found to be true, that should be enough for Thune to go ahead with a contest.
We need South Dakota and Louisiana to get to 53. In 2004 we have the potential to pick up a few more Senate seats as more incumbent Democrats then Republicans are up for reelection. We may get real close to a filibuster proof 60.
Why aren't the Republicans making a bigger deal of this. Are there any suggestions of GOP voting fraud that I haven't seen?
VOTE FRAUD BUMP.
Cross-link here:
Bush and the Republicans have been curiously silent about this matter. I can only assume that there are things going behind the scenes that we do not yet know about. Let's hope this thing is blown wide open and that John Thume gets the senate seat that he evidently earned.
voted DEM REP LIB dem%
bennett 3554 36.3 2264 2369 1435 60.6 1609 0899 694 16 55.9
buffalo 2014 41.3 1182 1123 0849 75.6 0793 0631 153 09 79.6
-corson 4221 36.9 2663 2569 1459 56.8 1579 0983 573 23 62.3
--dewey 6049 38.9 3696 4129 2694 65.2 2299 1678 598 23 73.0
shannon12783 45.3 6992 6990 5556 79.5 3118 2856 248 14 91.6
---todd 9269 44.0 5191 4884 3521 72.1 2508 2027 464 17 80.8
ziebach 2517 40.6 1495 1606 0975 60.7 0978 0648 321 09 66.3
Column 1: county name
Column 2: 2001 population estimate by US Census Bureau
Column 3: % of people under 18
Column 4: estimated eligible voters
Column 5: 2002 Registration rolls (S. Dakota elections website)
Column 6: Registered Democrats (same source)
Column 7: % of Democrats registered in each county
Column 8: Number voting in the US Senate election
Columns 9-11: those voting for each party in Senate race
Column 12: the Democratic percentage of the vote tally
Note that in Bennett, Dewey, Todd counties, the registrations outnumber the eligible population. In Shannon county, it's practically a tie.
Note that in Buffalo, Corson, Dewey, Shannon, Todd, and Ziebach counties, the percentage of Democratic votes easily outpaced the Democratic registration percentage.
TO BE FAIR: the S. Dakota population is 756,600 (est.), of which 61.1% are 18 or over. That's 462,283 eligible voters.... and there are now 475,984 active registrations on the books (not terribly surprising in a state with a declining population).