FReepers Against Voter Fraud

"The right of citizens to vote and have their vote count is the cornerstone of our democracy - the necessary precondition of government of the people, by the people and for the people. Enforcing the laws that guarantee voting rights and punish voting fraud is the duty of the Department of Justice. More than mere law enforcement, our responsibility to protect the access to and integrity of elections is the responsibility of upholding freedom itself.

America is a nation whose founding documents and most inspired words uphold the ideal of democratic self-government as a model for the world. The opening phrases of the Declaration of Independence declare that governmental power, if it is to be just, must be derived from the consent of the governed. The Constitution begins, purposefully and deliberately, with these three words: "We the people . . ."

America has failed too often to uphold the right of every citizen's vote, once cast, to be counted fairly and equally. Votes have been bought, voters intimidated and ballot boxes stuffed. The polling process has been disrupted or not completed. Voters have been duped into signing absentee ballots believing they were applications for public relief. And the residents of cemeteries have infamously shown up at the polls on election day.

Today, it is more important than ever before that we embrace the privilege that makes us unique among the peoples, nations and societies of human history. Our way of life is not a given, and our freedom is not an accident. Liberty is a rare gift for which millions have worked and suffered and sacrificed and died. It now falls to us to guard this gift from those who would destroy it. It falls to us, the free, to ensure that the cornerstone of our freedom - government of the people, by the people, and for the people - does not perish from the earth."

It has been quite a month and overall a victorious one for Republicans. The new year looms bright on the horizon with the promise of much needed changes taking place now that we have the majority in both the House and Senate and with the opportunity to finally have some conservative judges seated who will uphold the Constitution rather than legislating the socialist agenda of the Democrats from the bench and Tiny Tommy Daschle and his obstructionist thugs have been spanked soundly and sent to their room in a manner of speaking.

While we had several days of delirious gloating, drunk on the thrill of a hard earned and well-deserved victory, we know all too well that the election and the events leading up to it were not without incident and once again the deck was stacked against us as the Democrats tried every trick in the book in a shameless effort at stealing yet another election. With the blatant disregard for the law so characteristic of them when it obstructs their designs, they managed to get a liberal kangaroo court to uphold the replacement of Torricelli on the ballot in New Jersey beyond the legal deadline for doing so for no other reason than having determined that the scandal and corruption surrounding Torricelli rendered him incapable of winning. In Minnesota, prior to Paul Wellstone's ill-fated final flight, a plan was uncovered that had Democrats busing in students from out of state to take advantage of Minnesota's same day voter registration and vote illegally for Paul Wellstone. Even as this was being revealed, the campaign was underway to push a similar same day registration legislation in Colorado and California, thereby opening new opportunities for illegal voting in those states. In South Dakota Democrat operatives (sorry, I cannot bring myself to use the word "Democratic") paid a field worker in excess of $12,000 over a period of 3 months to register native Americans on the reservations. It was later discovered that many registration cards that had been turned in by that worker had been written in the same handwriting. Among the newly registered was at least one who was recently deceased. This and other irreglarities that were uncovered in South Dakota has led to 1 out of 10 ballots there being under investigation. Fish need water, plants need sunshine, an addict needs a fix and Democrats need power and these three cases are just samples of the extent to which they will go to get it.

The idea for this thread was born following the Arkansas Hog Wild FReepers' discovery of organized intimidation tactics on the part of Democrat and NAACP operatives in Jefferson County, Arkansas as relayed by FReeper, stop_the_rats, a Republican poll watcher who gained undesired and unfair national notoriety during early voting, and by a Republican campaign worker who "infiltrated" the Clinton led, pre-election campaign "event" there. The original story was posted as part of the after-FReep report with more detail added in a post-election update. The story generated such outrage that the thread turned into a FReeper brainstorm as we labored over how we might counteract the dishonest methods employed by the Democrats to hijack elections. The effort yielded an abundance of references and it was generally agreed that voter fraud is, or at least should be, of great concern to all of us. There is a strong probability that the South Dakota election was stolen and in Arkansas the fraud machine was spinning out of control and may well have cost Tim Hutchinson his senate seat as well, despite the shadow cast over him in the wake of his divorce and remarriage. Chances are that we'll never know. Thankfully neither of these races ended up being the tie-breaker that would determine the balance of power in the Senate, but either could have been and had that been the case, you can bet it would have gotten really ugly and may have produced an entirely different outcome.

Even as the Democrats are still licking their wounds and wondering what on Earth happened on November 5, they are already scrambling and scheming and conniving as to ways to prevent our intercepting their next power grab in 2004. This is revealed in their ongoing efforts to block any attempt to validate a voter's legitimacy whether it be by requiring a legal form of ID at the polls, the repeal of motor voter legislation, cracking down on absentee balloting and early voting, doing away with same day registration or by the presence of poll watchers at polling places. In every case they play the race card crying "black voter intimidation" when in reality they are simply thrashing against the net that could trap those guilty of voting illegally thereby inhibiting travel on their familiar roads of voter fraud. Thankfully, Republicans were more diligent this year and undoubtedly made an impact. More questionable ballots were challenged, more questions raised, more accountability called for and more light shed on irregularities. Until recently, prosecution for voter fraud has been virtually unheard of, but that is starting to change. There have been hundreds of stories published over the past several weeks relating to voting irregularities and credible allegations of fraud. Some have led to criminal charges being filed and still others have led to investigations which are ongoing. While it is unlikely that all election fraud can be stopped, it is much harder for it operate under a spotlight, which is exactly why we must each do our part to make sure that the spotlight stays on those "shadowy" recesses where voting machines mysteriously vanish, ballot boxes are obscured from view and the demons of electoral darkness run amok.

It was suggested that the opening remarks of Attorney General John Ashcroft be used as the basis of our mission statement for this thread. In these precarious times when we are at war and we are threatened daily by terrorism, our liberty has become more precious than ever and we must be vigilant to protect it not only from foreign invaders, but also from those who would erode it from within by compromising the integrity of our elections. In order to succeed in a battle it is essential to know the enemy and attack at the point of greatest vulnerability. Included here is a list of links, which while by no means exhaustive, can serve to enlighten. Many of these stories are from Arkansas only because this was the springboard for this thread and we look forward to other FReepers adding stories from their own areas as well as any based in personal experience. The original thread also produced a wealth of resources as we discussed who we should contact if we became aware of voting irregularities or suspected fraud. Again the list of links is far from comprehensive and additions are welcome. Of course the whole point of this exercise is to get more conservative voters involved in changing the laws to close loopholes which make it easy to cheat, to promote the enforcement of existing election laws and to take part in the election process at the local level all with the goal of intercepting future fraud campaigns. In other words our goal is to STOP THE RATS FROM HIJACKING THE ELECTION PROCESS AND TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK!

Many thanks to all the wonderful FReepers who contributed their time, energy and ideas to produce the foundation for this thread:

Awareness- know thy enemy! If any of these links become outdated many of these articles are posted on the original FReep thread. If you let me know via FReepmail, I will make editorial adjustments accordingly before renewing the thread.

Access One reason the Democrats get away with as much as they do is because they make a lot of noise. It is time WE make some noise of our own. There are a number of individuals, organizations and media sources who support our Constitution and seek to protect the integrity of our elections. Here are a few of them. Rather than clutter the body of this thread with a long list of email addresses, I will post the websites. Most of these have contacts and email addresses on them.

Election Law Below is a very brief list of some election laws and guidelines which we have referenced recently. I am sure this section will grow considerably as others add their contributions.

Action What can FReepers do? For starters we can identify states that will have key races in the 2004 election. Is your state one of them? Let's start getting important information about the race, the candidates, the electoral history of the state, the laws in that state and how open they may leave the process to tampering, history of voter fraud in the state, conservative media outlets there, and whatever else you can think of that might be relevant to equip the electorate to head off problems in advance.

Democrats LIE! Their biggest and most effective lie is that Republicans are deliberately trying to prevent blacks and/or other minorities from voting. In effect, they're calling us racists. The truth is that it is them who seem to consider blacks and other minorities so inferior and ignorant and lackiing in initiative that they are incapable of voting without the benefit of THEIR "guidance" and "protection". Their greatest fear is that blacks will recognize how badly they've been duped and insulted by these people and leave the party in droves. We need to work with that. Black conservatives have perhaps the greatest responsibility for telling other black voters the truth about the Democrat party, although it is certainly something we should all work on.

Talk about election fraud. Bring it up whenever an opportunity presents itself. Keep a notebook at all times and if someone tells you anything pointing to vote fraud, get more details. Write down such things as county, precinct, candidates in the race, name of the witness and whatever else you can think of. If it seems credible, report it to someone.

Take part in the process. Here is a list of suggestions that stop_the_rats posted on another thread:

1. Plan to take election day off in 2004.
2. Be a poll worker. You get paid for this.
3. Be a poll watcher. Call your local Republican headquarters or the campaign office of one of your Republican candidates and volunteer to be a poll watcher.
4. Count absentee ballots. You get paid for this also.
5. Be a poll closer. It's a long day. Some people who can't poll watch because of work, could agree to come after work for 2 hours and close the polls to give poll watchers a break. Get final counts and make sure no "late" voters turn up.
6. Take lunches to poll workers and poll watchers.
7. Man the headquarters so if problems arise, poll workers or watchers have a place to call for help. Have a list of numbers: local election officals, state officals.
8. Find a person who will agree to "be in charge" of all the rules poll watchers and poll workers need to follow. Each state has rules and in some cases, state election representatives will come to your city and give a presentation.
9. Encourage others to get involved.
10. Smile; we have them worried!

Some might want to take it a step furthur, if that is an option in your area, and be an election judge. Or you may have specific talents and training that you could donate to the cause, such as legal assistance and advice.

Finally; ask questions. FReepers have an uncanny ability to ask the right questions in most any situation AND to find answers and we have an inexhaustable resource right here on Free Republic. Here are just a few questions to start with.

"How do we work to get cooperation between poll watchers and workers and clarify expectations on all sides BEFORE an election?"

"How can you prove fraud? What is legal in a given state (photos, tape recording, witness statements, compiling a list of names, video taping)?"

"If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)

FReepers; your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get out there and STOP THE RATS!

Here's Gray Davis's solution to voter fraud.

http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/ademocra.htm

California Governor's Race: A Democratic Party Art Form – Inventing Voters

Patrick Mallon
Monday, Aug. 26, 2002

This is the seventh article in a weekly series on the California governor's race. See previous articles:

Tammany Hall's Next Target – Simon's Faith (8/16)
California Governor's Race: Defying the Lies as Bombs Fly (8/9)
Stealth Agenda Trumps Academic Success in Schools (8/2)
Simon Survives Attacks, Davis Cons for Cash (7/26)
Paralyzed From Facing Reality (7/19)
California: Wanted! An Ethical Governor. Apply Within (7/15)

For starters, we're all aware that there are no ID requirements to vote in California, right? Everyone knew that. When I went to vote last March, just for fun, I said to one of the poll workers who found my name on the precinct list, "Why don't you ask me for identification to prove I am who I say I am?" In return all I got was a puzzled look, a smile, and "Oh, we're not supposed to ask that."

The other workers looked at me as if I was from another planet. How dare I ask such a question. What a troublemaker!

I asked, "What happens if someone wants to vote and their name is not on your list, say they just moved to the neighborhood and hadn't changed their address?" "Well, we give them a provisional ballot," she said.

In other words, anyone, from anywhere, legal or illegal, felon or foreigner, can request a ballot and vote, no questions asked.

In general, in all states, in order to register to vote, an applicant must be a U.S. citizen, a legal resident of the state, and 18 years old on or before Election Day. Simple verification, a simpleton might think, would be a validated photo ID.

But then this is California.

An Obvious Problem Meets the Immoral Silence

Like the hush-hush over the billions of dollars taxpayers fork over for services to illegal immigrants and others who do not file state taxes, the problem of vote fraud is like that huge, cankerous pimple on one's nose. It's just not there no matter how much the mirror lies.

Nannette Moffett, a member of the Voter Integrity Project and a columnist with the Nevada Policy Research Institute, had the following to say about California elections in "Voter Security: A Right Precariously Balanced."

"The INS turned over to Congress a list of more than 500,000 people who were not legal citizens on Election Day in 1996 but who appeared on voter registration files for Orange County, California, in the battleground race between Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D) and former Rep. Robert Dornan (R).

"The man accused of killing Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was a Mexican citizen who was registered to vote in two California cities."

The Gray Davis Solution to Vote Fraud

Latest word is that Gov. Davis is about to sign into law AB60, a bill that would give driver's licenses to up to 1 million illegal immigrants. Under existing law, an applicant must provide a Social Security Number to a DMV official to obtain a license.

AB60 would WAIVE this requirement. As a driver's license is the key to quasi-legitimacy in the eyes of law enforcement, and state agencies have effectively been intimidated from inquiring into an individual's lawful or unlawful presence, possession of a driver's license operates as de facto entry into the U.S.

Now, what was it Clinton signed into law in 1993? Oh yeah, the Motor Voter act that "makes it possible for Federal, State, and local governments … to enhance the participation of eligible citizens as voters in elections."

This "enhancement" is now in many cases interpreted to mean that ANYONE can register to vote at the DMV.

As the law states, "An application for, or a renewal of, a driver's license will serve as an application for voter registration unless the applicant does not sign the voter registration application portion of the form."

So, who's stopping a technically ineligible applicant from signing the form? There are no background checks, and there's no stopping anyone from assuming a false identity.

Ms. Moffat's 1996 article concluded prophetically: "Attorney General Janet Reno was asked by GOP Rep. Ed Royce to investigate non-citizen voting in California. But Assistant Attorney General Sheila Anthony retorted with 'there is no federal law that expressly requires voters to be citizens.' "

So, non-citizens can vote, and ballot-stuffing Marxists have been pushing the envelope ever since.

How Do the 'Civil Rights' Groups View Verification of Identity?

The sheer outrage of having to prove you are who you say you are to vote doesn't sit too well with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF).

Back in February when the U.S. Senate was debating the Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act of 2001, MALDEF contested the provision that states would be required to establish a photo ID program for individuals who register to vote by mail.

According to MALDEF Vice President of Public Policy Vibiana Andrade, "Not only do Latinos have less access to the documents required, they will be subject more often to its requirements." Huh? You mean since they don't legally qualify to vote, they have no obligation to obey the law like other voters, Ms. Andrade?

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) membership chimed in and requested that their membership support the Wyden-Schumer amendment opposing the photo ID program requirement.

Mr. Wyden, in a disingenuous ploy to reward vote fraud, said that a mere signature verification was an acceptable alternative to a photo ID for first-time voters casting ballots by mail.

So if you can spell (preferably with a pen), you can vote. And if you need help, someone can do it for you, since we're apparently on the honor system here.

It is beyond extraordinary that the franchise – the right to vote, a cherished privilege – should have its integrity reduced to such tawdry and pathetic subterfuge.

Easy Street at the DMV

According to the California DMV website, here's what appears following the question "Can I register to vote at DMV?"

Yes, when applying for or renewing your driver license or identification card at any DMV office, you have the opportunity of registering to vote. It is important to note that if you are registering to vote for the first time, changing your name or political party, or have moved to a new county, you must also complete a Voter Registration form to update the SOS Elections Division database.

Give your completed Voter Registration form to a technician, and DMV will mail it to the SOS Elections Division office for updating.

There is no mention of identification, eligibility, residency. Just mail it in. Isn't it great how proactive the DMV can be?

What the Cryptkeeper and Davis Don't See

Back on the election front, Garry South's depraved arrogance manifests itself as the Davis team's symbiotic cryptkeeper. The alter ego and architect of boorish shakedowns and brazen demands for cash, South makes no bones about his disdain for California voters and his insatiable thirst for ad buys: "The airwaves rule, and voters don't know anything unless they are told."

Got it, Larry. We don't have a clue, so we'll rely on you. Voters would be sensible in examining how loony Cynthia McKinney misread the negative effects her statements and policies had on constituencies she took for granted. Now she's out of a job.

In "Less-Educated Women Gravitating Toward GOP," published Aug. 19 in the San Diego Tribune, Dana Wilkie said: "Instead of supporting the party that strives to champion diversity, welfare and labor laws, these women in recent years have been voting more for Republicans. Democrats are trying to figure out why."

In the article, Wilkie quoted Anna Greenberg, a vice president at the Democratic polling group of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. "People who are less educated tend to be more socially conservative, they're more pro-life, and they're more religious."

Perhaps Hispanic voters, a traditional lock for Democrats, are seeing through the compost as well, and will act accordingly. It's one thing to be used, it's quite another to be called stupid.

Democrats Do It Because They Can – Got It, Punk?

Average Californians scratch their heads and ask WHY Davis insults the majority with policies clearly contrary to their best interests. It's not that hard to figure out.

Davis must sustain his own brew of injustice to placate the racial and cultural feelings that anchor his political power. There is more than enough money coming from quiet interests who want to undermine and anger the value system of those he seeks to destroy. And he's succeeding, due to the frothing aggression of energized activists who behave as a law unto themselves.

This doesn't mean he'll win in November, only that he is pulling out all the stops.

Too bad the GOP doesn't fight as dirty. And if they did, the legal vultures and opportunists at MALDEF and LULAC would hurl vile invective at Republicans, Bill Simon, whites and anyone else they could falsely accuse of racism.

Proposition 187, the measure that would have denied public benefits to illegal immigrants, passed in 1994 by a 60 percent margin. Today it is now used as the anti-GOP Tar Baby to prevent any and all dialogue about compliance with immigration laws, voting regulations, and responsibility for extraordinary taxpayer burdens in a time of budget bankruptcy.

"Proposition 187 was the last gasp of white America in California." Sounds racist, don't you think? Want to know who said it?

Art Torres, before 400 cheering Latinos at U.C. Riverside on Jan. 14, 1995. Guess where Mr. Torres is today? Why, he's the chairman of the California Democratic Party, a welcoming, progressive, thoughtful, balanced and tolerant organization, dedicated to the California promise and civil dialogue.

So the befitting way to close is to lighten up, be like Dr. Seuss and say: I could be you, you could be me, so pass me a ballot, no need for ID.

"We could skip registration, increase voting, and prevent fraud at the same time. Every American citizen has a social security number. We could put that number on driver's licenses and ID cards. Poll workers could take voters' social security numbers when they vote. A computer could scan the votes to verify that each social security number voted only once. It's simple. Too simple."

Article:

American Apartheid

Planet Obispo © 1994

by Jeff McMahon

Millions of black South Africans stood in lines a mile long to vote for the first time in history. The images zipped around the world and struck my retinas, and I thought of George Washington.

He's probably dead today, but George Washington was spry when I met him six years ago. He was 98 years old, black, and he had never voted.

I was 24 years old, white, and brimming with more verve than I could fit into the Merced Sun-Star, the daily newspaper I worked for at the time. So I spent my weekends in South Merced, the ghetto, filling out voter registration forms. It was a way to meet people, exercise my fanaticism about voting, and find Merced's untold stories.

As I filled out George Washington's form, I asked him why he'd never registered before.

"No one ever offered," he said.

I knew then that George was a newcomer to Merced, because another elderly man I registered had said to me, "One of you guys came around here right after the war."

"Vietnam?" I asked.

"World War II."

A few years later the League of Women Voters invited me to a forum at the library in San Luis Obispo. Its goal was to get more people to vote.

We broke into discussion groups. Mine included an arch-liberal county supervisor and an arch-conservative North County newspaper publisher. We volleyed ideas about getting more people to vote. I was stoked. I knew about this subject, had opinions about it, and finally had someone to talk to.

"Eliminate voter registration," I said.

Their eyes said a silent "What?"

"Eliminate voter registration. Make it so people can just go to the polls and vote. It's too complicated now. People don't know the rules. They forget to register 30 days ahead of the election. And it's all unnecessary. Just let them go to the polls on election day and vote."

I might as well have advocated free love.

"We can't do that," the conservative publisher said.

"There will be fraud," the liberal supervisor said.

"There's nothing stopping fraud now," I said.

It's true. People think voter registration prevents fraud. It doesn't. Nothing keeps anyone from registering under 20 names and voting 20 times. I have never once been asked for identification to register or to vote. The only thing voter registration prevents is voting.

We could skip registration, increase voting, and prevent fraud at the same time. Every American citizen has a social security number. We could put that number on driver's licenses and ID cards. Poll workers could take voters' social security numbers when they vote. A computer could scan the votes to verify that each social security number voted only once. It's simple. Too simple.

There may be a great argument against this idea, but I haven't heard it yet. The discussion group didn't like it. They suggested giving people buttons or lollipops when they vote, dropping registration forms at businesses, and getting newspapers, radio, and television stations to spread news about how to register.

I slouched. It's been tried. It's failed.

The League recruited a spectrum of citizens for its forum, but it missed one vital groupópeople who don't vote. I realized the people in the discussion group don't know people who don't vote. And people who don't vote don't know people who sit in discussion groups.

America has many cultures. One culture controls the post office, the county building, the daily newspaper, and the polling place. I'm not talking about race either. The mainstream culture may be largely white, but it includes other colors. People who don't vote include racial minorities, but also poor people, young people, and just about everyone else whose views have never echoed from a politician's mouth.

The mainstream culture has never spoken to the cultures that don't vote. If it did, it would probably just hand out another incomprehensible government form.

I developed my radical notions about voting, apparently, because I talked to people who don't vote. Then I, too, became incomprehensible to the people in discussion groups.

"All they have to do is go to the post office," the liberal supervisor said.

The fellow who hadn't registered since World War II didn't know to go to the post office or the county building to register. Neither did George Washington. And they weren't stupid. They were just different.

They didn't walk the halls of government buildings, and they didn't read the daily newspaper. They didn't know how to vote, and they weren't interested in wrestling the bureaucracy to find out. Those of us who ply the bureaucracy daily think it's a simple thing. It's not. For millions of Americans, the government is a thing to avoid.

Forms, registration deadlines, and consolidated precincts discourage people from voting. The question is, does the government and the culture that steers it discourage voting on purpose? I suspect it's largely ignorance of the way other people live. But it also works for them. It wins elections. It allows one culture to dominate the government, while projecting the image of the world's most free and honest elections. Some wily groups, like the Republican Party, have figured this out.

"I'm a Republican, and I really don't want more people to vote," the conservative publisher said during the League forum. People laughed, but he had spoken the only truth I heard there.

When I registered people in South Mercedóblack, white, Latino, and Laotianóalmost 80 percent signed up as Democrats. The next largest group picked "decline to state." Republicans fared best among the communist-fleeing Laotians, but overall they remained as scarce as Independents and Libertarians. I figured out quickly why Republicans oppose easy voting.

Later that year the Grand Old Party posted armed guards at Orange County polling places. The guards would prevent fraud, the party said. Imagine yourself a farmworker in Orange County, a new citizen more accustomed to the bloody elections of Guatemala or El Salvador, who goes to vote for the first time and sees a uniform and a gun.

Meanwhile, the sun rains down on black South Africans standing in line five hours to vote, bombs exploding around them. I think of George Washingtonóa wise and well-spoken black man, alive in America since 1890, named after the "father of our country"ówho had never voted.

It's not that we don't have apartheid in America. It's just that our apartheid is subtle.

http://homepage.mac.com/jmcmahon/Education7.html

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