September 29, 2004

Voter Fraud: Florida, San Francisco Too

Suzanne C. of Phoenix sent me links to a number of stories from around the country about voter fraud and highly-questionable voter registration practices:

5 ballots in mayor's race linked to the dead: Number is small, but analysis shows S.F. system lacking - San Francisco Chronicle, March 1, 2004.

Anna Greggains said she remembers filling out an absentee ballot in last year's mayoral election, and records from the San Francisco Department of Elections show that her husband, Arthur, did the same - which would be unremarkable, except that Mr. Greggains died in May at the age of 83. "I don't know who did it,'' said Greggains, 87, audibly shocked at the possibility. "I know I didn't do it.'' She said she does not recall even seeing a ballot arrive at their longtime home in his name.

A Democratic group crucial to John Kerry's presidential campaign has paid felons - some convicted of sex offenses, assault and burglary - to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in at least three election swing states. America Coming Together, contending that convicted criminals deserve a second chance in society, employs felons as voter canvassers in major metropolitan areas in Missouri, Florida, Ohio and perhaps in other states among the 17 it is targeting in its drive. Some of the felons lived in halfway houses, and at least four returned to prison.

GREENSBORO, Ala. - Dozens of absentee voters in the Aug. 24 Greensboro municipal election had vacant addresses or had suddenly changed from a county to city address. t least 40 people, for example, applied for absentee ballots with addresses between 1108 and 1138 Ward Street - a block filled with several small mobile homes, The Tuscaloosa News reported in Sunday's editions.

ORLANDO - Local politicians call him the absentee ballot king. Before each election, Ezzie Thomas appears at the homes of hundreds of black voters and picks up their absentee ballots. … But now Thomas' tactics in the spring Orlando mayoral election are at the center of a controversy that once again has put Florida elections in the national spotlight. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated Thomas, closed its case, then reopened it. Now the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights are investigating the FDLE investigation.

TALLAHASSEE -- Teastie Fowler's name is signed to a petition to repeal the high-speed rail amendment in March, but it's not likely she actually signed it. She's dead. Miami-Dade officials rejected Fowler's and seven other signatures because the voters were dead when they purportedly signed. Those are among thousands sitting in reject piles in county election supervisor offices across Florida as obvious forgeries, duplicates or nonregistered voters.