"I think there should be a literacy test and a poll tax for people to vote." – Ann Coulter, Hannity & Colmes, 8/17/99. Alternate sourcing dates this quote to 1997.
If Coulter's "literacy test" included a section on filling out address forms and noting the legalese there, it is beginning to look like Coulter would be a candidate to fail. Brad Friedman at BradBlog.com has been putting the screws to Ann Coulter and he has been diligent in documenting a possible trail of deception on Coulter's part. Ann Coulter is still making money off her stuff, though, so somebody likes it.
Felony didn't hurt Martha Stewart, either, so don't look for Ann Coulter to be knocked off her perch by any of what I'm preparing to tell you.
Brad Friedman has demonstrated, with documentation, that Ann Coulter may have committed voter fraud in the State of Florida. This is a crime, a 3rd degree felony. It may have been because Coulter didn't feel the need to read the legalese – usually automatic for a trained lawyer, I'd think, or anyone reasonably literate.
Normally I write about crime, and the people who read my writing aren't usually interested in something like voter fraud. Sure, it's a crime, but not the stuff of riveting crime stories. Still, Brad Friedman obtained documentation, and that got my interest. Part of the fascination of crimeblogging, for me, has always been attempting to document, in some fashion, some element of whatever crime is being discussed.
Coulter's reaction to the issue also got my attention in this article by Michelle Pilecki at HuffPo. Pilecki, in a piece about the mainstream media finally noticing what to many liberal bloggers was old news, quotes an exchange Coulter had with Alan Colmes that was just plain bizarre:
COLMES: You're talking about godless liberals not having values, not being values people. In light of that you've been in the news a little bit lately, accused by election supervisor Arthur Anderson in Palm Beach of voting in the wrong district and not answering a registered letter that they sent to you. And they say that you might have committed a felony. So could you address those charges and tell us what happened?
COULTER: I think the syphilis has gone to their brains.
Article comments
1 - sal m
if this woman didn't say stupid things nobody would listen to her...
perhaps the palm beach county prosecutor who went after rush limbaugh for his pill addiction could go after coulter, especially since "the right" - or "the left" - doesn't have a branch of government.
2 - Maurice
Of course Ann is "a performer, an actor". So are all the people in the media. It is precisely for that reason that I got rid of my TV.
3 - Eric Olsen
excellent, thanks Steve - really glad to see you back!
4 - Scott Butki
Steve, great post. I had not heard about these allegations but it does not surprise me
at all. What is the punishment if she is found guilty of these allegations?
5 - Dave Nalle
So let's see, a controversial public figure who gets regular death threats from crazed leftists takes simple basic precautions to protect herself by keeping her address out of public records and now it's a terrible crime of some sort?
Could you be any more desperate to find something to discredit her? She must really be getting to the left if they'll go to this kind of length to find trivial offenses.
Dave
6 - Nancy
In fact, is there any move by the Florida DOJ to prosecute, or is this all just sound & fury & therefore moot?
It puzzles me why anyone on either end (or at any point) of the political spectrum would want to be represented by venal spokesmaggots, and allow such scum to presume to speak for them. Pity there weren't some way to pull the plug on all these self-anointed Talking Heads & Pundits.
7 - DrPat
I might even have purchased Coulter's book, except that I read the jacket leaf to learn that she lumps the teaching of evolution in the schools with "liberal godlessness". Apparently, that is also branded "religion of the left" in her opinion.
Brash, noisy and careless of feelings I knew she was. I never realized that she was willing to be deliberately ignorant in the pursuit of her own rhetorical goals.
8 - JOHN THOMAS GILLICK
LOOKING FOR A WAY TO DEAL WITH OUTBREAKS OF COULTERGEIST ACTIVITY?
TRY THIS ...
Just stop talking about A** C******.
Really. Stop altogether.
The best way of dealing with the phenomenon is silence and dismissal.
Don't buy her books, don't read her work, don't review it, don't discuss it, don't discuss her. If you happen to be a professional member of the chattering classes, don’t appear with her on talk shows, don't engage her in debate, dialogue, arguments, faces-offs or whatever. And when the subject of A** C****** comes up - disregard it. If asked about her, ignore the question calmly; wait patiently for the next question on another subject. Pressed for an opinion, yield none. Charged with being “afraid to engage” the issue, smile and wait. The best public statement on A** C****** is DEAD AIR.
Make some.
Then, move on - and leave her ranting to her choir.
More even than on the cheers of her sad supporters, the creature lives for and feeds on the outrage of the easily-baited.
And no productive purpose is served by feeding its need for that attention.
Don't be so weak as to succumb to her provocations. You have better uses for your time and energy.
We all do.
MOVE ON.
And when others raise the question of what to do about A** C****** ... say, “nothing.”
Or ... just say nothing at all.
9 - Steve Huff
John, I wrote the piece, but you know, I think that's a pretty damn good idea, anyway. I may just use it.
Steve H.
10 - ed
Um, what is the big deal? There is probably as much of this sort of so-called "voter fraud" as their are places to vote!
Has no one moved to a new address then voted at the old polling place before updating their address? Happens all the time. And if the mainstream media gets around to reporting this - instead of some left-wing site called Bradblog which begins "Republican extremist/hate-monger, Ann Coulter..." (so much for objective reporting) - I'm sure we'll learn it amounted to nothing more than this.
Let's see... no mention of jail, no mention of a trial. I'm assuming there was just a hearing and the case is closed. Why is this even an issue?
11 - beadtot
The families of the 911 victims might indeed be gay. When comments are elicited upon demand from subjects such as A. C. might be, only fragments of thoughts and ideas are vocalized, and the demandants make full use of the "that's what you said" intimidation formulas. She really appears to be sick herself.
12 - Dave Nalle
Oh Steve and lefties all, embrace Coulter. She may be a horrible bitch and creepy as hell, but you've GOT to admit she's fun in a one-woman media circus kind of way. I mean, what would you have to react to if she wasn't out there spouting extreme craziness? Hell, the left needs her more than anyone else does.
Dave
13 - t54
Her recent attacks at families of victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11 are done to somehow draw attention to government payouts to people. The fact is businesses received far more money than individuals. Should the airline industry have received a penny because of this? Well, no. But, notice that Ann doesn't address that nor does she address the continuing corporate welfare for the airline industry or many of the the others receiving huge payouts. The political parties stand for nothing and her being allowed to say this without being criticized by at least republicans is proof.
pass these facts along to ann and anyone who supports her, found on: findlaw.com
For example, here are the respective outputs: Of the $38 billion given to all victims, $8.7 billion went to the civilians killed or seriously injured; $1.9 billion, to the emergency responders killed or seriously injured; and $23.3 billion, to the businesses that suffered property or economic injury. (The figures in the Feinberg report differ slightly from the RAND figures.)
And here are the respective inputs: Overall, 42% of the $38 billion came from the government, 7% from charity and 51% from insurance.
14 - Ishmael
She also could be in violation of Federal election law since she is also actively registered to vote in Connecticut.
15 - Sgt Parker
Just to be fair " I am giving away free copies of Ann Coulter "Godless", to anyone who can tell me what her use of the term Harpies, means in the context of her book. At this time 27 copies have been given away and still counting.
16 - Terror-Free Oil
If you don't think that literacy test is a good idea, consider this: 30% of Americans don't know the year 9/11 happened. 5% don't know the date. Those people vote. Still don't think it's a good idea?
"This Is War" by Ann Coulter, September 12, 2001
terrorfreeoil.org - video
17 - Al Barger
Language type tests are perhaps more apt to bias or subjectivity, but I'd definitely support at least a math test for voters- not algebra or trigonometry or anything fancy, just addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
If you're wanting to go in and vote for Senator Smith cause he's promising, say, free health care for all seniors, then I don't think it's unreasonable to expect you to at least prove you have some idea of what you're voting for. If it's going to cost, say, $3300 annually per senior times 67 million geezers, maybe you should be expected to be able to multiply $3300 times 67,000,000 before you have a right to start demanding that everyone else pay for it.
But no, these socialist do-gooders will have none of that. People don't NEED to know anything to vote, just pull that lever marked "D" and that's all you need to know.
Hell, these fools were wanting to throw out the 2000 election results on grounds that a few hundred idiots in Florida might not have had enough sense to figure out even that much, what with the butterfly ballots and all.
18 - larry
rock on ann.i am always in favor of your columns. larry
19 - lee m. thomas
Why did you redact Ann Coulter's Notice of Commencement? It is a public document that anyone can retrieve, just as I did.