At a time when there's a great deal of concern over the vulnerability of electronic voting machines to potential fraud and manipulation, a group of Democratic voter recruiters working for ACORN have reminded us that some people are still trying to steal elections the old fashioned way.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's office in Kansas City handed down indictments against four paid voter recruiters who were part of a project run by left-leaning advocacy groups Project Vote and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which had claimed to have registered 35,000 new voters in low income and minority neighborhoods in the Kansas City area in the past month.
It seems they met their registration quota by filling out false registrations, registering people multiple times — one person was registered seven times — and registering dead people. Kwaim A. Stenson, Dale D. Franklin, Brian Gardner, and Stephanie L. Davis were each charged with two counts of "knowingly and willingly" committing election fraud. Each charge carries a potential five years in prison and $250,000 fine.
ACORN is cooperating with the FBI and local officials in the investigation. Election officials suspect that up to half of these new registrations are fraudulent and they have already thrown out thousands of duplicates and sent letters to 5,000 new registrants to verify their existence.
Missouri has a long history of voter fraud and election problems going back centuries, but more recently, in the 2000 election, where tens of thousands of votes were thrown out, there were registration irregularities, some polling places were left entirely unattended for hours when anyone could have accessed the ballots, and other polling locations were kept open for hours after the official closing time. The 2004 election was even worse, with 16 Democratic party agents and officials in St. Louis alone convicted for a variety of election-related crimes — from buying votes to attempting to kill a witness in a vote fraud case. The Missouri Democratic party was fined by the Federal Election Commission for promoting fraud.
Attempts have been made to reform the electoral system in Missouri, consistently opposed by lawsuits from Democratic party groups. Clearly, Missouri is an electoral disaster and there's no reason to believe it's getting any better, but it's only the tip of the iceberg. The larger concern should be that ACORN and Project Vote are nationwide groups and there's every reason to assume that, in their zeal to impose political change on the country, they may be trying to bring the same kind of fraud and corruption they've practiced in Missouri to the rest of the country as well.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Clavos
Wow!
How come Florida gets all the bad press?
These guys in Missouri have election fraud down to a science.
2 - GEORGE VREELAND HILL
George W. Bush and the Republican way of cover-ups, lies, and more!
Bush will get what he wants no matter what.
Bully.
Break the law.
Lie.
Then come up with reasons why he is right.
Well guess what?
Bush is wrong!
You do not spy on Americans without legal permission.
That is KGB like.
The courts are starting to agree.
You do not go to war with another country without proof of the need for war.
Iraq was no threat to the United States.
Yes, Saddam Hussein was evil and had a lot of people killed, but how many Iraqi citizens have been killed since this war started?
How many of our brave service men and women have been killed in Iraq?
How many more will die?
Iraq right now, is in the worst mess it has ever been in.
This was not the case before Bush started this war.
Hey Bush: This war is against terrorists, not with countries.
WMD? Not there!
Did you know that George W. Bush once made fun of the issue of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
He did, and in front of some shocked people during a black-tie event in 2004.
He said.... (While looking under a piece of furniture) "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere."
Then, while pretending to look out of a window, Bush laughed as he said..... "Nope, no weapons over there."
While he was laughing, there were men and women fighting and dying in Iraq because of WMD.
George W. Bush should be removed from office because of that alone.
Face it, Bill Clinton lied about having sex, and was impeached because of it.
George W. Bush however, did far worse, as he laughed at the very people who are fighting for the United States of America!
Bush laughs at a lot of things.
While we were under attack, he just sat there.
He has no clue about how to run things.
Speaking of running, that is what many Republicans are doing right now.
Running from their own corruption.
How many are in trouble now?
From Nixon/Agnew to Scooter and Cheney, all we get from Republicans are cover-ups, lies, and more.
Even President Reagan's defense secretary, Caspar W. Weinberger, who recently passed away, was so bad, that George H. W. Bush had to bail him out with a pardon to help save the Republican name.
Face it.... the Republican Party is a disgrace.
Time for a change.
It is also time for us to take back our country from the Republican mess that YOU are paying for.
I am,
GEORGE VREELAND HILL
* Here are some tidbits of note:
President Clinton left us SO MUCH money.
Bush spent it all.
The United States is now in debt.
In fact, we have borrowed money from China!
Think about that.
We owe money to China.
A country that sides with North Korea.
That is the Bush spending policy.
Spend, and then owe.
Bush is an idiot.
Did you know that some Republicans will not have their pictures taken with Bush?
True!
They fear being seen with him.
The GOP is falling apart.
Mark Foley, a Republican member (now ex-member) of Congress, has sent many e-mails with perverted sexual content to a sixteen year old boy.
This is the same man who while in Congress, backed a bill that was meant to protect children from child predators.
Foley himself, is a man who preyed on a child with lust.
What is also incomprehensible, is the fact that many Republicans knew of Foley’s behavior, and yet, did not take a hard stand against this until it became public news.
If I had a teenage son and/or daughter, I would not want them to go near any Republican leader for fear of either or both becoming a victim of a sick Republican pervert.
Dennis Hastert, is a typical Republican who thirsts for power.
If he knew of Foley's perverted actions with underage kids before they became public, then he must step down.
However, since he thinks in terms of power more than helping people, he will not step down from his position.
This is the Republican way.
Personal power over the people.
Hunger for money combined with cover-ups, lies, tricks, and more so they can keep their power.
It is sad to see the total mess in Washington and overseas that these Republicans blame on others.
Blame the kids who run errands for them as if to say....."If if it were not for the page program, then those kids would not have been here for Foley and others to exploit them."
Blame Clinton for not doing enough with terrorists, while Bush keeps sending troops to Iraq while North Korea and Iran build massive weapon's programs.
Hey Republicans: If you did not like the job Bill Clinton did, then do something about it.
After all, you have had six years to do it.
Blame, blame, blame.
The real blame is on the Republican Party.
If they do not take responsibility and handle things, then maybe they should all step down.
Ever since Bush has been in office, North Korea has been very busy with their missile and nuke programs.
Because of this, they are now a grave threat to the world.
Iran is also busy doing the same things, only they are more vocal about what they want to do with their weapons.
What has Bush been doing during all of this?
Sending troops to Iraq.
Ha ha, that is real bright.
There were no WMD in Iraq, but we are there anyway instead of going to where the WMD really are.
If Bush just sits there like he did during 9/11, then we will have a catastrophic event somewhere in the world, or a nuke at the doorstep of Los Angeles.
Bush has lost total control of things, and like Iraq, he has no clue how to deal with it.
Our Republican leaders have failed to catch bin Laden, even though Bush said that his capture was a top priority.
When it became evident that bin Laden was not going to be caught any time soon, Bush then said that it did not matter if we capture him.
Say what?
The fact is that Bush changed his mind to save face.
We have left our borders open to let millions of rapists, thieves, loafers, and killers enter our country.
These numbers are since 9/11.
Much of California's bad economy was blamed on Gray Davis, but the fact is, that illegals broke California.
Why was that not stopped?
In New Hampshire, during the 2002 election for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Robert C. Smith, the New Hampshire GOP hired GOP Marketplace of Virginia, to jam another phone bank being used by the state Democratic Party in an effort to turn out voters on behalf of then-governor Jeanne Shaheen on Election Day.
John E. Sununu, the Republican candidate, won a narrow victory.
Wikipedia, a free on-line encyclopedia, states that three men have been convicted of, or pled guilty to, federal crimes and sentenced to prison for their involvement as of 2006. A fourth is under indictment.
However, investigators and those who have followed the scandal closely believe that there were more people involved at the national level.
It has been suggested that some high-ranking Republican Senate leaders were aware, and more recently records showing phone calls from the political operative convicted of engineering the scheme have raised questions as to whether officials in the Bush Administration were involved as well.
According to The Raw Story, the fourth man indicted in this phone-jamming scheme, will argue at trial that the Bush Administration and the national Republican Party gave their approval to the plan, so says a motion filed by his attorney.
CIA leaks.
Bush giving the finger to people.
Would FDR have done that?
Most of us have heard of Rush Limbaugh, the Republican wacko who can't keep his foot out of his mouth.
Limbaugh has been busy questioning the severity of the disease that Michael J. Fox is suffering from, known as Parkinson's.
Limbaugh based his knowledge on the matter by comparing the condition of Fox to a couple of people who also have Parkinson's disease.
Limbaugh is not a doctor, but thinks that he is an expert on Parkinson's because of what he has seen.
The fact is that Michael J. Fox supports Democrats and stem cell research, and Limbaugh is trying to make a fool out of him, thus making another voice for the Democrats look small.
Limbaugh even mimicked the actions of Parkinson's disease in front of a camera.
Think about that!
Limbaugh made fun of Parkinson's disease.
He did that to make the Democrats look small, and the Republicans look big and brave.
Limbaugh, like other Republicans who have questioned the severity of Fox's condition, are very sick people.
They laugh at those who are sick if they are Democrats.
Limbaugh has now blamed the media for the story after millions of people thought his actions to be repulsive.
This is the same Rush Limbaugh who once make racial comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Donovan McNabb, who is African-American.
Limbaugh is obviously an athletic supporter, except he is the kind you wear.
Limbaugh is a typical Republican who will hurt other people to get what he wants.
When Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for office, he said that he would fund his campaign with his own money, and not accept money from outside interests.
Well, as we now know, he took MILLIONS from others while running for office.
These "other" special interest people have more interest in their pockets and their own standing, than in the interests of California.
Arnold's interests are with wealth and fame.
These "others" and Arnold go hand in hand.
I think we also need an answer from Arnold as to why he took two jobs with muscle magazines so soon after taking office.
This was at a time when California needed him the most.
After all, he said he would be there for the people.
Again, it seems that Arnold put himself ahead of California.
Of course we can't forget that when it gets close to election time, we always see many road signs that support Democrats start to disappear.
Hum, I wonder what side the sign thieves are on?
Is this the Republican way of gaining the edge?
Republicans can't stand the truth.
When a topic comes up that exposes them, these cowards will discredit the reporter or change the subject in order to made themselves look good.
Their tactics no longer work.
The people are on to these Republican cowards who can't fess up.
My thoughts on Iran:
Iran may be a threat in the future, but it is not a threat now.
We have time to think about what to do with Iran.
We need to start thinking about the best ways to solve problems in the Middle East, and not create new ones.
Because Bush and the Republican Party have no clue how to fix the mess we are in with Iraq, it is best that he and they do nothing with Iran.
Wait until the voters pick better leaders, and believe me, that will not be a hard thing to do.
George Vreeland Hill
3 - Clavos
Dave,
FYI I Googled Hill. Among other things, he operates a girlie site called George's Top 100 Models.
A wingnut/moonbat.
And a spammer--this is already on another thread.
4 - Dave Nalle
George, perhaps you should write that up as an article and submit it.
As it stands it has little to do with this article, except to point out a common logical fallacy. Pointing the finger at the crimes of one group doesn't excuse the crimes of another. No matter how awful the GOP may be, that does nothing to mitigate the crimes of the democratic party.
Every crime you catalog in your marginally schizophrenic way has a matching crime on the other political side. How do you pick between black and black?
Dave
5 - Dave Nalle
It's worse than that, Clavos. He's spammed it 459 times on different blogs, mostly regional newspaper blogs. Seems like he has more time on his hand than good sense.
Dave
6 - Jet in Columbus
Wow, four voting recruiters and a nutty organization called Acorn.
My hat's off to you Dave, you've certainly trumped my hand; all I had was a Florida Attorney General who just happened to be in charge of the Florida 2000 election results and by odd coincodence Florida's reelect GW Bush Campaign, An Ohio Attorney General who just happened to be in charge of the 2004 Ohio election results and by odd coincodence Ohio's reelect GW Bush Campaign... and a measly CEO of a major voting machine manufacturer who pledged to give Ohio to Bush.
That beats my hand, I fold.
Jet
7 - Jet in Columbus
By the way I agree about nutjob Hill, he even embarrasses me.
8 - Dave Nalle
Jet, see my comment to George above. The fact that other people do things wrong doesn't excuse what's been going on in Missouri.
And read the last paragraph again. This is the tip of the iceberg. There's every reason to suspect ACORN of using the same methods nationwide - that makes for a minimum of hundreds of thousands of fraudulent voter registrations.
Here's a question to consider. What makes Missouri different? Or is it different? Maybe the same stuff that goes on there is going on in every state, but the dems aren't getting caught as much elsewhere.
And it looks like I'm going to have to write a followup article, because some quick googling revealed that my 'tip of the iceberg' theorizing was dead on. ACORN is under investigation in multiple states for similar fradulent registration activities.
Dave
9 - Clavos
Um, Jet...
She was the Secretary of State, not Attorney General; that was Charlie Crist, the current Republican candidate for Governor.
And the election has been counted and recounted at least four times by independent (some of which were liberal) entities.
None of those recounts came up with different results sufficient to change the official outcome.
10 - Clavos
nutty organization called Acorn.
Nice pun...:>)
11 - Jet in Columbus
I thought so too Clavos.
12 - Jet in Columbus
By your logic Dave, I guess that means that just because Clinton made mistakes 8 years ago, that doesn't excuse the whoppers that Bush has made in the last six.
Nor does it give the Republicant's any more right to blame him than it does to blame Bush?
You know Bush is running around the country yelling smuggly that the Democrats don't deserve to be voted into office because they don't have a plan for vicotry in Iraq... I've seen what Bush has been doing for the the last three years there and let me clue you in... he doesn't either
Right now President George W. Bush is PRAYING that the Dems win congress... and do you know why?
So he'll have someone to blame when the shit hits the fan and we get around to facing the fact that we're losing. If the congress stays republican it'll be the downfall of his party and both he and you know it.
The 2008 slogan signs are already being prindet up THE DEMS DID IT!!!
gimme a break
Jet
13 - Dave Nalle
Jet, have you ever seen ME blame Clinton for anything?
The crowd that blame Clinton for our problems are engaging in simplistic reasoning to address complex issues. At most their one valid argument is that Clinton probably wasn't as great a president as his supporters make him out to be. He made mistakes, but not ones anyone else wouldn't have made in the same situation.
As for Bush, it would be nice to see someone - anyone - from the left give him the same detatched assessment. People are so distracted by their emotions when they think about Bush that they're totally incapable of looking at him objectively. While nutjobs on the right DO say a lot of stupid things, they're dead on when they talk about Bush Derangement Syndrome - the irrational hatred of Bush which makes so many on the left incapable of even engaging in a rational discussion about him or his policies.
Dave
14 - Jet in Columbus
Oh Dave... you... you just wait till I come up with a snappy leftwing nut job retort..ewwwww.
Until then
Point taken
Jet
15 - Clark Westfield
I think there's a valid reason for why people seem to be irrational when talking about Bush and his policies. Bush is so far off the map when it comes to his behavior (e.g., starting a war on intelligence he knew was false) and statements (e.g., a vote for Democrats is a vote for terrorists) that simply repeating what he actually said and responding to it makes anyone seem crazy.
16 - Dave Nalle
Perfect example of my point, Clark. You just made two statements about Bush which are total mischaracterizations of Bush's actions as if they were gospel truth. It;s like you're living in a bizarre alternate reality.
Now, back to the topic of democrat operatives signing up dead people to vote.
Dave
17 - Scott
"Bush is so far off the map when it comes to his...statements (e.g., a vote for Democrats is a vote for terrorists)"
"You just made two statements about Bush which are total mischaracterizations of Bush's actions"
But, you see Dave, that's not a mischaracterization. Bush has pretty much expressed that sentiment the Clark writes about.
Dave, who are you voting for?
18 - Dave Nalle
But, you see Dave, that's not a mischaracterization. Bush has pretty much expressed that sentiment the Clark writes about.
In that particular case the mischaracterization is the assumption that Bush is not correct to make that association.
Dave, who are you voting for?
Mostly libertarians and independents, why?
Dave
19 - Nancy
This is true, Dave: Junior has actually SAID these things in recent days. Haven't you been following the news sound bites? I've heard him in his latest Georgia & Montana stops actually stating that Democrats are planning to surrender to the terrorists as soon as they win the election, and these redneck yahoos are eating it up, so he goes on & says worse! I swear to god, he sounds like he's drunk or on drugs. Since he's among a hand-picked, vetted audience of adoring brown-nosers who think he's the second coming, he's been making more & more outrageous claims & statements. Methinks Kerry isn't the only one whose mouth is running faster than his brain lately.
Pity there isn't some way to remote-control electrocute spammers like this Hill person. Ah, well: carry on, all.
20 - Mark Schannon
When I was but a wee lad sittin' on me da's knee, he looked me straight in t'eye an' said, "Junior, t'is here's t'greatest land in t'world. An' when yer old enough, I wanna make sure yer followin' in t'great traditions of America: Yer can't cast too many fuckin' votes fer t'man yer want to see elected."
Vote Early, Vote Often, Keep The Tradition Alive.
Now, boys and girls. Question: Was me da a Demofat or a Republicorn?
In Jameson Veritas
21 - Nancy
Actually, y'know, I can't wait until Tues & this is all over ... for another year or so, if that long.
Wish there were some way to pass a law forbidding any & all negative ads. A candidate and/or those advertising for him/her must not mention the opposition, but stick to the candidate's own proposals, policies ... & achievements. That would probably shut most of them up.
I wish I could tell these fools, 'Look - I don't CARE what you think is wrong with your opponent. I already know what I think is wrong, so I don't need your sorry input. Let's stick to YOU: why do you want to be elected; once you are (assuming you win) what do you intend to do - besides collect a fat, undeservedly inflated paycheck & all kinds of outrageous perks? What do you plan to do to EARN it? Work - remember? I want a cogent, coherent answer out of you, not dithering & generic blather.'
I also wish I could say, "I'm sick & tired of myself and everyone else in the rank & file working their fingers to the bone to support YOU in undeserved luxury & security.
"You get to vote yourselves innumerable pay raises, without having to justify them or have anybody approve them but yourselves. I can't do that; nobody else in the world - except CEOs in companies like Exxon or Enron (which says it all) can do that; so why should YOU be able to?!
"You get all kinds of lifelong perks & privileges, including lavish, ultradeluxe medical insurance for both you AND your family, and you get to keep it AND your ridiculously lavish pension, even if you're convicted of a crime & go to jail for it-! What the hell?! I don't get to keep benefits if I go to jail, why should YOU? I'm not even secure about the future of MY retirement even if I never go to jail, and neither are most of my fellow Americans - why should YOU be? Most of us worker bees don't have and can't afford medical insurance - yet here we are, paying in our taxes so YOU can be supported in the style to which you've become accustomed? What the hell?! You should be supporting US, not vice versa, especially since you're already wealthy!
"To add insult to injury, you only 'work' as you euphamistically call it, two days a week: from Tuesday pm until Thursday pm, before you head out of town to go schmoozing & panhandling to get re-elected so's you can continue to live the easy life at public expense.
"To top it all off, you accept 'gifts', travel, and who knows what else from lobbyists (may God rot their souls in eternal hell), throw all your decisions their way at the expense of the public you're sworn to serve, and then self-righteously & piously claim you've done nothing wrong & their bribery doesn't influence your decisions? The hell it doesn't! Try pulling the other one, asshole! You must think we're all as stupid and gullible as you are greedy & amoral.
"You're FIRED!"
22 - Nancy
Your Da was a lobbyist, obviously!
23 - JustOneMan
Nancy....great rant!
We Socialists...er I mean..um...er Democrats believe that workers create all the wealth under capitalism. A new society can only be constructed when they collectively seize control of that wealth and plan its production and distribution according to need.
In addition anyone who doesnt agree with us should not be allowed, even usiing their own money, to speak, publish or transmit over public airways. Freedom of speach will only be tolerated for views that we support!
In addition we should raise taxes to 50%, provide free healthcare, housing, bread, cheese and toilet paper! Everyone will be so much happier.
That will be the perfect Socialist....er I mean..um...er Left Wing Democratic way of running this country!
From the Left...JustOneMan
PS Bush Lied!
24 - Dave Nalle
JoM, there will be no need for taxation in the workers utopia, because all salaries will be paid by the government at wages they set. Hell, salaries may not even be necessary. Each worker can have a ration card for food and live in government housing for free. They can even have a ration card for 1 movie a week - which is all they'll need once the government takes over hollywood and limits them to producing 1 film per week about the accomplishments of the glorious state. Books will be unnecessary because we'll have a post-literate society and the government will need all the printing presses to print the wisdom on our leaders.
Dave
25 - Clavos
But, Dave, think of the security!
Nanny will take care of everything!