The Bush Conspiracy and the shit you guys pulled in Florida in 2000 set this country back 20 years. With that said Bush was still in power for eight years. Stop worrying so much!
The Bush Conspiracy and the shit you guys pulled in Florida in 2000 set this country back 20 years. With that said Bush was still in power for eight years. Stop worrying so much!
I was criticizing Republicans for Impeaching Clinton Dumbbutt! That pissed off Dems and half the country and then the 2000 election which Bush won fair and square TWICE pissed off the other half and both events poisoned the country!
As whomod said, it's registration fraud (which, by the way, happens every election cycle), not voter fraud as the Republicans have mislabeled it
You and whomod are, to but it kindly, splitting hairs to, if not justify, minimize, ACORN's improper activities.
The laws of each state vary. However, at least in New York (and I doubt Ohio's laws are significiantly different), the following acts are all "violations of the elective franchise":
voting when not qualified;
voting or attempting to vote at an election, more than once;
prompting any person, when applying to vote, to falsely answer questions put to him by the inspectors concerning his identity or qualifications for voting;
attempting to do a fraudulent act in connection with an absentee vote cast or attempted to be cast;
making or aiding in the making of a false registration
People will go to jail over this. I will get some pleasure in that. But that pleasure will fade when I get my new tax bills next year and can't afford to do business unless drastically raising prices along with every other small business and corporation large or small.
It's not a good year to be a Republican obviously. It's not a good year either to try the same scams of elections past. Obama fights back against the GOP's ACORN "Voter Fraud" fraud! This is unprecedented for a democrat. The Dem candidates usually bemoan these tactics AFTER the election has been stolen. Which of course by then is too late to affact the outcome.
Back in 2004, Michelle Malkin and wingnut "media" outlet Newsmax (along with many others of her ilk), alleged ACORN "voter fraud" in Ohio, just days before the Presidential election. In that case, both of them had falsely reported that ACORN was registering terrorists to vote in the Buckeye State.
Despite all the phony charges and bogus lawsuits against ACORN in 2004 having fully collapsed by the next year, the same nonsense was drudged up again in 2006.
After the Bush Administration had managed to purge a number of their own U.S. Attorneys because they refused to bring phony ACORN "voter fraud" charges during the previous election, their new USA in Missouri was kind enough to bring several indictments just days before an incredibly tight Senate race in the state. We would later learn that bringing such indictments at that time, so close to an election, was in strict violation of the DoJ's written policies.
Those 2006 indictments in Missouri --- the state was later described by McClatchy Newspapers as "Ground Zero" for the GOP's "voter fraud" scam --- were the topic of an extraordinary Senate Judiciary hearing, finally convened after the Democrats took over Congress in 2006. The charges were brought by new Bush puppet U.S. Attorney, Bradley Schlozman, who was confronted about them in the must-watch exchange below, with Patrick Leahy (D-VT)...
Schlozman was later forced to retract his testimony, where he had blamed the DOJ's Public Integrity unit for his bringing the prosecutions.
Which brings us to yesterday...
Obama's stepped up and pushed back, as his general counsel held a press conference call, to announce a 7-page letter to AG Mukasey calling for the special counsel looking into the U.S. Attorney Purge (of which the phony ACORN "Voter Fraud" Fraud was at the heart and the use of federal law enforcement apparatus to create "an unholy alliance of law enforcement and the ugliest form of partisan politics," as Obama counsel Bob Bauer described it today during the call.
This coupled with the Supreme Court ruling against the Republicans in Ohio means that the GOP is going to have to come up with more than the same tired tricks and accusations to try to steal elections. For now at least they can't try to disenfranchise people and thus steal Ohio again.
The gOP is slipping. slipping or just plain laziness that they again try the same tricks and are actually surprised no one but themselves and their FOX news watching sheeple are buying it.
If nothing else this election has made prouder than ever to be a Republican. I know I am not alone either. I believe the sane part of the country will fight back these last 17 days and take back our country from these elitist snobs and stop this coup d'etat and attempted coronation of the weakest Presidential candidate in the history of this country.
Care to comment on my point that you were misstating the definition of 'voter fraud' or are you still trying to find a YouTube video to speak for you?
Originally Posted By: whomod
This is not voter fraud, this is registration fraud -- and ACORN reports these registrations to the authorities. ACORN is required to turn in all the registrations it receives, whether those registrations are good, bad or incomplete. This is something that the "voter fraud" advocates never seem to mention.
Voter fraud includes acts such as removing voters from the rolls because the name on the registration doesn't exactly match the name on the driver's license (as ironically is the case with "Joe The Plumber" The stupid fuck can be challenged because his name on record contains a typo), or because the picture on the license doesn't exactly match the person. Or denying the right to vote to military personnel stationed overseas, or to college students who don't live with their parents.
All of these tactics have reportedly been tried, and are reportedly still being tried, by the Republican Party -- the same people who are trying to blame ACORN for doing what it is required by law to do.
As for New York, they are free to prosecute whoever made any phony registrations. As I pointed out two or perhaps 3 times now, ACORN themselves report on registrations they believe to be fraudulent, however they are required BY LAW to submit these registrations whether they believe them to be fraudulent or not. So you're obfuscating up the wrong tree.
BTW, you seem rather snippy today. things not working that well on your side?
If nothing else this election has made prouder than ever to be a Republican. I know I am not alone either. I believe the sane part of the country will fight back these last 17 days and take back our country from these elitist snobs and stop this coup d'etat and attempted coronation of the weakest Presidential candidate in the history of this country.
Amen.
This election proved to me that the damage done by AM hate radio and FOX News has almost completely taken over the Republican Party to the point here it's now fringe loony central. Yesterday on hardball one of your lunatic right wing Representatives, Michelle Bachmann was on and spouting pure unadulterated hate for close to 10 minutes and casting aspersions on Democrats as being anti-American. Which echoes your charges PJP. That is the definition of extremism. Where any opposition is considered an enemy of the state.
This is why you guys need to lose this election. This is McCarthyism. This borders on fascism actually. And it's not isolated. This is what you guys here say, this is what AM hate radio spews daily an this is what FOX news encourages. And then they have the audacity to call themselves mainstream and the Democrats, Obama, "The left" the media" etc. etc., extremist, with a straight face too..
And as for the "elitists", you still need to explain to me how the guy with at least 7 houses and the heiress wife is the common man and the guy who has only one house, was raised by a single mother who at one point had to go on public assistance, just paid off his student loans and just recently made his money by writing books is the "elitist". It doesn't work, but that's ok, that's another common Republican talking point that they trot out election after election.
You'd think since the Obama camp is ready for all the gOp dirty tricks they employ over and over again, that you'd catch on by now as well.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is siding with Ohio's top elections official in a dispute with the state Republican Party over voter registrations.
The justices on Friday overruled a federal appeals court that had ordered Ohio's top elections official to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, faced a deadline of Friday to set up a system to provide local officials with names of newly registered voters whose driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers on voter registration forms don't match records in other government databases.
Ohio Republicans contended the information for counties would help prevent fraud. Brunner said the GOP is trying to disenfranchise voters.
You know McCain is almost certainly going to lose. I suppose the only thing you people have left is to try to de-legitimize Obama's victory.
Here's what former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias had to say. He's actually a former U.S. Attorney because he was fired in the scandal that engulfed the Department of Justice last year (a story broken by the crew at TPM.) Iglesias was fired after intervention by U.S. Senator Pete Domenici and that butch dykeish looking Rep. Heather Wilson. The reason is that he wouldn't investigate bogus voter fraud charges.
David Iglesias says he's shocked by the news, leaked today to the Associated Press, that the FBI is pursuing a voter-fraud investigation into ACORN just weeks before the election.
"I'm astounded that this issue is being trotted out again," Iglesias told TPMmuckraker. "Based on what I saw in 2004 and 2006, it's a scare tactic." In 2006, Iglesias was fired as U.S. attorney thanks partly to his reluctance to pursue voter-fraud cases as aggressively as DOJ wanted -- one of several U.S. attorneys fired for inappropriate political reasons, according to a recently released report by DOJ's Office of the Inspector General.
Iglesias, who has been the most outspoken of the fired U.S. attorneys, went on to say that the FBI's investigation seemed designed to inappropriately create a "boogeyman" out of voter fraud.
Strong words from someone who knows.
Here's the bottom line. Obama is almost certainly going to win this election. The Republican party has disgraced itself these past 8 years with a bogus war and unlimited corruption and now during this election with their continued thuggery in the face of overwhelming demand by the public for change. Change from their policies and leadership that brought us a disastrous war and economic ruin. And trying to gin up a fake scandal in order to try to obfuscate the fact that no one in America, save for the FOX news loonies, likes you guys anymore isn't going to change that.
YPM, a group hired by the GOP, allegedly deceived Californians who thought they were signing a petition. YPM denies any wrongdoing. Similar accusations have been leveled against the company elsewhere.
By Evan Halper and Michael Rothfeld, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers October 18, 2008
SACRAMENTO -- Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP contractor with a trail of fraud complaints stretching across the country.
Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed.
"I am not a Republican," insisted Karen Ashcraft, 47, a pet-clinic manager and former Democrat from Ventura who said she was duped by a signature gatherer into joining the GOP. "I certainly . . . won't sign anything in front of a grocery store ever again."
It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party -- a small company called Young Political Majors, or YPM, which operates in several states -- has been accused of using the tactic across the country.
Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and Ventura counties say they are investigating complaints about the company.
The firm, which a Republican Party spokesman said is paid $7 to $12 for each registration it secures, has denied any wrongdoing and says it has never been charged with a crime.
The 70,000 voters YPM has registered for the Republican Party this year will help combat the public perception that it is struggling amid Democratic gains nationally, give a boost to fundraising efforts and bolster member support for party leaders, political strategists from both parties say.
Those who were formerly Democrats may stop receiving phone calls and literature from that party, perhaps affecting its get-out-the-vote efforts. They also will be given only a Republican ballot in the next primary election if they do not switch their registration back before then.
Some also report having their registration status changed to absentee without their permission; if they show up at the polls without a ballot they may be unable to vote.
The Times randomly interviewed 46 of the hundreds of voters whose election records show they were recently re-registered as Republicans by YPM, and 37 of them -- more than 80% -- said that they were misled into making the change or that it was done without their knowledge.
Lydia Laws, a Palm Springs retiree, said she was angry to find recently that her registration had been switched from Democrat to Republican.
Laws said the YPM staffer who instructed her to identify herself on a petition as a Republican assured her that it was a formality, and that her registration would not be changed. Later, a card showed up in the mail saying she had joined the GOP.
"I said, 'No, no, no. That's not right,' " Laws said.
It all sounds familiar to Beverly Hill, a Democrat and the former election supervisor in Florida's Alachua County. About 200 voters -- mostly college students -- were unwittingly registered as Republicans there in 2004 by YPM staffers using the same tactic, Hill said.
"It is just incredible that this can keep happening election after election," she said.
YPM and Republican Party officials said they were surprised by the complaints. The officials said the signature gatherers wear shirts bearing the Republican symbol, an elephant -- a contention disputed by some of the voters interviewed.
Every person registered signs an affidavit confirming they voluntarily joined the GOP, party leaders said.
"It does the state party no good to register people in a party they don't want to be in," said Hector Barajas, communications director for the California Republican Party.
The document that voters thought was an initiative petition has no legal implications at all. YPM founder Mark Jacoby said the petition was clearly labeled as a "plebiscite," which does nothing more than show public support.
He also said that plainclothes investigators for Secretary of State Debra Bowen, a Democrat, have conducted multiple spot checks and told his firm it is doing nothing improper.
"Every time, they gave us a thumbs-up," Jacoby said. "People are not being tricked."
But Nicole Winger, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state's office, said the agency "does not give an OK or seal of approval to voter registration groups."
Two years ago, Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas charged 12 workers for a petitioning firm hired by the local Republican Party with fraudulently registering voters as Republican.
In California, signature-gatherers are prohibited by law from misleading voters about what they are signing.
"You can't lie to someone to procure their signature," said Richard L. Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in election law.
Civil rights activists recently filed a lawsuit in Arizona accusing YPM of deceiving residents to get signatures for a ballot measure that would have prohibited affirmative action by that state. The lawsuit was dropped after supporters of the measure pulled it from the ballot.
In Massachusetts, former YPM worker Angela McElroy testified at a legislative hearing in 2004that she had tricked voters into signing a ballot measure to ban gay marriage. She said she told voters they were signing in favor of a measure to allow alcoholic drinks to be sold in supermarkets.
YPM's Jacoby said McElroy was on loan to another signature-gathering company at the time the alleged deception took place.
Jose Aguilera, a 48-year-old math teacher from Ventura whose registration was recently changed from Democrat to Republican, said he signed the child-molester petition outside an Albertsons supermarket.
He said he was asked to sign a second document but not told that it would change his registration.
"Somehow the guy pulled out something else and I signed it," he said.
Ashcraft, the pet-clinic manager, said she knew that she could still vote in November for whichever presidential candidate she supports -- in her case, Democrat Barack Obama.
"I just don't like being lied to," she said.
Janett Lemaire, 54, said she told a signature-gatherer in the small Riverside County town of Desert Edge, "I've been a Democrat all my life and I want to stay that way."
But the man "said this has nothing to do with changing how you are registered," Lemaire said. "Then I get a notice in the mail saying I am a Republican. . . . I was very angry."
.... the Supreme Court already tossed this bullshit out....
That's still non-responsive to my point.
I explained how "registration fraud" is, as a matter of law, a form of "voter fraud." You did not prove me wrong.
As for your argument that the Supreme Court found there was no voter fraud, again you misstate the law and the facts.
The Supreme Court case you are trying to cite did not rule "whether HAVA [Help America Vote Act, a federal election law] is being properly implemented," and in fact the High Court had "no opinion" on that question.
The Supreme Court's ruling simply held that the Ohio GOP was not a proper party to bring the action because "it found that federal laws included no private right to sue for enforcement." According to the court decision, such a lawsuit needed be brought by the Federal Government.
Therefore, the ruling in no way found that voter fraud hasn't occurred. It merely ruled that the Justice Department, not the Ohio GOP, is the only party that can bring a lawsuit to stop it.
Care to comment on my point that you were misstating the definition of 'voter fraud' or are you still trying to find a YouTube video to speak for you?
Originally Posted By: whomod
This is not voter fraud, this is registration fraud -- and ACORN reports these registrations to the authorities. ACORN is required to turn in all the registrations it receives, whether those registrations are good, bad or incomplete. This is something that the "voter fraud" advocates never seem to mention.
Voter fraud includes acts such as removing voters from the rolls because the name on the registration doesn't exactly match the name on the driver's license (as ironically is the case with "Joe The Plumber" The stupid fuck can be challenged because his name on record contains a typo), or because the picture on the license doesn't exactly match the person. Or denying the right to vote to military personnel stationed overseas, or to college students who don't live with their parents.
All of these tactics have reportedly been tried, and are reportedly still being tried, by the Republican Party -- the same people who are trying to blame ACORN for doing what it is required by law to do.
As for New York, they are free to prosecute whoever made any phony registrations. As I pointed out two or perhaps 3 times now, ACORN themselves report on registrations they believe to be fraudulent, however they are required BY LAW to submit these registrations whether they believe them to be fraudulent or not. So you're obfuscating up the wrong tree.
BTW, you seem rather snippy today. things not working that well on your side?
we'll see how well things work out for you and your base of homeless people and crack addicts.
Yes. But as I explained to you repeatedly now, that is a matter for NEW YORK, to prosecute whoever did it. This again, has noting to do with ACORN as an organization as by law they HAVE TO turn in all registrations, fraudulent or otherwise.
You seem to be obsessed with the fact that New York's law is worded in such a way as to make you technically right. Again, that only should cause worry to the individual who tried to defraud ACORN with bogus registrations.
I agree that it is up to the local, state and federal governments, not the political parties, to prosecute it. But that's the case with any crime: the government prosecutes crimes.
If ACORN is assisting in the making of fraudulent registrations, that's voter fraud. If ACORN is paying people to register, that also appears to be voter fraud. Under such a circumstance, ACORN could be prosecuted as an entity, no different than when the government prosecutes a corporation for malfeasance.
Furthemore, in certain situations, RICO gives private parties a civil cause of action against the corrupt entity. It is entirely possible, based on what we've seen thus far, that a finding could be made against ACORN under RICO, in which case, you will see private lawsuits against them.
Jackson County touch-screens switched votes, 3 residents say At least three early voters in Jackson County had a hard time voting for candidates they want to win.
By Paul J. Nyden Staff writer
At least three early voters in Jackson County had a hard time voting for candidates they want to win.
Virginia Matheney and Calvin Thomas said touch-screen machines in the county clerk's office in Ripley kept switching their votes from Democratic to Republican candidates.
"When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain," said Matheney, who lives in Kenna.
When she reported the problem, she said, the poll worker in charge "responded that everything was all right. It was just that the screen was sensitive and I was touching the screen too hard. She instructed me to use only my fingernail."
Even after she began using her fingernail, Matheney said, the problem persisted.
When she tried to vote for candidates running for two open seats on the Supreme Court, the electronic machine canceled her second vote twice.
On her third try, Matheney managed to cast votes for both Menis Ketchum and Margaret Workman, Democratic candidates for the two open seats.
Calvin Thomas, 81, who retired from Kaiser Aluminum in Ravenswood in 1983 and now lives in Ripley, experienced the same problem.
"When I pushed Obama, it jumped to McCain. When I went down to governor's office and punched [Gov. Joe] Manchin, it went to the other dude. When I went to Karen Facemyer [the incumbent Republican state senator], I pushed the Democrat, but it jumped again.
"The rest of them were OK, but the machine sent my votes for those top three offices from the Democrat to the Republican," Thomas said.
"When I hollered about that, the girl who worked there said, 'Push it again.' I pushed Obama again and it stayed there. Then, the machine did the same thing for other candidates.
"Why didn't she [the polling clerk] tell me before I even used the machine that might happen? And how many people, especially my age, didn't notice that?
After this election is over, we need to get rid of these electronic machines once and for all and go to a verifiable paper ballot and uniform election laws and methods for all 50 states.
Jackson County touch-screens switched votes, 3 residents say At least three early voters in Jackson County had a hard time voting for candidates they want to win.
By Paul J. Nyden Staff writer
At least three early voters in Jackson County had a hard time voting for candidates they want to win.
Virginia Matheney and Calvin Thomas said touch-screen machines in the county clerk's office in Ripley kept switching their votes from Democratic to Republican candidates.
"When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain," said Matheney, who lives in Kenna.
When she reported the problem, she said, the poll worker in charge "responded that everything was all right. It was just that the screen was sensitive and I was touching the screen too hard. She instructed me to use only my fingernail."
Even after she began using her fingernail, Matheney said, the problem persisted.
When she tried to vote for candidates running for two open seats on the Supreme Court, the electronic machine canceled her second vote twice.
On her third try, Matheney managed to cast votes for both Menis Ketchum and Margaret Workman, Democratic candidates for the two open seats.
Calvin Thomas, 81, who retired from Kaiser Aluminum in Ravenswood in 1983 and now lives in Ripley, experienced the same problem.
"When I pushed Obama, it jumped to McCain. When I went down to governor's office and punched [Gov. Joe] Manchin, it went to the other dude. When I went to Karen Facemyer [the incumbent Republican state senator], I pushed the Democrat, but it jumped again.
"The rest of them were OK, but the machine sent my votes for those top three offices from the Democrat to the Republican," Thomas said.
"When I hollered about that, the girl who worked there said, 'Push it again.' I pushed Obama again and it stayed there. Then, the machine did the same thing for other candidates.
"Why didn't she [the polling clerk] tell me before I even used the machine that might happen? And how many people, especially my age, didn't notice that?
After this election is over, we need to get rid of these electronic machines once and for all and go to a verifiable paper ballot and uniform election laws and methods for all 50 states.
we all said that in 2000......why hasn't this happened yet? And please don't even bother responding to me if you're going to say some stupid shit like it's the GOP's fault......rational responses only.
I actually agree with whomod. It should be paper and fool proof. We should also get rid of the electoral college, every eligible American's vote should count the same. It's ridiculous that some states voters count more than others.
I actually agree with most of BSAMS' agreement with whomod. While I don't agree with getting rid of the electoral college system, I agree that the electronic voting machines are more trouble than not and will be prone to errors.
Until now, New York had great voting machines. They worked like old cash registers, with mechanical levers and a paper total at the end. They were as close to fool proof as one could get. I'd like to see something along those lines, instead of touch screens and computers.
Welcome to the “thugocracy”: the Obama camp wants to Department of Justice to investigate not voter registration fraud, but people talking about voting fraud–including the GOP ticket. If you don’t believe it, read the bizarre letter sent by the Obama campaign’s lawyer. This one follows on the heels of another letter asking the DOJ to “investigate” the 527 independent group which ran one of the first Bill Ayers ads.
The McCain camp is naturally not pleased and put out a statement which reads in part:
Today’s outrageous letter to Attorney General Mukasey and Special Prosecutor Dannehy at the Justice Department asking for a special prosecutor to investigate Senator McCain and Governor Palin’s public statements about ACORN’s record of fraudulent voter registrations (including in this week’s Presidential debate) is absurd. It is a typical time-worn Washington attempt to criminalize political differences. For someone who promises ‘change,’ it is certainly only more of the same.
“The letter’s request that the Department of Justice investigate ‘recent partisan Republican activities throughout the country’ is almost a parody of the Obama campaign’s attempt to intimidate their political opponents. In case Sen. Obama’s lawyer did not notice, we are in the midst of a political campaign, not a coronation, and the alleged criminal activity he calls ‘recent partisan Republican activities’ are what the rest of us call campaign speeches and debates. All of this is unfortunately reminiscent of the Obama campaign’s recent creation of a ‘truth squad’ of Missouri prosecutors and sheriffs to ‘target’ people who criticize Sen. Obama.
And if you are wondering where civil liberties groups and the mainstream media are, you have to understand: the First Amendment ranks considerably lower than getting The One elected. On his way out the door, Attorney General Mukasey might perform one last bit of public service and give a series of lectures on the centrality of free speech, the sanctity of free and fair elections, and the utter inappropriateness of using the power of the state to silence your opponents.
And, as we start to bear an uncanny resemblance to a banana republic — complete with a cult of The Leader, roaming thugs in support of the same, and fraud-tainted voting – you’ll know that we really are experiencing “change.” Whether this is a passing spasm of election exuberance or a frightful look at the future remains to be seen.
Four well-heeled New York Democrats are under investigation by an Ohio prosecutor for setting up a temporary home in the swing state - where two have already cast their ballots - just so that their votes will be counted there, The Post has learned.
The targets of the probe - including the daughter and son-in-law of a New York City real-estate titan, a former New York Sun reporter and a Bank of New York Mellon executive - are connected to Vote From Home, a Manhattan-based political action committee set up to get voters to the polls in Ohio, where residents are allowed to cast ballots 29 days before Election Day, investigators said.
I'm sure that this is all a great misunderstanding and that it will be cleared up after the coronation of our new leader in January and the blanket presidential pardons.
A special prosecutor was appointed today to handle a voter fraud investigation after Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters recused himself.
Deters issued a subpoena Friday that sought complete registration records of about 40 percent of the 671 voters who registered and voted between Sept. 30, when early voting began, and Oct. 6, the deadline for voter registration.
Deters was criticized over the weekend by some who said the prosecutor should not be conducting an investigation into possible voter fraud because Deters is also the southwest Ohio regional chairman of the McCain for President campaign.
Presiding Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Norbert Nadel today appointed Mike O’Neill, a former assistant Hamilton County prosecutor, as special prosecutor in the case.
The announcement came after Tim Burke, one of two Democrats sitting on the four-member Hamilton County Board of Elections, asked for Deters to step down from the investigation.
The board called a special meeting for 4 p.m. today. Deters has called a 1 p.m. press conference.
O’Neill, 31, said today he was hired by former Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen but worked for about a year under Deters who succeeded Allen.
“I’m sensitive that this is going to be a pretty highly charged issue,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill, 31, is a graduate of Wyoming High School, Indiana University and the University of Cincinnati Law School.
The registered Republican said he will begin his investigation today by reviewing the information already gathered by Deters’ office and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
“The right to a fair and impartial election is sacrosanct,” O’Neill said.
Even though the election is less than three weeks away, O’Neill wants a thorough investigation rather than a hasty one.
“I’m not going to rush it. If the evidence is there, I’ll go with it, but I’m not going to rush it,” O’Neill said.
Burke, who is also chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, said this morning he wants the board of elections to ask that an independent counsel be hired by the board to investigate any questions about the same-day registration votes.
"I can’t get past the feeling that this is just a partisan thing,’’ said Burke. "I just don’t believe this is anything but partisan politics."
But the two Republicans on the board of elections are unlikely to go along with Burke.
"I’m not sure the board can do that," said Hamilton County Republican Party chairman Alex Triantafilou, who is also chairman of the board of elections. "I think the law says that Joe, as the county prosecutor, is the board of elections’ lawyer."
Friday’s subpoena was part of a grand jury investigation initiated by Deters. Last week, both the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office and the Ohio Republican Party made a public records request under Ohio law to the Hamilton County Board of Elections for the records of all voters who cast a ballot in that weeklong window.
The board of elections complied, Burke said, but the records turned over had birthdates and driver license numbers blacked out. Deters then subpoenaed the complete voter records.
The accuracy and integrity of voter registration in Ohio has become a heated legal and political issue on the eve of the Nov. 4 general election.
It's not a good year to be a Republican obviously. It's not a good year either to try the same scams of elections past. Obama fights back against the GOP's ACORN "Voter Fraud" fraud! This is unprecedented for a democrat. The Dem candidates usually bemoan these tactics AFTER the election has been stolen. Which of course by then is too late to affact the outcome.
Back in 2004, Michelle Malkin and wingnut "media" outlet Newsmax (along with many others of her ilk), alleged ACORN "voter fraud" in Ohio, just days before the Presidential election. In that case, both of them had falsely reported that ACORN was registering terrorists to vote in the Buckeye State.
Despite all the phony charges and bogus lawsuits against ACORN in 2004 having fully collapsed by the next year, the same nonsense was drudged up again in 2006.
After the Bush Administration had managed to purge a number of their own U.S. Attorneys because they refused to bring phony ACORN "voter fraud" charges during the previous election, their new USA in Missouri was kind enough to bring several indictments just days before an incredibly tight Senate race in the state. We would later learn that bringing such indictments at that time, so close to an election, was in strict violation of the DoJ's written policies.
Those 2006 indictments in Missouri --- the state was later described by McClatchy Newspapers as "Ground Zero" for the GOP's "voter fraud" scam --- were the topic of an extraordinary Senate Judiciary hearing, finally convened after the Democrats took over Congress in 2006. The charges were brought by new Bush puppet U.S. Attorney, Bradley Schlozman, who was confronted about them in the must-watch exchange below, with Patrick Leahy (D-VT)...
Schlozman was later forced to retract his testimony, where he had blamed the DOJ's Public Integrity unit for his bringing the prosecutions.
Which brings us to yesterday...
Obama's stepped up and pushed back, as his general counsel held a press conference call, to announce a 7-page letter to AG Mukasey calling for the special counsel looking into the U.S. Attorney Purge (of which the phony ACORN "Voter Fraud" Fraud was at the heart and the use of federal law enforcement apparatus to create "an unholy alliance of law enforcement and the ugliest form of partisan politics," as Obama counsel Bob Bauer described it today during the call.
This coupled with the Supreme Court ruling against the Republicans in Ohio means that the GOP is going to have to come up with more than the same tired tricks and accusations to try to steal elections. For now at least they can't try to disenfranchise people and thus steal Ohio again.
The gOP is slipping. slipping or just plain laziness that they again try the same tricks and are actually surprised no one but themselves and their FOX news watching sheeple are buying it.
Yeah, I guess it's just a "Republican smear" that the FBI is investigating and making arrests of ACORN staffers in 13 states.
In precisely the swing states that Obama needs to win, no less.
You're such a partisan liar, Whomod. Any deceit or criminal action is permissible, if it allows your man to win.
You'll have to demonstrate where I similarly advocated McCain to win by lies and deceit, and a clear 13-state attempt to allow McCain to win the election through fraudulent voter registration, exposed by the FBI.
You'll have to demonstrate where McCain similarly had a decades-long connection to a group like ACORN, and where I similarly gave it a free pass because it would get my candidate elected.
There is nothing remotely similar about my political views, and Whomod's clear and malevolent fanaticism.
You are the conservative version of whomod. You both use emotions and retardation in a sad and desperate attempt to prove your points with other people's words.
November 6th, 2012: Americas new Independence Day.
Adding another layer of murk to Ohio's already cloudy election picture, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters wants more than 600 votes cast between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6 to be quarantined and not counted until officials investigate allegations of voter fraud.
"There are stricter standards in Ohio to buy beer than to vote," Deters said Monday. "We know of certain voter fraud."
Top local Democratic election officials, however, caustically dismissed Republican Deters' move as a "witch hunt" designed to intimidate potential voters and lower turnout - particularly Democratic turnout.
"There has not been a single problem with voter fraud to my knowledge in the 15 years I've been on this board," said Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party and one of two Democrats on the county Board of Elections.
At a Columbus news conference with other Democratic leaders, Gov. Ted Strickland accused Republicans of trying "to instill fear in Ohio voters" and distract voters from the economy and other issues.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown added: "It's clear Republicans are using a systematic and coordinated effort of frivolous lawsuits and official government positions to ... suppress voters,"
In Hamilton County, it might be left to competing special prosecutors to determine what action, if any, should be taken.
Deters, Southwest Ohio regional chairman of John McCain's presidential campaign, Monday took his office out of the investigation after Democratic officials and others complained that his involvement raised at least the appearance of partisanship. Republican Common Pleas Judge Norbert Nadel then appointed Mike O'Neill as special prosecutor.
O'Neill is a Republican who formerly worked for Deters.
In response, Burke and fellow election board Democrat Dan Radford sought late Monday to have the board hire its own special prosecutor to advise it how to answer any action by O'Neill.
Deters' office normally represents the elections board on legal matters. Burke, however, argued that if Deters "had a conflict on that end that led him to get a special prosecutor, then he also has a conflict on this end, too."
The election board deadlocked 2-2 on Burke's motion, with the two Democrats supporting it and Republicans Alex Triantafilou and Charles Gerhardt opposing it. That means the question will be forwarded, probably today, to Democratic Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to break the tie.
Triantafilou, chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party, said he sees no reason for the election board to be concerned about a special prosecutor trying to ferret out improper registrations or potentially fraudulent votes.
"I don't see a prosecutor prosecuting illegal acts as adverse to us," he said.
Burke, though, argued that by state law, the election board is where any suspicious registrations should initially be investigated. If irregularities cannot be cleared up, the board then can refer the matter to the prosecutor.
But by getting a special prosecutor involved, Deters "is preventing us from doing our job," Burke said.
Burke also noted that in past elections, when improper voter registrations surfaced, the election board's routine monitoring and checking prevented fraudulent votes from being cast.
Gerhardt, however, pointed out that local elections officials have found that roughly one-quarter of about 40,000 recent new-voter registrations were duplicates. Given the likelihood that other registrations also are problematic, Gerhardt said he thinks that extraordinary steps are needed to prevent improper registrations from translating into illegal votes.
"We're giving them ATM cards," Gerhardt said, drawing a banking analogy. "We should be concerned they might start withdrawing money."
Deters said 166 of the 610 registrations his office looked at could not be found and another 100 did not have the same address listed in other government databases. That means about 40 percent of those 610 who registered and voted that week cast questionable ballots - and should be investigated, he said.
Deters wants those 610 ballots set aside until they are proved to have been cast by legal Hamilton County residents. Otherwise, they are scheduled to be commingled with other early votes by the end of the week.
The 610 voters did not have to show identification to register and vote, but rather simply had to give the last four digits of their Social Security number or driver's license number, Deters said.
Deters' office began investigating, along with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, after receiving complaints about people being bribed with money, cigarettes and booze to vote.
"During that (period), it was a free-for-all," Deters said.
One person has confessed to that and likely will face criminal charges of voter fraud, he said.
"They could face prison, and you know what? I hope they do face prison," Deters said.
Despite deciding to step aside in the investigation, Deters dismissed suggestions that his complaints are driven by politics.
"I'm not trying to stop anybody from voting," he said. "The people we've looked at have already voted. Ironically, I don't know who they voted for.
"If our goal was for political benefit, we could have returned indictments today. If you're a registered voter in Ohio, go vote."
In order for those ballots not to be mixed with other ballots by the end of the week, the special prosecutor would have to ask a judge for a court order to that effect.
O'Neill and Deters suggested that the investigation won't be completed before the Nov. 4 election. O'Neill said he wants a thorough investigation, not a hasty one.
"The right to a fair and impartial election is sacrosanct," O'Neill said.
O'Neill said he will begin his investigation by reviewing the information already gathered by Deters' office and the sheriff's office.
Friday, as part of a grand jury investigation that he initiated, Deters issued a subpoena for complete voter registration records for the 40 percent of same-day voters with registration discrepancies.
That came after Deters' office and the Ohio Republican Party made a public records request to the elections board for the records of all voters who cast a ballot in that weeklong window.
The board complied, but the records turned over had birthdates and driver's license numbers blacked out. Deters then subpoenaed the complete voter records.
This sounds fair and equitable, quarantine the ballots until it's determined if they are legitimate. This way no one feels disenfranchised, and no false ACORN votes get in if they are determined to be illegitimate...
WASHINGTON – House Republican leader John Boehner on Wednesday urged President Bush to block all federal funds to a grass-roots community group that has been accused of voter registration fraud.
"It is evident that ACORN is incapable of using federal funds in a manner that is consistent with the law," Boehner, R-Ohio, wrote Bush, saying that funds should be blocked until all federal investigations into the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now are completed.
ACORN, a group that has led liberal causes since it was formed in 1970, this year hired more than 13,000 part-time workers to sign up voters in minority and poor neighborhoods in 21 states. Some of the 1.3 million registration cards submitted to local election officials, using the names of cartoon characters or pro football players, were obviously phony, spurring GOP charges of widespread misconduct.
ACORN has said it was its own quality-control workers who first noticed problem registration cards, flagged them and submitted them to local election officials in every state that is now investigating them.
To commit fraud, a person would have to show up on Election Day with identification bearing the fake name.
Local law enforcement agencies in about a dozen states are investigating fake registrations submitted by ACORN workers and the FBI is reviewing those cases.
Boehner said his office had determined that ACORN had received more than $31 million in direct federal funding since 1998. He said the group had likely received far more indirectly through federal block grants to states and localities. "Immediate action is necessary to ensure that no additional tax dollars are directed to ACORN while it is under investigation," he wrote Bush.
Boehner said he and other Republicans were also asking the Justice Department to investigate ACORN's connections to the home mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying ACORN "appears to have played a key role in the irresponsible schemes that led to the current financial meltdown."
