Election officials identify hundreds of cases of potential voter fraud
Published April 3, 2014
by Patrick Gannon, The Insider, News and Observer, April 3, 2014.
North Carolina elections officials told state lawmakers Wednesday that they have identified hundreds, and potentially thousands, of voters who may have cast ballots in two states in the 2012 general election. Republican legislators on an elections oversight committee called the number of possible voter fraud cases "shocking," "outrageous" and "proof positive" that fraud is occurring in North Carolina elections. They called on elections officials to investigate all possible fraud and refer potential criminal cases for prosecution. Double voting is a felony. "That is outrageous. That is criminal. That is wrong, and it shouldn't be allowed to go any further without substantial investigations from our local district attorneys who are the ones charged with enforcing these laws," said Sen. Thom Goolsby, a Wilmington Republican. Others urged caution until more information about the numbers comes to light.
The numbers of potential voter fraud cases revealed Wednesday were gleaned from a cross-checking of voter records among 28 states. It was the first time North Carolina participated in the cross-check process, which was required under sweeping new election laws passed last year by the Republican-controlled General Assembly. Specifically, the check found 765 voters whose first and last names, dates of birth and last four digits of their Social Security numbers matched exactly with a voter registered in another state and who voted in both states in 2012. The results also identified 35,750 voters with matching names and dates of birth who voted in North Carolina and another state that year.
Kim Strach, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said her office is investigating the results of the cross-check and know the identities of the potential offenders. Where there's evidence that a crime was committed, it will be referred to prosecutors, she said. "We have to ensure that is what happened, and it wasn't an error on someone's part," Strach said. Strach said the cases could be voter fraud or mistakes made at polling places by precinct officials who attributed votes to the wrong people. Many voters remain on voter rolls after they move to other states, die or otherwise stop voting, and Strach said that increases the potential for mistakes. She stressed the importance of accurate voter rolls. "Even if it's not voter fraud, a precinct official shouldn't have the opportunity to choose this person and attribute a vote to them," Strach said.
Bob Hall of the liberal watchdog group Democracy North Carolina said the public shouldn't jump to conclusions until more details about the numbers are known. Hall said election investigators have repeatedly found poll worker errors and other explanations in cases that first appeared to be dead people voting or residents of other states casting ballots in North Carolina. "There may be cases of fraud, but the true scale and conspiracy involved need to be examined more closely before those with political agendas claim they've proven guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," Hall said. He added that duplicate names don't automatically signal fraud. "I know there is more than one Bob Hall with my birth date who lives among the 28 states researched," he said. "For all we know, there may be 35,000 legitimate name and birthday matches."
Rep. David Lewis, a Dunn Republican and co-chairman of the Joint Legislative Elections Oversight Committee, suggested that the evidence of voter fraud is strong – at least among the 765 voters. "I am very concerned that it would certainly appear to a logical person or reasonable person looking at it that if the person has the exact same name, exact same birthdate and the last four Social Security number, they are almost certainly the same person," he said. "But again, in this country, of course, you're not guilty until proven that way."
Strach also told lawmakers that a recent "10-year death audit" identified more than 13,400 dead people on voter rolls in October – they have since been removed – and that in about 50 instances, votes were attributed to dead people. The board is investigating to determine whether those cases were precinct mistakes or people fraudulently voting under the names of dead people, she said. Strach said those cases could stem from errors made by precincts, caused by deceased voters remaining on voter rolls. "We have a vulnerability with our voter rolls when we have people on there that should not be on there," she said.
Republicans seized the opportunity to claim that the new information was proof that last year's legislation requiring voters to present identification before voting was the right decision. The requirement begins in 2016. Claude Pope, N.C. Republican Party chairman, said the potential fraud "represents a significant threat" to election integrity and applauded General Assembly Republicans for passing the voter ID law and "working to protect the integrity of the ballot box."
Lawmakers also discussed whether the names of voters who appeared to vote twice should be considered public records. Strach said they weren't because they are part of a criminal investigation. But lawmakers said they wanted the information to be public and suggested they would draft legislation if necessary. "I've always found the best way to expose corruption is to bring daylight to it," said Rep. Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican..
April 3, 2014 at 10:27 am
Norm Kelly says:
No matter how the numbers turn out, what additional investigation shows, there are only 2 possibilities as the response from libs of all stripes. I'm not specifically pointing the finger at Bob, but I expect he will be among those making 1 of these choices.
First, libs/Demons will claim the results are skewed because the makeup of the investigatory board/committee is biased in favor of voter id requirements or are Republicans.
Second, libs/Demons will completely ignore the results because the numbers won't fit their agenda.
Libs are convinced there is no such thing as voter fraud. Libs are convinced that there is no need to purge voter records. They DO NOT CARE that people who move out of district remain on the register, whether that person moves out of state or across the state. Their name must remain on the register until they specifically request removal. Also, dead people should not be removed from the register. After all, how can anyone actually prove that person is dead? This could result in discrimination of some poor person or some 'minority' (code for black person). If any lib does comment on the results of more investigation, it will either be to slam the results as obvious racism or picking on the poor.
There is simply no way that there can be close to 1,000 cases of identical information being used by voters in different states. Statistically this is unimaginable. Just ask a lib. People wouldn't do this. Not even a lib voter would think of doing this. This is simply people who have been brain-washed or hypnotized by the Koch brothers trying to support their sugar daddies. Somewhere along the line some lib is going to claim that the Kochs are involved somehow. It's an automatic response for them. They can't help themselves.
What thinking people, or could possibly be stated as 'what conservatives', know needs to happen is more investigation, more cross-state/cross-jurisdiction cooperation to get to the real numbers. Get to the point of prosecution. Get to the point where someone who decides to do this thinks about the consequences first.
Also, I've worked the polls. It is extremely difficult to make a mistake when someone comes to the registration table. The person is required to state their name & address. That person is then asked to read & affirm that the sticker placed on their ballot request form is correct. If I've placed someone else's sticker on the form, they are signing it stating the information is correct, when they know it is not. Also, if the person who's sticker I've just placed on the form then shows up to vote, it will be obvious to everyone that I've screwed up. That ballot request form then goes to the next person at the table who is supposed to be checking the form, asking the voter questions if necessary, and then handing that voter a ballot. Providing the wrong information requires 3 people to screw up. I suppose this is possible, but not to the extent that some (on the lib side) may want to claim. How do over 35,000 mistakes like this happen? I can't imagine.
The bottom line is that libs need to be ignored on the whole voter fraud topic, and the investigations finally need to take place. Libs have been ignoring the problem long enough, have been fighting EVERY attempt to resolve the problem long enough, that it's time they are ignored and the problems resolved. Until the final numbers are in, people have been legally accused of wrong-doing, libs responses should be ignored because they will simply be wrong. Again. It's time to do the right thing regardless of how much it upsets libs.
Is it right for me to berate libs so much on this topic? Well, since it's only libs protecting voter fraud, it's only libs trying to stop all efforts to improve confidence in the system, it's only libs that deserve such response. If conservatives were standing in the way of doing the right thing, I would berate them also. But in this case, the case of voter fraud, it's the libs on the WRONG side of this issue.
