Voter Fraud in Minnesota? It's Easy

Minnesota's voter registration is pretty simple. That's the upside. The downside is that Minnesota makes it so simple that fraud is pretty easy to commit. Here's what the Strib's Katherine Kersten has to say:

In Minnesota, you can register on election day without showing poll workers one piece of paper. All you need is a "voucher", a person registered to vote in that precinct who is willing to sign a sworn statement that you live there. Can't find a voucher? You can present a document such as a receipt for a driver's license learner's permit with a current address, but no picture. It might be yours, or you might have "borrowed" it from a friend. Poll workers have no way to know.

If you think it's unlikely that vouching could be used for voter fraud, guess again. Here's what Powerline wrote days before the 2004 election:

Among the well-funded and supposedly independent groups supporting John Kerry in the campaign is Americans Coming Together (ACT). ACT has taken notice of Minnesota's special vulnerabilty to vote fraud and organized a sophisticated effort to exploit it in a manner that violates Minnesota law. In Minnesota the Bush campaign has come into the possession of the following email from ACT to its Minnesota volunteers:

Election Day is upon us. You are confirmed to volunteer with ACT (America Coming Together - http://www.actforvictory.org/) on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov 2.

We will be creating name badges that include your Ward and Precinct information for each of the thousands of volunteers that day to make it easier to find a volunteer to vouch for a voter at the polls.

I am emailing you to request your street address, city and zipcode. We've already got your other contact information, but your record in our database does not include this information.

You can save us time on election day by replying today to this email with this information, or give us a call at [phone number with St. Paul area code].

In order to get your badge correct, please reply by Thursday.

Thank you for your help and cooperation. See you on Election Day!

Relying on Democrats to play by the rules is foolish. For further proof, see Chicago in any election, Seattle voter registration in 2004's governor's election and elsewhere.

Then there's this headline: Felons Paid in Voter Registration Drive.

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.

ACT canvassers ask residents which issues are important to them and, if they are not registered, sign them up as voters. They gather telephone numbers and other personal information, such as driver's license numbers or partial Social Security numbers, depending on what a state requires for voter registration.

Needless to say, this should give us reason to put in place the needed safeguards so that legitimate votes won't be diluted. Quite the opposite is happening. In fact, shortly after the 2004 election, Hillary, Babs Boxer and Stephanie Tubbs-Jones introduced CEVA (Count Every Vote Act) Ms. Tubbs-Jones is the representative who challenged the electoral vote count for Ohio. Follow this link to read the CEVA legislation.

The bottom line is that voter fraud has increased the past few election cycles. That won't change until we get serious about shutting voter fraud down. It's time we get serious. Long past time, really.

Cross-posted at California Conservative

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Posted Tuesday, April 11, 2006 10:43 AM

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