Federal Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Law Requiring Photo ID at Polls

[UncleBeer 244]

That "document" is a powerpoint presentation that I cannot understand, because it is mixed up in graphics and colored circles with x's with no explanation.

I'm sorry you don't own a computer. Maybe we can take up a collection?

[UncleBeer 244]

you have still failed to provide any proof that wide scale voter fraud exists in the US.

Still you haven't read the links. Fine. Here we go:

I don't expect you to read any / all of this; you seem somewhat "information averse".

The Obama/Biden lawn sign remains proudly planted in front of Melowese Richardson's Cincinnati home, three months after the presidential election.

It seems that President Obama has an especially ardent supporter in the veteran Ohio poll worker.

Richardson told a local television station this month that she voted twice last November. She cast an absentee ballot and then voted at the polls as well.

"Yes, I voted twice," Richardson told WCPO-TV. "I, after registering thousands of people, certainly wanted my vote to count, so I voted. I voted at the polls."

Authorities also are investigating if she voted in the names of four other people, too, for a total of six votes in the 2012 presidential election.

"I'll fight it for Mr. Obama and for Mr. Obama's right to sit as president of the United States," Richardson vowed when asked about the voter fraud investigation that is now under way.

Richardson is one of 19 people suspected of illegal voting by the Hamilton County Board of Elections in the last election.

"I'm outraged, and every voter, regardless of their political affiliation, should be outraged," said Hamilton County Board of Elections member Alex Triantafilou, who is also chairman of the county Republican Party. "It causes folks to have real doubts about the fabric of our very democratic process, and it's dangerous. It is disconcerting that someone would be so bold as to admit their conduct in such a fashion ... We fully intend to prosecute these cases."

Richardson claimed she had submitted an absentee ballot, but was afraid her vote would not count so she also voted in person. She also said she voted in the name of her granddaughter and yet another person.

"There was absolutely no intent on my part to commit any voter fraud," she insisted.

Richardson's granddaughter, India Richardson, confirmed to Fox News that her grandmother voted for her, by submitting an absentee ballot in her name. India told Fox News that she is not angry, and gave her permission to cast her absentee ballot.

"It wasn't a big deal," she said.

But election authorities say voting more than once, or in someone else's name, is a big deal because it is illegal and threatens the credibility of the nation's election system.

"It appears she not only attempted to vote more than once, but was actually successful at it and having those additional votes counted," Ohio Secretary of State John Husted, who is in charge of the state's elections, told Fox News.

"She appears to have used her position as a poll worker to cover her tracks. That would be someone who is an official in the elections process, using that position to commit a fraud. That is especially troubling to me, as the chief elections officer of the state, because it is my responsibility to make sure the system runs effectively, that it has integrity. When I find issues like this, I know that it undermines voter confidence in our elections, and we must pursue it."

Three other absentee ballots in the names of different people were submitted to the Board of Elections from Richardson's address on Nov. 1. Officials say the handwriting on those ballots is similar and that they were all received together, on the same day that Richardson's absentee ballot arrived at the office. Richardson maintains that some of the other voters live at her house.

Attempts by Fox News to reach Richardson were unsuccessful, but she claimed to the local station that the votes were "absolutely legal votes."

In written reports detailing the 19 cases, Board of Elections investigators described their findings. In one instance, an investigator called a suspected double voter and was hung up on.

"I explained that she voted twice and she told me not to bother her and get off her phone and she hung up," the investigator wrote.

Another voter admitted to double voting, but did not think it was an issue.

"The voter said yes she 'voted early' and then voted again, then she asked 'what's the problem?'" according to the report.

Yet another voter was at a loss for explaining why he voted more than once.

"Voter said he remembered both times. He doesn't know why he voted twice," the report said.

The documents show that another voter said he had received a phone call before Election Day telling him his absentee ballot would not count. When investigators questioned him about voting two times, the voter replied "'as usual, you guys are wrong.' ... he was curious about the investigation and asked 'Now what will you do' and 'are you taping me now?"

The Hamilton County Board of Elections is holding hearings to further investigate these cases.

"It is so fundamental to people's faith in the democratic process, that we need to act very strong to make sure that we are doing everything we can to keep people's faith," declared Triantafilou. "There is always the concern, though, that there are those situations where we didn't catch folks."

As part of a new effort to root out any voter fraud, Secretary of State Husted has ordered all 88 of the state's county Board of Elections to hold public hearings on any credible voter fraud allegations or claims of voter disenfranchisement during the 2012 election. He said any substantiated allegations should be turned over to prosecutors.

"Once the election is over, and once the winner is declared, everybody forgets about it. I want to make sure that we don't forget about it, that we make sure we do, essentially, an audit of that process to ensure that we know what happened, and then use that evidence to guide us going forward. ... We need to learn from that last election so that we can be better before the next one gets here."

"Fraud does happen," noted Husted. "Most attempts are caught by the system. But there are cases that do slip through, as this one does, and we need to make sure that we really send a strong message, that if you do this, you are going to be held accountable. It might mean fines, it might mean jail time."

Voter fraud, said Husted, "undermines public confidence in democracy, and that's why we need, whether you are a Democrat or Republican, to root out all cases of voter fraud."

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced Wednesday that his office found 17 non-citizens illegally cast ballots in the 2012 presidential election -- and has referred the case for possible prosecution.

The alleged crime would be a notable case of voter fraud in a key swing state. By law, only American citizens are allowed the privilege of casting ballots for the nation's leaders.

Ohio officials say that did not stop some from getting around the system.

"I have a responsibility to uphold election law, and under both federal and state law you must be a citizen to vote," said Husted, a Republican who has aggressively tried to investigate voter fraud cases in his state.

Husted also found that 274 non-citizens remain on the voting rolls.

President Obama beat Mitt Romney in Ohio by just 2 percentage points in November 2012.

As part of Ohio's efforts to clean up the voting rolls, election officials discovered that more than 257,000 dead people were still listed as active voters. Their names and status, Husted said, have since been removed.

In addition, election authorities note they have drastically reduced the number of duplicate registrations, from 340,000 in 2011 to just four this past November -- and that more than 370,000 Ohio voters who have moved have been contacted to update their voting information.

"Now that we have the ability to cross-check citizenship information with Ohio's voter rolls, I will continue to be vigilant and to push the General Assembly for additional tools to modernize our elections systems, making it easy to vote and hard to cheat," Husted said.

Voting advocates have long complained that some of the country's voter fraud investigations amount to voter suppression, aimed at preventing minorities and others from voting. But supporters say the efforts only are aimed at preventing voter fraud and maintaining the integrity of the electoral process.

The new investigation comes after election officials secured several voter fraud convictions stemming from last year's election in Ohio, including that of one poll worker who was accused of voting six times in the November presidential election.

Melowese Richardson, 58, is serving five years in prison after being convicted of four counts of voter fraud. Prosecutors said she repeatedly had voted in the name of her sister, who has been in a coma since 2003, and that the illegal votes Richardson cast were counted in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. She also was accused of illegally voting in November's election in the names of other people, including her granddaughter India Richardson, who told Fox News that "it wasn't a big deal."

A Cincinnati nun also pleaded guilty to illegal voting as part of the ongoing voter fraud investigation.

O

What appears to be an orchestrated pattern of voter fraud is being reported at a pivotal precinct in South Williamsburg. According to a Board of Elections poll worker and another poll watcher, groups of young Hasidic men attempted to enter the polling station at IS 71 and vote under the names of other citizens who have yet to vote. "They're signing signatures, but the ID they show doesn't match the signature on the forms. Yes, there's been some illegal stuff going on," BOE poll worker Antoinette Reaves said.

An NYPD officer standing outside IS 71 told us he had witnessed four men attempting to vote under the wrong name in the two hours he had been posted there.

While some of the attempts were made by men who looked to be of voting age, others struck poll workers as obviously fraudulent. "They're fourteen, fifteen years old, walking in here with a crowd of people. We stopped them and asked for ID—we know they're too young to go in there. They've been trying it all day," Reaves said. "The same faces are appearing."

While Reaves could not say whether or not any of them have been successful, David Greenberg, a poll watcher for city council candidate Stephen Pierson, said the sheer number of attempts suggested that the problem was more widespread.

"I would definitely expect there are more, it's got to be closer to 20 or two dozen," Greenberg said. "[The BOE workers] are seeing a lot of fraudulent stuff, people are trying to sneak in, so they're aggravated as all hell."

Greenberg added, "There was a period of time when we weren't able to come in [to observe] because we didn't have the proper credentials, or so they said. I wouldn't question that there are more people trying this than we can see."

IS 71 is the same polling place where we found potentially illegal raffles that displayed campaign literature promoting preferred candidates, and promised voters a chance at a $250 cash prize or a gift certificate, so long as you cast a vote.

According to a member of the ultra-Orthodox community who claimed intimate knowledge of the faction's electioneering processes, the raffles serve a greater purpose than just enticing voters to cast ballots for their preferred candidates.

"Your name goes into a raffle if you put in that you voted. And they have access constantly to this data so they know who's voted from that," said the source, referring to leaders of Williamsburg's Satmar Ahronim sect. The raffle allegedly provides a list of names that cannot be used by fraudulent voters. At IS 71 earlier today, community members were seen picking up a stack of raffle cards every 20 minutes or so and scanning their barcodes.

The source, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, told us the fraud operation is run out of an ultra-Orthodox wedding hall at the intersection of Franklin Avenue and Flushing Avenue in Williamsburg. Volunteers are allegedly given free food and then "driven to four or five places" to vote under false names. "They have copies of the voter rolls, I don't know how they get them, but they get the names and the signatures," the source alleged.

Approached by a reporter this afternoon, a group of men inside the wedding hall denied any involvement with a voting fraud operation.

Milwaukee County prosecutors Thursday filed voter fraud charges against 10 people, including two accused of double voting in 2012 elections and two felons ineligible to vote.

Also among the fraud cases: a Milwaukee woman who is accused of signing a recall petition against Republican Gov. Scott Walker three times; and the petition circulator who collected those signatures.

Leonard K. Brown, 55, is charged with voting more than once, providing false information to an election official and four counts of voting as a disqualified person for ballots cast April 5, 2011; and Feb. 21, April 2, June 5 and Nov. 6, 2012. The double voting and false information counts relate to the November election.

According to the criminal complaint, Brown voted in person in Milwaukee on Nov. 6, and by absentee ballot for that election in West Milwaukee, and his several prior votes in West Milwaukee occurred when he was not qualified to vote there because he lived in Milwaukee. He faces up to 24 1/2 years in prison and $70,000 in fines, if convicted.

In addition:

• Chad Gigowski, 27, is charged with voting in the November election in Greenfield and in Milwaukee, providing false information to a Greenfield election official and registering in more than one place.

According to the criminal complaint, he told investigators he and a friend tried voting in at least two other spots before casting a vote in Greenfield. He said he first tried to vote in Milwaukee but lacked paperwork to show he was a resident. He ultimately used a driver's license that showed his old address in Greenfield to try to vote there. But records show he cast ballots in each city, according to the complaint. Gigowski faces up to 10 ½ years in prison and $30,000 in fines.

• Andrew L. Shepherd, 32, is charged with a felony for falsely telling Milwaukee officials he had no felony record when applying to get hired as a special voter registration deputy in 2012. Shepherd has two felony drug convictions and a third conviction for recklessly endangering safety.

Shepherd told prosecutors he knew his prior convictions would disqualify him for the job, but he signed a document swearing he had a clean record "because he was just trying to get paid to be a campaign worker," a complaint said. He told prosecutors he never actually registered anyone to vote, but city election officials said Shepherd had registered six voters. He faces 3 ½ years in prison and a $10,000 fine, if convicted.

• Brittany M. Rainey, 23, was charged with lying about her past as a felon to vote in last November's elections. She was convicted of child neglect in 2010 and now faces a felony voter fraud count. She faces up to seven years in a prison and $20,000 in fines.

• Caitlin B. Haycock, 24, is charged with a misdemeanor for signing her name and both her parents' names to a Walker recall petition on Nov 15, 2011. Haycock said she told the petition circulator she wanted to sign for her parents, retired teachers who were then out of the country, according to a complaint.

The circulator, Jenny Wanasek, 64, also was charged with a misdemeanor for accepting the signatures from Haycock. Wanasek said she would have to turn away while Haycock signed her parents' names, Haycock told investigators. Wanasek said she later had second thoughts but forgot to cross out the signatures before turning in the petitions.

Haycock's parents, Virginia Hirsch and Mitch Haycock, separately signed Walker recall petitions on their own, the complaint said.

• In another case linked to the Walker recall, Deborah A. Mehling is charged with a civil violation for signing a petition sheet as circulator even though her daughter had collected one of the signatures. Mehling faces a fine of up to $200.

• Brian A. Uecker lived in Greenfield but in November voted in a ward in that city where he once resided but no longer lived.

• Fozia H. Nawaz of Milwaukee voted in November in Greenfield, telling investigators she did so because it was easier.

• Bill A. Di Giorgio of Germantown was charged with voting illegally in Milwaukee in November.

Uecker, Nawaz and Di Giorgio face $100 fines, if convicted.

A Northeast Side woman was fined $500 today for voting twice in the 2010 general election.

Dominique Atkins, 38, of Barnes Drive E., pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of attempted illegal voting. The charge was reduced from a felony count of illegal voting as part of a plea deal.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Frye sentenced Atkins to 30 days in jail but suspended the jail time if she pays the fine and court costs by Nov. 1.

Death doesn’t necessarily disqualify you from voting in New York City.

Investigators posing as dead voters were allowed to cast ballots for this year’s primary and general elections, thanks to antiquated Board of Election registration records and lax oversight by poll workers, authorities said.

The election board’s susceptibility to voter fraud by people impersonating the departed was uncovered during a massive probe of the agency by the Department of Investigation.

The probe uncovered 63 instances when voters’ names should have been stricken from the rolls, but weren’t — even though some of them had died years before.

“The majority of those 63 individuals remained on the rolls nearly two years — and some as long as four years — since a death, felony conviction, or move outside of New York City,” said DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn.

Undercover DOI agents were able to access voting booths in 61 instances — including 39 dead people, 14 jail birds and eight non-residents. Only twice were the agents blocked.

It was easy to scam the system because poll workers did not closely check birth dates or signatures of the ineligible voters. In all cases, probers voted for a fictitious “John Test’’ instead of a real candidate.

In some cases, young investigators were able to vote under the name of a dead person three times their age.

For example, a 24-year female was able to access the ballot at a Manhattan poll site in November under the name of a deceased female who was born in 1923 and died in April 25, 2012 — and would have been 89 on Election Day.

Also at a Manhattan poll site, a 33-year-male investigator was able to vote under the name of a deceased man who would have been 94 on Election Day.

DOI said the agents cast votes for fictitious candidates so as to not affect any races.

Board of Elections lawyer Steven Richman said the agency is sometimes unaware that a voter has died because it never received notification. “The information is only as good as the information we receive,” he said.

Richman said the elections board is supposed to receive copies of death certificates from the state Board of Elections via the health department. There isn’t a notification requirement if someone dies in another state, he said.

[UncleBeer 244]

What? Islands are floating now?

According to this distinguished Democrat Congressman from Georgia.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Still you haven't read the links. Fine. Here we go:

I don't expect you to read any / all of this; you seem somewhat "information averse".

Still waiting for proof that wide scale voter fraud exists. You haven't posted one thing that backs that claim.

Hint: "Wide scale" does not mean one or two votes or even 6 for that matter. Show me the indictments and convictions of a wide scale voter fraud scheme. Otherwise, you got nothin.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Still waiting for proof that wide scale voter fraud exists. You haven't posted one thing that backs that claim.

Hint: "Wide scale" does not mean one or two votes or even 6 for that matter. Show me the indictments and convictions of a wide scale voter fraud scheme. Otherwise, you got nothin.

[Sousuke 1,214]

IMO if we aren't going to require ID to vote, there should be a legal movement to roll back other ID laws…from Stop and Frisk to stores asking if I'm 21 to firearms and ammo.

[UncleBeer 244]

Still waiting for proof that wide scale voter fraud exists. You haven't posted one thing that backs that claim.

<sigh> If you choose to reject all credible proof then of course nothing can be proven to you. Apparently you're beyond help. Admit your blatant biases and at least honestly admit your own dishonesty.

[Teddy B 17,252]

<sigh> If you choose to reject all credible proof then of course nothing can be proven to you. Apparently you're beyond help. Admit your blatant biases and at least honestly admit your own dishonesty.

There is no proof of wide spread voter fraud in that link either.

I'm not the least bit biased, I take things at face value. I'm also the first to point out that the Democrats falsely use voter id as an attack on the poor. I look at the facts and draw the conclusion that voter fraud and voter id are both non-issues. They are both ploys used by both sides to distract their base from the real problems we face and their inability to address them.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

I just described with detailed accuracy how the in person voting process works and I challenge any of you RWN's to demonstrate where the security breach exists in that process and then demonstrate how a picture of yourself on a card would work to remedy that. Go ahead. This is going to be fun.

RWN ? What is an RWN?

[UncleBeer 244]

There is no proof of wide spread voter fraud in that link either.

Believe what you have to believe, but don't kid yourself that it's the truth. You dismiss my credible proof of voter fraud and impersonation out of hand, while pretending that the fictional 'citizen' that doesn't have a driver's license, never boards a plane, never enters a federal building, never cashes a check, never buys antihistamines, never buys alcohol, never buys cigarettes, doesn't have a bank account, has never applied for food stamps, has never applied for welfare / medicaid / social security / unemployment benefits, never applied for a mortgage, never bought or rented a car, never gotten married, never purchased a firearm, never rented a hotel room, never applied for a fishing license, never bought a cell phone, never donated blood, never purchased nail polish at CVS, never been in a jail or court, never had US passport, never been to an NAACP rally, and never taken the SAT or ACT; the people who fit ALL these criteria at the same time are who you are defending.

How many people in the US do you think fit all these criteria simultaneously? More than the vote fraudsters? Provide "credible proof".

RWN ? What is an RWN?

It's an insult. Does that come as a surprise?

Edited April 30, 2014 by UncleBeer

[one...two...tree 2,762]

IMO if we aren't going to require ID to vote, there should be a legal movement to roll back other ID laws…from Stop and Frisk to stores asking if I'm 21 to firearms and ammo.

Apples to oranges. If gun advocates were okay with the gubmint keeping a log of all gun owners in the U.S., which could then be accessed by any seller and you were only allowed to purchase one gun, then your comparison just might work.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Believe what you have to believe, but don't kid yourself that it's the truth. You dismiss my credible proof of voter fraud and impersonation out of hand, while pretending that the fictional 'citizen' that doesn't have a driver's license, never boards a plane, never enters a federal building, never cashes a check, never buys antihistamines, never buys alcohol, never buys cigarettes, doesn't have a bank account, has never applied for food stamps, has never applied for welfare / medicaid / social security / unemployment benefits, never applied for a mortgage, never bought or rented a car, never gotten married, never purchased a firearm, never rented a hotel room, never applied for a fishing license, never bought a cell phone, never donated blood, never purchased nail polish at CVS, never been in a jail or court, never had US passport, never been to an NAACP rally, and never taken the SAT or ACT; the people who fit ALL these criteria at the same time are who you are defending.

How many people in the US do you think fit all these criteria simultaneously? More than the vote fraudsters? Provide "credible proof".

It's an insult. Does that come as a surprise?

I got an itchy report finger. I have been suspended for way less.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Here, I'll make it simple for you, UncleBeer. All you gotta do is go through each step of the current voting process and explain where the holes for potential voter fraud exist and then articulate in your own words, how having a photo ID would remedy that security breach. The challenge is for you to argue your point by its own logic and reason, not by using links or posting a wall of text that shows no thought of your own.

In-Person Voting Process (as it currently works)

1. Voter registers and is given the option to have mail-in ballots or vote in person.

2. If voter decides to vote in person, they are mailed a voting guide that shows them where they must vote.

3. Voter shows up at the correct voting location, walks up to a table and gives their name to a volunteer.

4. Volunteer matches the given name and address with their voter roll. Checks off name or has voter sign off on voter roll.

4a. If voter is not on roll but insists they are registered, they are given a write-in ballot.

4b. Write-in ballot is collected and later verified to match name and address of voter.

5. Voter is given ballot and votes.

If you respond with another wall of text or set of links, you lose argument. This is called a debate and requires thinking for yourself. Come on now, sparky. You can do it.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Porterhouse

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Woo! Down with voter ID!

I don't think the gov should give free IDs to everyone, how expensive it would be! For what?

Down with a national ID; quit trying to make me a serial number!

This whole thing is a smokescreen. The people who cry "voter fraud" don't even understand what it is, and use bullsh!t data to come up with spurious conclusions. Like, how many dead people are on voter lists. Voter lists aren't updated in real time, so if someone dies, they are still on the list. It doesn't mean that that person is voting! They never question who voted, just who is on a list.

[UncleBeer 244]

Come on now, sparky. You can do it.

Maybe you've mistaken me for your dog.

As I say, all I can do is provide proof of voter fraud, impersonation, and non-citizen voting from credible sources. I've done that. The "wall of text" was posted because many of you seem afraid to actually click the links. So be it.

The reality is that as long as Crawford v. Marion stands, the point is moot: SCOTUS views voter ID laws favorably by a 6-3 margin. I have no need to "win" this "debate".