Looks like both parties can play dirty.

[The Evil Genius]

What this - more vote rigging?

Hope its not true - or Kilmer and Art are gonna have some 'splaining to do

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - With the outcome of Alabama's gubernatorial race still up in the air, Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman and Republican challenger Bob Riley are going about business as if they are both the governor-elect.

Both candidates have claimed victory in the election — one of several races around the country that remained unsettled Thursday, including congressional contests in Colorado, Louisiana, New York and Texas.

In Alabama, the two sides sent lawyers and campaign supporters to courthouses statewide to recheck numbers and photograph the vote tallies.

The dispute centers around allegations by Siegelman that a GOP-dominated county altered its vote totals in the middle of election night.

Late Tuesday, election officials in Baldwin County distributed figures that showed Siegelman with 19,070 votes, enough to give him the victory in the unofficial statewide count.

But on Wednesday, the county certified results that gave Siegelman 12,736 votes while leaving Riley's numbers unchanged. That erased the governor's thin margin in the statewide count and put the GOP congressman ahead by 3,195 votes out of 1.3 million cast.

Probate Judge Adrian Johns blamed a software glitch for the earlier figures.

But Siegelman charged that the Baldwin County figures were changed after midnight when poll watchers had left, and he stood by the higher number that would give him a second term.

"Votes were changed after midnight with nobody present," he said.

Riley insisted that was not true.

Alabama does not have a law providing for an automatic recount in tight races. A voter could seek a recount from each county canvassing board, but that requires putting up a security bond.

The unofficial count showed Riley with 670,913 votes statewide, or 49 percent, Siegelman with 667,718 votes, or 49 percent, and Libertarian John Sophocleus with 23,242 votes, or 2 percent.

Both major-party politicians acted like they had won Wednesday, with Siegelman talking to legislators about a special session and Riley appointing a chairman for his transition team.

Siegelman would not comment on whether he would take legal action.

[Kilmer17]

I hope he does sue. If there was any illegal activities, we should find out who and punish them and right the wrong. If the Dem got more votes, congrats, he should be Gov.

Now about those dead people in South Dakota.........

[The Evil Genius]

Or the 107,000 votes that were mysteriously "found" today in Florida.

Good thing they didnt impact the races this time.

[Kilmer17]

But those were in Broward county. Run by Dems, the election boards are dems. How could the GOP do anything there?

[The Evil Genius]

It only takes one bad apple Kilmer.

I have seen you mention the "dead indians" voting in the Dakotahs - I would be interested to read more about it.

Do you have an article about it? Or is it just scuttlebutt?

[Kilmer17]

1st thing to pop up on Yahoo.

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-lauck102902.asp

At the heart of the problem is the Democrats' decision to adopt the unorthodox practice of paying $3-per-head bounties for voter-registration cards and absentee-ballot requests, making fraud practically inevitable. The more registration cards and absentee-ballot requests one fills out, the greater the size of one's check from the South Dakota Democratic party — and, naturally, the greater dimensions of the voter-fraud problem election officials must now untangle.

The Pennington County sheriff noted that one individual had probably gathered his bounties by copying names from the phonebook or from newspaper obituaries. At least six dead people were registered to vote. Further compounding the odds of fraud, the Democrats selected a man on work-release from jail to be the bounty-hunter. No one should now be surprised that such circumstances led to charges of forgery. Indeed, the only reason more counts weren't filed was that authorities decided to prosecute only the "worst five."

[redman]

Here's another less party-affiliated source:

Fraud Clouds Senate Race in Daschle's South Dakota

Christine Hall, CNSNews.com

Friday, Oct. 18, 2002

Reports of voter registration fraud involving Democrats and Indian reservations are pouring out of South Dakota, the home state of Democrat Senate leader Tom Daschle.

Less than three weeks before the midterm election, the allegations complicate one of the closest Senate races in the country, one Republicans hope to win in order to regain control of the chamber.

A Zogby International poll of 500 likely voters conducted Oct. 9-11 found that 45 percent of voters favor GOP Rep. John Thune, with 43 percent favoring incumbent Democrat Sen. Tim Johnson. Ten percent remained undecided.

If It's OK for Dead Democrats to Vote in Chicago ...

The FBI and the state attorney general have launched investigations into incidents in which employees of the state Democratic Party allegedly tried to register dead or nonexistent people to vote absentee in the November election.

No ID!

Voters are allowed to vote absentee between Sept. 24 and Oct. 21. The state works largely on an honor system in which voters who go to the polls on Election Day aren't asked for identification.

At least six counties near Indian reservations are reportedly implicated in the investigation: Dewey, Pennington, Fall River, Charles Mix, Shannon and Ziebach.

In Ziebach County, according to news reports, someone allegedly sent in an absentee ballot application for Denise Red Horse, a woman who died in a Sept. 3 car accident. Her application was signed Sept. 21, more than two weeks after her death, and reportedly mailed with a bundle of other applications by the Democrat headquarters.

'Clearly Signed by the Same Person'

The Wall Street Journal reports a Shannon County election clerk received a high number of new voter registrations, many "clearly signed by the same person" and some hailing from Nebraska.

Bret Healy, the executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party, has said he notified the U.S. attorney about the fraud and subsequently fired contractor Becky Red Earth-Villeda after she allegedly submitted invalid voter registrations.

Daschle Underlings Involved

According to the Journal report, two former Daschle staffers, Rich Gordon and Brian Drapeaux, head the Democrats' Indian voter project. But, Sarah Fineberg, communications director for the state Democratic Party, Thursday disputed that Gordon is affiliated with the Democratic Party. She added that only one person associated with the Democratic Party, independent contractor Becky Red Earth-Villeda, is under investigation.

Fineberg confirmed that Democrats have made "outreach" to potential Indian voters a priority in this year's election.

"Have we made a strong attempt to register Native Americans to vote and to do our best to get as many of these people as possible to participate in the Democratic process? Yes," said Fineberg. "That's an appropriate thing to do, because Native Americans, just like everyone else, deserve a seat at the table and deserve their voice to be heard, and [in] one of the most important elections to ever come to South Dakota."

According to Fineberg, the party has set up voter registration tables at state fairs and other gatherings as part of its efforts to boost Indian registration.

FBI special agent Paul McCabe said he could not comment on specifics of the agency's investigation, which is being conducted by the agency's Minneapolis office. The FBI became involved because Indian reservations come under federal jurisdiction.

Christopher Maynard, a Dakota State University political scientist, said he doubted that incidents of voter fraud are part of a comprehensive, intentional effort on the part of state Democrats.

"Much of the fraud that's been found so far has to do with money more so than trying to influence the election," said Maynard. "The problem comes in when many of these groups, such as the Democratic Party, give money based on how many people you can canvas, how many absentee ballots you can bring in."

He believes the Senate race will remain focused on issues such as Iraq, Medicare, prescription drugs and Social Security.

But the election could remain tainted by the accusations of fraud, says Maynard, if the attorney general is unable to unearth any evidence of the wrongdoing between now and the election, if the national media publicize the matter, or if Johnson wins by a slim margin.

If Johnson wins by a few hundred votes, "then you might have a situation where the Republicans contest it in the court system," he predicted.

Daschle's Pork Helps Democrat Incumbent

And it's Johnson who has an edge, Maynard believes, thanks to pork barrel politics.

"The reason this race is in a dead heat right now [is] because Daschle is in charge of the Senate, and that gives South Dakota a huge advantage as far as appropriations," he said.

But on Election Day, Maynard says, it's voter turnout that will determine the outcome, especially the senior vote.

"If it snows that day and it's cold and miserable and that brings down the elderly vote," he said, that could spell trouble for Johnson.

Copyright CNSNews.com

[The Evil Genius]

Thanks - the DEMS responsible for this in SD should be punished.

[The Evil Genius]

Its amazing how a lot of states dont require ID's to vote (yes even in the polling places).

By doing something as simple as requiring a state ID (drivers license, whatever) - a lot of this fraud could be corraled.

[Kilmer17]

Careful E.G. that's what the GOP is getting bashed for in Missouri and Ark. If we ask that everyone show ID we are repressing the votes.

[The Evil Genius]

But Kilmer according to the FEC, a voter ID is already required by law in Arkansas (AR) and Missouri (MO).

So I dont understand what there is to argue.

See this link for the requirements by state...

http://www.fec.gov/pages/faqvdayeprocedures.htm#STATE%20EMPLOYEES%20OFF

[Kilmer17]

I know, I'm just telling you what Donna Brazille and Dee Dee Myers were spouting yesterday.

The laws are there, but when GOP pollsters tried to make the people adhere to them, they were accused of suppressing the vote and then the race card got thrown down.

[redman]

The problem is that this is being treated as a political issue, but neither political party is in a good, unbiased position to correct the problem.

The Dems presently are focused more than Republicans on capturing the votes of lower income voters. Quite often, this is the same class as, for example, illegal aliens and others who have no legal right to vote. And yet, if they did vote, they'd likely vote Democrat, so that's a conflict of interest for the Dems.

For the Republicans who have been loudly condemning voter fraud, those condemnations can easily be interpreted by recent immigrants and minorities - again, traditional Dems - who have a stronger distrust of governmental institutions as being a subtle threat to discourage them to vote, i.e. "We're scrutinizing you if you register to vote." So the Republicans aren't in a good position to police this either.

Instead of it being a political issue, it should be treated as a legal issue. Either you meet the criteria to register to vote - legal resident, no felonies, proper age, no dual registration, etc. - or you don't. How we ensure that this happens I'm not sure as the legal institutions are of course not depoliticized. But the current mud-slinging between the parties over this stuff seems to be a very flawed way of policing this.