Voters contend they were duped into registering Republican. LA TImes

[Uncle Sinister]

Source: LA Times

SACRAMENTO -- Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP-hired 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.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fraud18-2008oct18,0,1216330.story

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Too sweeet!

[TommyO]

1. Fortunately, it won't affect their ability to vote on Nov 4th.

They can always change their party affiliation after the election, but this registration fraud still needs to be investigated, and prosecuted.

[elleng]

5. Hope they know that;

I've heard some ask that question, that is, 'Do I HAVE to vote for Rep?'

[4lbs]

2. The only thing that being Democrat or Republican will pretty much do in CA is affect primary voting.

Democrats and Republican registrants in CA get almost the exact same ballot for the general election I believe.

[brentspeak]

3. Here's some info about a similar operation pulling this GOP scam in Mass. four years ago:

http://www.knowthyneighbor.org/101305.html

By Kathleen A. Shaw, Worcester Telegram & Gazette | October 13, 2005

WORCESTER - A 21-year-old Florida college student who spent more than two weeks in Massachusetts collecting signatures for initiative petitions at stores and shopping malls said in an interview that she quit the job because of what she described as "sleazy" tactics used to obtain signatures.

Angela McElroy told the Telegram & Gazette that she took the job with the Florida-based petition-gathering firm JSM Inc. after a friend told her about making money by working on petition drives throughout the country. Upon taking the job, she said she was told her goal was to collect as many signatures as possible "and leave the state before the dust settles."
Allegations of improprieties in Massachusetts petition drives made in the past few weeks have stirred controversy and the attention of state legislators, the state attorney general's office and the secretary of state's office.

While employed by the firm, Ms. McElroy said, she saw one of her co-workers forge signatures from one petition to the other at the Square One Mall in Saugus, re-creating the original signer's handwriting and address. She said she questioned the co-worker about what he was doing and was told that he was boosting his earnings by transferring signatures from petition A, which would allow wine sales in grocery stories, to petition K, which would put a ban on same-sex marriages on the ballot.

[brentspeak]

4. Mark Jacoby has even ripped off the people who do the petitioning for him:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/218/RipOff0218310.htm

Report: Y.p.m. Llc Mark Jacoby

Category: Government Services
Y.p.m. Llc Mark Jacoby does not pay final paychecks and leaves town Ripoff Los Angelas California
Thank You

Read how Ripoff Report saves consumers millions.
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Y.p.m. Llc Mark Jacoby
Phone:
Fax:

666 Bagabond Ln.
La, California, 95001
U.S.A.
Submitted: 10/30/2006 10:48:01 AM
Modified: 10/30/2006 10:48:00 AM
Reported By
Nicolas
philadelphi, Pennsylvania

How to get Rip-off Revenge

my self and many others are victims of this mans games. he will hire you with the impression he is a professional in his field of petitioning. big promises of money are rebutled with 'validity' you only get paid 50 to 70 percent even if you do everything you are told. he keeps the extra money and you do get paid well but he gets paid very well. forget the last check. he will get you to work extra hard telling you there is a pay increase per signature collected for his petitions, he will leave town to go work some other town or state and not pay you. he is very good at this , even if you wanted to take him to court you cant becuase he has not real business address , no home or vehicle, he lives out of hotels and rental cars. if your work for this man. email me, hopefully i will have a lawyer who would like to work on a federal or class action law suit. many will testify, i know a few who have been riped of alot of money. my email is baguazhangster at gmail.com , my shift is not working. google mark jacoby and see what you come up with.

joe
philadelphi, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.

[brentspeak]

6. And here's actual video of Mark Jacoby:

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg0s973bNfQ&feature=related

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=veOayufsb8w

[Faygo Kid]

7. Somebody contact Hannity! He rails hourly against voter fraud.

Just kidding, of course.

[scytherius]

8. I'm in CA and that would only make a difference for primaries. And . . .

if you are in California you know that your party registration means nothing for the general election.

[Chulanowa]

9. A lot of people don't know that, though

Most people just don't think about their vote or politics at all. A number of them think that the parties are the same, others think that if they're registered in a party that they have to fote for that party, etc.

It's these people the scammers are counting on

[machI]

10. Kick

[bemildred]

11. Voters say they were duped into registering as Republicans

Source: LA Times

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.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fraud18-2008oct18,0,1216330.story

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Have some real, Republican voter fraud.

[FreakinDJ]

12. Will at least their registration forms were processed

doesn't seem to be the case when some one registers Democratic

[Sukie]

13. I'd say this is the republican version of Acorn

It shouldn't affect voting though since you can vote either way in the general election. I hope Obama's team pounces on this.

[Marjane]

14. NOT Republican version of ACORN - much worse

Acorn is accused of not stopping its workers from registering people multiple times or from registering fake people. This has resulted in 0 proven cases of illegal voting.

YPM on the other hand is screwing with a persons right to vote. If voters have unwittingly changed their status to absentee voter, they will show up and likely not be allowed to cast a regular ballot. Instead they will cast a provisional ballot which will count more likely than not BUT when you cast a provisional ballot you walk away from the polls without the assurance that your ballot is comingled with everyone else's ballots and will definitely be counted. When you cast a provisional ballot, your ballot is subject to further checks and you won't be sure it was counted until weeks after the election in most cases. In some states, you have an opportunity to correct any deficiency or mistake found by those who "verify" provisional ballots. But how many voters remember to follow up? Why should they have to be so vigilant about exercising their RIGHT! In some states, you do not even have the opportunity to correct problems with a provisional ballot. SO, yes, YPM is far far worse than ACORN.

[onager]

15. In front of grocery stores?

Before I moved to Egypt to work, I lived in Los Angeles many years (and will probably go back there after this assignment).

Long ago, I learned that certain...types of people tended to petition in front of grocery stores:
1. LaRouchies--they like to scream that you're a Communist if you don't sign. They're even funnier than the Sidewalk $cientologists.
2. Valley Secessionists--San Fernando Valley, where I live(d). The very rich and very right-wing Boeckmann family has been bankrolling the Valley secession movement for years. They want the Valley to secede from Los Angeles and become their very own little political fiefdom.
3. People Who are Not What They Claim: i.e., any petition for "better government" usually turned out to be some variety of Libertarian kook. And once I was asked to sign a petition claiming to "improve the quality of life in the Valley." They wanted to close down the few remaining adult book stores in the area. No pun intended, but f!ck them.

I eventually learned to ignore everyone outside the grocery stores, with the exception of the annual Girl Scout Cookie Drive. The Girl Scouts are all right and only posed a danger to my waistline.

While I stocked up on those Peanut Butter Death Cookies, I would find the adult chaperone and quietly thank her for representing a group that did not exclude atheists or gays. (Since I'm an atheist.) I got into some good conversations doing that.

[LisaL]

16. It doesn't matter for the general election if they are registered

as democrats or as republicans, as long as they are registered.

[AndyTiedye]

17. If All the Democrats they Switched to the Republican Party Vote the Next Republican Primaries

that could cause some rather interesting results in those races.