Milwaukee election fraud update

[sybylla]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/may05/325342.asp

Arrests sought in election fraud
2 accused of falsifying voter registration cards
By DERRICK NUNNALLY and GREG J. BOROWSKI
[e-mail]
Posted: May 11, 2005

Two arrest warrants were issued Wednesday alleging election fraud by two voter-registration workers employed last year to sign up new voters.

According to warrants filed by the Milwaukee County district attorney's office, Urelene Lilly, 48, and Marcus L. Lewis, 23, both admitted to authorities that they filled out multiple voter-registration cards using fictitious information to earn money from Project Vote, which paid workers such as them $40 per day plus $1.75 for each registration above the daily quota of 24 new voters.

Project Vote registered about 40,800 names in Milwaukee County alone, according to a national spokesman.

District Attorney E. Michael McCann would not say when or if more information on other allegations of voter fraud might be available.

<snip>

***AND***

http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/may05/325042.asp

Editorial: What's the fraud threshold?
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: May 10, 2005

Some hard facts are emerging on the contentious issue of voter fraud in Milwaukee, thanks to the effort of a joint local-federal task force, which gave an interim report at a news conference Tuesday. Investigators have found widespread record-keeping glitches and spotty instances of fraud.

The former problem is of absolutely no surprise; the Journal Sentinel had documented it. But the puzzle was to what extent discrepancies in records reflected actual fraud. By methodically combing through records and interviewing voters, investigators are finally putting a handle on the fraud problem, about which many lawmakers and others had more opinions than facts.

Was the state Legislature right to pass a voter ID bill? Was Gov. Jim Doyle wrong to veto it? We said at the time that the Legislature was wrong and the governor was right - an opinion we still hold. Lawmakers had jumped the gun, prescribing a remedy for identification fraud before probes were completed into what extent it was a problem. And the legislative remedy was too extreme; Wisconsin would have had perhaps the most rigid identification requirement in the country.

We would favor tightening ID requirements if identification fraud is proven to be a significant problem. This local-federal task force - consisting of the Milwaukee police, the FBI, the Milwaukee County district attorney's office and the U.S. attorney's office and others - should give officials an idea of whether that threshold is reached as its investigation progresses. But any tightening should be more voter-friendly than what the Legislature passed.

<snip>

***AND***

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/index.php?ntid=39487&ntpid=2

Doyle, GOP leaders are no closer on vote reform

By David Callender
May 11, 2005

Despite official evidence of voter fraud in Milwaukee during last year's presidential election, Gov. Jim Doyle and Republican legislative leaders appear no closer to a deal on proposed election reforms.

The Democratic governor on Tuesday again ruled out requiring Wisconsin voters to present a photo ID at the polls, while Republicans indicated that they will not support any plan that does not include such a requirement.

"I know this is difficult to understand, but the right to vote is guaranteed by the United States Constitution," Doyle told reporters during a Capitol press conference, adding that it would be wrong to deny that right to anyone simply because he or she "doesn't possess the right kind of ID."

Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, meanwhile argued that a federal probe of alleged illegal voting in Milwaukee last year "proves that voting fraud has become a cottage industry in our state.

<snip>

So we have a couple of people being charged with submitting 65 false registrations. A small number of felons voted illegally for which we make no provision to monitor through poll workers. There's evidence of about 100 people possibly voting multiple times with bad names and addresses out of how many that showed up at the polls in Milwaukee? (Seems a pretty low rate of "fraud" if you ask me) And, even after what appears to be a thorough investigation, they still can't figure out how those extra 4,500 votes showed up in the final tally.

But somehow, strict photo ID requirements would fix all this? :banghead: All I can say is WOW, the uber-conservative Urinal Sentinal gets it.

[mopinko]

1. thread in lbn

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1465172

[sybylla]

3. Thanks

I didn't think it was LBN so I didn't even think to check if it was posted there.

[ewagner]

2. The incidents are

statistically insignificant. Certainly the incidence is not enough to warrant this draconian legislation...which doesn't really address it anyway.....blbblblblblblblblblblblblblb :silly::silly::silly::silly:

[TheMightyFavog]

4. I read that article too.

Those false registrations were created so that a couple of greedy, unethical people who wanted to dishonestly earn cash bonuses for going above and beyond their quotas. I hope these people do get whats coming to them, however, those registrations were probably never used, so that can't add to the 4500 votes.

Face it Repugs, Milwaukee is an urban area. Republicans traditionally do not do well in urban areas. Don't get jealous because you cant win in an urban setting.