Big Sky Cairn

The Montana GOP is taking a lot of heat for asking the state of Montana to ensure that the lists of registered voters - the list of voters that will have a say in how Montanans choose to be governed - is accurate. The Gazette goes so far as to suggest that the cigar-filled-room-motive behind this effort is to reduce voter turnout. Please.

Over at Western Word, Jack does a great job of walking through these accusations with a little common sense.

The Gazette Editorial Board writes, “Those who receive the challenge letters initiated by the GOP ought to make a point of voting. We suggest that they encourage their friends, family and neighbors to vote, too.”

What the Gazette says is correct, but they failed to mention these people should be “legally” able to vote. I am sure the Gazette would like to see a fair and legal election.

Ultimately, though, it comes down to this simple fact. For every soldier or teacher or firefighter that the Democrats are parading in front of the media because they are asked to face the inconvenience of ensuring they are properly and legally registered, there is the possibility of that soldier’s or teacher’s or firefighter’s vote being negated by an illegally cast ballot from out of state.

A friend of mine did some data-mining in Helena. The State of Washington posts their voter roles online, so a comparison could be done. Out of those voters, at least fifteen were registered in both Washington and Montana - and that’s only a cross-section of one state. There are 48 other states that these voters may be duel-registered in.

Here are the 15 People currently registered in both Montana and Washington:

[Edit: I decided to remove the names since, as I originally said, these people have done nothing wrong; my point was merely to show that such people existed]

Now, I’m not suggesting that any of these people have or intend to do anything wrong. Certainly, it takes time for voter roles to update when someone moves, and there’s a good chance that most of these are people that have no intention of voting twice. There’s no way to tell if they have recently arrived in Montana or left. But if a single one of these voters does end up voting in two states, their illegal Montana vote may just as likely cancel as bolster the vote of a Montana soldier or teacher or firefighter. Or you.

So, on my behalf, the Montana GOP is asking 6,000 people to confirm their eligibility in Montana to cast a vote. Doing so helps ensure the sanctity of my vote - and yours. It’s prophylactic. And in Missoula, where the voting has already begun, it turns out the request isn’t that big a pill to swallow.

Among those challenged was Ian Mucci, 23, of Missoula, who has moved twice in the last year and run into all sorts of problems with the U.S. Postal Service delivering his mail.

He said that if voting involves an easy fix to the challenge, that’s OK. If it’s denying him the right to vote, he’ll take issue with the whole thing.

“I think it’s a pain in the butt, but it’s not like we are asked to give our blood or firstborn child,” he said.

Is this about voter suppression? Of course not! But if we’re going to throw that phrase out there, how much more likely is it that someone won’t vote if they don’t think their vote will be counted fairly?

Given the lengths to which Governor Brian Schweitzer bragged about going to secure his promise that Montana would elect Tester in 2006, Montanans need to be absolutely concerned about what he is willing to do in 2008. It’s worth noting that in the now infamous Philadelphia speech Schweitzer also guaranteed that Obama would win Montana. That’s a pretty big check Schweitzer wrote, and Montanans have heard first-hand the lengths he will take to cash it.

Update: Not sure where I got the idea that there were only 56 people challenged in Helena.  That is, obviously, incorrect.

You’re asking Obama supporters to do something legal?

These people who have moved are entitled to vote in either district, but now have to go through the rigmarole of getting a certified letter to do so. There’s only one reason for this - the Republicans hope they don’t vote. High turnout favors Democrats. You and I both know that.

You guys care about the sanctity of the vote? Have you even been on this planet since 1998? Is there a better phrase around than “crass hypocrisy”? It’s too bland. It doesn’t work for what you wrote here.

It figures Mark T(rotsky) would favor voter fraud. How else could he get his fraudulent candidates elected?
_________________

ACORN office in Vegas raided in voter-fraud probe
By OSKAR GARCIA – 18 hours ago

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada authorities seized records Tuesday from a group they accused of submitting fraudulent voter-registration forms — including for the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys.

“Tony Romo is not registered to vote in the state of Nevada, and anybody trying to pose as Terrell Owens won’t be able to cast a ballot on Nov. 4,” said Secretary of State Ross Miller, referring to star players on the pro football team.

State authorities raided the headquarters of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a group that works to register low-income people.
________________

Say, wasn’t Obama a “community organizer”?

ACORN, so far as I can see, did nothing illegal. They collect voter registration cards, and are required by law to turn them all in. They go one step further - after they have obtained a registration, they call the phone number on the card to verify the voter’s name and address. If they are unable to do so, they flag the registration as possibly fraudulent.

It’s a witch hunt. Voter fraud is nothing more than a way to get legitimate voters off the rolls, becuase high turnout favors the Democrats. While the raid is high profile, the eventual exoneration will never be mentioned at this site.

democrats = voter fraud = high turnout = democrats

etc.
etc.
etc.

Hey, Mark Trotsky, the “witch hunt” keeps growing. What’s your excuse this time?

Missouri officials suspect fake voter registration
Oct 8, 9:12 PM (ET)
By BILL DRAPER

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Officials in Missouri, a hard-fought jewel in the presidential race, are sifting through possibly hundreds of questionable or duplicate voter-registration forms submitted by an advocacy group that has been accused of election fraud in other states.

Charlene Davis, co-director of the election board in Jackson County, where Kansas City is, said the fraudulent registration forms came from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. She said they were bogging down work Wednesday, the final day Missourians could register to vote.

“I don’t even know the entire scope of it because registrations are coming in so heavy,” Davis said. “We have identified about 100 duplicates, and probably 280 addresses that don’t exist, people who have driver’s license numbers that won’t verify or Social Security numbers that won’t verify. Some have no address at all.”

[…]

FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton said the agency has been in contact with elections officials about potential voter fraud and plans to investigate.

“It’s a matter we take very seriously,” Patton said. “It is against the law to register someone to vote who does not fall within the parameters to vote, or to put someone on there falsely.”

On Tuesday, authorities in Nevada seized records from ACORN after finding fraudulent registration forms that included the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys.

In April, eight ACORN workers in St. Louis city and county pleaded guilty to federal election fraud for submitting false registration cards for the 2006 election. U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said they submitted cards with false addresses and names, and forged signatures.

I’ll make it as simple as possible for you, WalMart guy: ACORN is required by law to turn in all voter registrations they receive. They flag those they suspect might be in error or fraudulent.

That’s two cases you’ve highlighted now, outcome unknown. It could as easily be zealous Republican election officials doing a Blackburn routine. You never know, and we’ll never learn the outcome here.

That’s “Blackwell”, as in Ken.

[…] And louder. Pretty soon all of the ‘pubbies were talking about it, and the blogs got into it (here, here, here) - here we go again - RWCJ (right wing circle […]

ACORN pays people to register others to vote. It makes sense that some of these people would try to slip in some fake voter registrations to make a few extra bucks.

When one of you dumbasses explains to me the vast conspiracy of how they were going to get these fake people to the polls, I’ll be stunned.

Take a little look to the left to the link that says Right in the Rockies and you might see how dials get turned up north. You might be surprised to learn that voter fraud and election rigging is alive and well here in good old Montana.

Steve T(rotsky) Jr.:

Repeating Wulfgar’s idiotic “theory” of voter fraud only makes you look dumber than you probably are.

In the law, there is fraud, and there is conspiracy to commit fraud. Your choice of felonies.

HOUSTON — Note: The following story is a verbatim transcript of an Investigators story that aired on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2008, on KPRC Local 2 at 10 p.m.

Local 2 investigates dead voters.

The push to register voters for this year’s presidential election is breaking records. More than 1.9 million people are registered to vote in Harris County alone. But how many of the people listed on the voter roll are actually eligible to cast a ballot?

Investigative reporter Amy Davis shows you how hundreds of voters could sway this year’s election — voters who are not even alive.

“All-in-all, a great person, a great woman, just a wonderful person” is how Alexis Guidry described her mother to Local 2 Investigates. “As far back as I can remember, they’ve always voted in the election,” Guidry said of her parents.

The March 2008 Primary was no exception. Voting records show Alexis’ mom, Gloria Guidry, cast her ballot in person near her South Houston home.

“It was just very shocking, a little unsettling,” said Alexis Guidry.

It’s unsettling because Gloria Guidry died of cancer 10 months before the March Primary.

“She’d be very upset,” Guidry said when asked what her mom would think.

$$$

Complete story on registered dead voters who still vote:
http://www.click2houston.com/investigates/17671375/detail.html

Checker 12. I’ll see your dead voter story and raise you one Obama/Acorn tied at the hip UTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vJcVgJhNaU

Big Swede– If you look carefully at that video, you’ll see Mark & Steve, the Trotsky Boys, in the audience. They’re the ones screaming ecstatically with their eyes rolled back in their heads.

Many convicted felons remain on voter rolls, according to Sun Sentinel investigation

Thousands who should be ineligible are registered to vote

Reported by Peter Franceschina, Sally Kestin, John Maines, Megan O’Matz and Dana Williams Written by Sally Kestin

October 12, 2008

More than 30,000 Florida felons who by law should have been stripped of their right to vote remain registered to cast ballots in this presidential battleground state, a Sun Sentinel investigation has found.

Many are faithful voters, with at least 4,900 turning out in past elections.

Another 5,600 are not likely to vote Nov. 4 — they’re still in prison.

Of the felons who registered with a party, Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one.

Florida’s elections chief, Secretary of State Kurt Browning, acknowledged his staff has failed to remove thousands of ineligible felons because of a shortage of workers and a crush of new registrations in this critical swing state.

Browning said he was not surprised by the newspaper’s findings. “I’m kind of shocked that the number is as low as it is,” he said.

Asked how many ineligible felons may be on Florida’s rolls, Browning said, “We don’t know.”

[…]

“It’s scandalous, really,” said Lance deHaven-Smith, professor of public policy at Florida State University. “Why do they have to cull the rolls after they get registered? They shouldn’t get on the rolls in the first place.”

[…]

John Teate, who lives west of Boca Raton, remains on the voter rolls after registering as a Democrat in July despite felony drug and theft convictions dating to the early 1990s. He said someone he thinks was a Democratic supporter signed him up while he waited for a bus at the central terminal in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

“I said, ‘I’m a convicted felon. I can’t vote,’” recalled Teate, 45. “I figured when the paperwork came in, there would be a red flag.”

(Read the full story of Felons for Obama at

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbfelons1012sboct12,0,3762352.story )

The hits keep ona coming. US Attorney filing RICO against ACORN in Ohio Tues. Info forthcoming. Man the swiftboats of freedom.

http://minx.cc/?post=275478

I suspect that if you look to see the people Bush used to replace the fired US Attorneys, you’ll see a pattern. This is political - it is not that there isn’t underlying dishonesty, but it is being blown wildly out of proportion for political reasons.

Interesting, the Republicans decided to make an issue of voter fraud, which is not much of a problem. Why? They need cover fire - they are swooping down and removing thousands upon thousands of people from the voting rolls. That is the crime that’s taking place.

Democrats, being ahead in the polls, don’t need to cheat. Republicans, behind, can only win by 1) removing Democratic voters from the rolls, 2) suppressing the vote wherever possible, and 3) stealing votes via electronic machines.

But you’ve got a problem - if Obama’s lead is really big on election day, it’s going to look really suspicious if McCain wins. You might have a Civil Disturbance on your hand, and the public might wish that Posse Commitatus was still on the books.

Are you getting a sense of what’s going down here, Swede? Fraud - massive fraud. And it ain’t being done by Acorn.

Imagine it, a pacifist accountant from Bozeman threatening America with “Civil Disturbance” if his black Muslim doesn’t win the election… Too funny!

Saw this ad and thought maybe the ACORN representative just might be Mark, kinda looks like his picture.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iowahawk_blog/2939153395/

(REGISTRATION FRAUD = VOTER FRAUD)

Federal court: Ohio must check voter registrations
Oct 14, 9:27 PM (ET)

CINCINNATI (AP) - A federal appeals court has ordered Ohio’s top elections official to set up a system by Friday to verify the eligibility of new voters.

The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must use other government records to check thousands of new voters for registration fraud.

A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit had disagreed last week, but the full court’s ruling overturns that decision.

Ohio Republicans has sued Brunner, a Democrat.

Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett called the ruling a victory for the integrity of the electoral process.

Brunner previously had said there was no way to implement the system with such speed.

Big Swede:

I have to tell you I’ve been reading your great comments for a couple of years, and I have no clue how you’ve maintained your sense of humor dealing with leftwing scumbags.

Checker 12, I’ve always maintained that when you stick a knife in someone, you can do in a fit of rage, or more effectively, do it with a sadistic smile or even a Palinistic style wink.

Officials: FBI investigates ACORN for voter fraud
Oct 16 01:25 PM US/Eastern
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI is investigating whether the community activist group ACORN helped foster voter registration fraud around the nation before the presidential election.

A senior law enforcement official confirmed the investigation to The Associated Press on Thursday. A second senior law enforcement official says the FBI was looking at results of recent raids on ACORN offices in several states for any evidence of a coordinated national scam.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, says it has registered 1.3 million young people, minorities and poor and working-class voters—most of whom tend to be Democrats.

Those voter registration cards have become the focus of fraud investigations in Nevada, Connecticut, Missouri and at least five other states. Election officials in Ohio and North Carolina also recently questioned the group’s voter forms.

[…] The Big Sky Cairn probably could have won all five places on this list in a week’s worth of posting, but my personal favorite for the year was this post that defended the Montana GOP’s embarrassing attempt to disenfranchise Montana voters: […]

[…] give a little «linky love» to the other winners - Rob Natleson at Electric City Weblog, Big Sky Cairn, and Last Best […]