September 12, 2008

GOP absentee ballot mailings called voter fraud

Click to enlarge. The Raintree Lane address is in Mount Pleasant.

Democratic voters in at least two Wisconsin communities have received absentee voter forms from the McCain campaign that -- if used -- could cause their votes to be ignored.

Is it a simple error? Or campaign shenanigans and voter fraud? You be the judge.

Keith Heck, a former Racine Unified School Board member who lives in Mount Pleasant, reports receiving a mailing containing two tear-out requests for an absentee ballot. The preprinted request form -- an 11x17 piece of card stock folded over twice for mailing -- is addressed to the clerk in the the village of Caledonia.

Heck says, "I spoke with the Caledonia clerk and learned if we (in Mount Pleasant) used the form and sent it to the pre-printed address they would have to forward it to the right jurisdiction (if they had the time and the people) who would then have to send out the absentee ballot. As the deadline to submit a request is Oct. 30, and the clerks have a deadline of Oct. 31, this bogus form not only gums up and overworks the process to get absentee ballots sent out, it could cause some to not even be mailed."

Inside, were two forms like this.
Click to enlarge.


The election officials Heck spoke to -- Racine County and Caledonia -- said sending the absentee ballot request to the wrong clerk would not jeopardize a voter's registration, but might result in the absentee ballot not getting sent due to overworked personnel, or the possibility of missing the deadline.

Another report comes from Jennifer Jackson, a Kenosha County supervisor. She says a friend in Middleton received similar McCain literature, containing a large post card which was an application for absentee ballot. The return address was wrong. Instead of the Middleton address for her clerk's office , it was a Madison clerk's office address. Had she filled this out and sent it back, "her vote would never have been counted," according to Jackson.

Jackson -- full disclosure requires us to note that she's a Democratic Party activist -- said: "My friend is very involved with the Obama Campaign in Middleton. She called many of her friends and found they had the same thing. They debated whether or not to send them in at McCain expense, then they realized the return address was not Middleton but in fact a Madison address."

Jackson says, "I do not for one second think this was an error on the part of the McCain side. They deliberately mailed to strong Democratic voters and deliberately tried to derail their votes."

Otherwise, she asks, "Why mail to established Democrats who have no intention of voting for McCain? Why did everyone with a Middleton address have the same mistake of a return to the Madison Clerk's office? "It is clear," she adds, "that , not trusting E-voting, many Democrats are absentee voting this year. Did the McCain camp think by mis-routing these applications their votes would not be counted? It is true, they would not have been."

Heck also subscribes to the dirty tricks theory. He notes, "I was listening to Air America Radio yesterday and today and it sounded like this was happening around Wisconsin and even in Michigan. If you received this mailer and sent in a request you may want to follow up with the clerk you mailed it to, or call the clerk for your municipality and explain to them what happened to get this corrected. You may also want to forward this to your friends to alert them to his situation. If you have the mailer, check to see if it’s to the right clerk, hold on to the form and ... let our community know how broad this problem is."

Bryan Miller, chair of the Kenosha Democratic Party, says he never received a flier from a Republican candidate in the eight years he's lived in Wisconsin. "Frankly, as I was getting the mail out of the mailbox yesterday, I about fell out of the car when I saw the McCain flier." His had the correct mailing address on it, but he said more than a million Obama supporters in Ohio received an absentee ballot from the McCain campaign that included an "extra" check box "by accident," and were thus deemed invalid.

Miller said he talked to Kyle Richardson of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, who said he received a report of someone who had moved, but got a flier with the mailing address of the municipal clerk serving their old address. "If you send the application to the wrong clerk, it will invalidate your voter registration, essentially moving your registration to the new municipality," Miller said.

Anyone receiving the flier with the wrong address is urged to call the GAB at 608-266-8005 to report it. Or, you can email the GAB with a scanned copy of the invalid portions, or file a complaint here.

28 comments:

  1. Are we preparing for our excuses for the why Obama lost?
    And of course the Atny. Gen. being a republican helps the story gain merit. First it was Fl then Ohio now WI.
    Can we expect any stories about the 14+ Acorn workers arrested in Milwaukee did not think so

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  2. Would it not seem logical to note that there is a huge difference between random persons in a remote incident using voter registration for their own gain and that of the campaign of a major political candidate actually sending out over a million bogus absentee ballots with the intent to fraud...oh, wait, I'm sorry. I forgot. Ignorance doesn't allow for logical thought…

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  3. And no word on the AGs lawsuit to the same GAB that has no time to enforce actual election law?

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  4. I've now talked with the Caledonia Village clerk and gotten the real story on this.

    This is a REQUEST FOR AN ABSENTEE BALLOT - NOT AN ABSENTEE BALLOT...IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR FRAUD TO EXIST VIA THIS MAILER ALONE!

    Since Mr. Heck has not yet registered at his new address, he is still on the state voter lists as registered in Caledonia. BOTH CAMPAIGNS DO MAILINGS BASED ON THOSE STATE VOTER LISTS! I'm waiting to see how many Republicans receive the same type of form erroneously from the Obama campaign because of problems with the state list. This is why many people, myself included, have argued for almost a decade that those lists need to be updated and purged EVERY YEAR!

    As well, Ms. Christensen, our very astute Village Clerk in Caledonia has been forwarding these requests to the proper municipality. If that doesn't occur, guess what - the individual doesn't get a ballot and THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY FOR FRAUD OR FOR SOMEONE TO LOSE THEIR VOTE - how can they if the never got the ballot! Let's remember, we cast our votes on a ballot - NOT A REQUEST FOR A BALLOT!

    The only instance that could be a problem is if the individual (who hasn't bothered to correctly register in his new municipality) waits until the last minute (October 30th) to mail in his REQUEST FOR AN ABSENTEE BALLOT (AGAIN LET ME STRESS THIS IS NOT AN ABSENTEE BALLOT - IT IS SIMPLY A REQUEST TO HAVE THAT BALLOT MAILED!) In that instance, if the voter is too ignorant to realize he isn't mailing his REQUEST to the municipality in which he lives, there is the chance he won't receive the ballot in time to vote because of mail delivery times.

    BUT GUESS WHAT - THAT INDIVIDUAL CAN STILL GO TO THE POLLS AND VOTE ON ELECTION DAY! And if that individual isn't able to get to the polls, aren't you Democrats known for your ability to get people to the polls?

    As colt and anon have mentioned - no story whatsoever about allowing people who are registering at the polls, and don't have proper identification to register, to vote on election day and try to "figure it out" afterwards! Now that sir, defines the word FRAUD!

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  5. Be careful Racine Post... Your Left Wing is Showing!

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  6. Not sure what you mean, WackoStu. The story is straight-forward, and we make no judgment.
    You can now find later versions here
    in the Wisconsin State Journal
    and here in the Journal Sentinel.

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  7. I agree with WackoStu. If you we're attempting to be truly unbiased, you would have shown a little more concern for the thousands of Republicans who got these ill-marked forms---and I know republicans who received them.

    If this is a big deal, this is going to end up hurting McCain a lot more than Obama.

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  8. The racinepost writes stories about republicans too, but I don't you all b*tching then. Every time a story is written that casts shadows on arrogant republicans, the b*tching begins that the writers are biased.
    Secondly, there is no such thing as pure unbiased media. The news is told through the eyes and ears of a human being. No human is completely unbiased. If they were they would be a thoughtless robot and no one would pay attention anyway.
    After all that said, thank you racinepost for telling racine what you see and learn and those that b*tch will do so no matter what is written.

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  9. It's ELECTION FRAUD, not voter fraud.

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  10. this is going on in West Virginia as well.

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  11. C'mon Pete, shouldn't you have told your readers that Mr. Heck moved from his Caledonia residence to the Mt. Pleasant address recently and chose not to inform the Caledonia village clerk that his name should be removed from their voter lists? Shame on you! Check your facts, and then check 'em twice before making such allegations.

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  12. Hey Pete -
    How about a "micro poll" asking whether or not the media (mainstream and internet) is hurting John McCain's campaign?

    I think I already know what the answer will be! How 'bout you???

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  13. How about my husband and I both receiving the mailer at our current address of three years yet only mine has the request preprinted incorrectly with the clerk for our OLD address? When I look up both our voter public access records - we both show up in the two muncipalities as registered voters. If it was a "mistake" then why didn't both of ours get printed incorrectly? As a database programmer who's done a lot of manipulation with address lists - it would seem to me that mine was cross-referenced with another list...perhaps one listing Obama campaign contributions. I'm the activist in the family and have made multiple contributions to the Obama campaign.

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  14. It's sad that McCain doesn't think he can win honestly.

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  15. Can it be confirmed that Republicans did not receive this form? If so this may not be Election Fraud but it would be a clear ethical violation and would reflect badly on the McCain campaign.

    If Republicans did receive the bad forms, it just shows incompetence by McCain's campaign.

    Either way it should be confirmed and publicized.

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  16. How about a "micro poll" asking whether or not the media (mainstream and internet) is hurting John McCain's campaign?

    I think I already know what the answer will be! How 'bout you???


    I suppose it does hurt McCain when his lies are exposed.

    Solution? Stop lying.

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  17. If I received McCain campaign literature, I would throw it away -- even if I intended to vote absentee and needed an application.

    I would never, EVER, use John McCain's form for absentee.

    So even if this IS fraud, what is the likelihood they'd actually hook someone? What I'm saying is, if you know you're voting for Obama, why in the hell would you not just toss any and all McCain lit?

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  18. WOW.....JUST WOW. Some of you posters here really do deserve the gov't you get.

    However, I happen to believe in the Bill of Rights and our Constitution. My brother, who died of multiple-AGENT ORANGE-related brain tumors died for his country. I'm sick of hearing mcnasty use his POW like a status symbol.......humility is something most vets hold near and dear.

    THIS GUY, AS HIS OWN FIRST COUSIN STATED in a St.Pete Times article, is someone she no longer recognizes.

    If his campaign can't do voter registration w/o botching it, how's McNasty going to run a BUSH-RAVAGED COUNTRY????

    If it's NOT an error, than he's a shameless LIAR WHOW WOULD STEAL AN ELECTION.....WHAT A HERO?

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  19. I live in Lycoming County, PA, and am a long term Dem who frequently write letters to the editor of the local paper.

    I also received one of these. So it isn't just WI and MI.

    I wish I still had it, but I think I threw it out.

    It did seem strange to me that McBush would be sending me an absentee ballot application when I am not in anyone's dream going to vote for him.

    Why do these people hate democracy and America???

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  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  22. acorn is nothing compared to at flithy republicans. In 2004 ohio election official

    1) purged democrat voters form the roll's
    2) didnt process democrat voter application's
    3)had 80 thousand votes for kerry switched and counted for bush
    4) didn't count tens thousands of votes for kerry
    5) intentional had malfunctioning machines in democratic districts 6) took kerry off the ballots in some districts
    7) had as few as two machines in democratic areas resulting in huge lines. they even found machines locked in a room where nobody had the key to the room.
    8) sent democrat voters to the wrong precinct's
    9)had bush receiving more votes in districts than votes cast
    10) had discrepencies of exit polls to actual votes with a statistical chance of 1 in 3 billion
    11) took away an estimated 357 thousand votes from the democrats. The republicans will stop at nothing to rig an election. theyre filthy evil people. This rigging better not happen again in 2008 like it did in 2000 and 2004. that was a disgrace. even third world countries have better election standards. its absolutely disgusting the republicans get away with rigging elections.

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  23. I have lived in Evansville,WI for the past 10 years. I have never lived in Brooklyn, Wisconsin (about 6 miles away). Last Week I received an absentee ballot from the GOP of Wisconsin with a return address for the absentee application in Brooklyn. It isn't a mistake due to an old address it is corruption.

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