September 28, 2004

The Fix is In

In today's Journal Sentinel is a front page story on how important the youth vote is in the election. The story is rather hum-drum. Much more interesting is a caption to this picture:

New Voters Project volunteers gather to be deputized as city registrars. Wisconsin is one of six states targeted by the non-partisan group, which says it has already added more than 100,000 young adults to the rolls here.

New Voters Project is about as non-partisan as Rock the Vote. NVP is a project of the State Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) and George Washington University. The PIRGs are nothing more than Leftist political outfits. More importantly the New Voters Project now has the ability to commit massive vote fraud that could swing Wisconsin and the election toward John Kerry. The Wisconsin Campus Director is Jessy Tolkan. She's had experience with election fraud.

The dirty little secret about registering in Wisconsin is a voter can do so at the polls on Election Day. There is no need to register beforehand. Registration drives only make local officials spend time finding first-time registrants and ask for identification. After that no indentification is needed. Thus a first-time registrant who showed a town clerk their ID does not have to show it again before voting.

There's even a big loophole in same-day registration. The registrant doesn't even need to show any idea if someone who lives in the same municipality vouches for the person.

In some cases NVP workers have been deputized to register voters. In other localities they haven't. Those deputized can register voters without local officials checking IDs. They are simply added to the voter rolls.

Because of Wisconsin's lax voting rules here is a plausible scenerio to steal a Kerry victory:

Here’s the method to the New Voter Project madness. In Wisconsin, you can register to vote at the polls on Election Day. You have to produce identification when you register. But sending in a phony registration in advance puts you on the voter list before the election. Already-registered voters don’t have to show any identification. By putting perhaps thousands of fake names on the voter lists, it will be possible for fraudsters to show up at the polls and simply claim to be the person who was already "registered."

Or how about this: I, being a big Bush backer, get deputized by my town clerk to register voters. I could be legit and have people fill out the proper form and check their ID to make sure they are who they claim to be. Or I could take names out of the phone book, fill out the paperwork, lie that I saw the ID, and put them onto the rolls. While illegal these nefarious actions wouldn't themselves affect an election. There would just be a bunch of false names on the voter rolls.

Now, suppose I falsely registered 20 new voters, then had people from outside the community vote. My cohorts may have already voted somewhere else and are now voting again. That is voter fraud. Wisconsin's attitude that Illinois-style shenanigans could never happen here make the Badger State a defenseless target. When you combine that with it being a battleground state in a close election, then the potential for vote fraud rises significantly.

The PIRGs, George Washington University, and the Pew Charitable Trusts must answer why someone with Tolkan's background is (presumably) being paid to register voters.

What can be done for this election is for Bush supporters to keep a close eye on the polls. Lots of strange, new people coming to the polls should trigger red flags. For future elections, state law has to be changed to require voters to show ID before getting a ballot.

"At 25 Million Strong, Young Adults Coaxed to Flex at the Polls"

"'That St. Louis Dog'"