Senate Judiciary Committee

Senate GOPers On US Attorney Firings: Voter Fraud, Voter Fraud!

Zachary Roth | November 18, 2008, 2:21PM

Election-law expert Rick Hasen picks out an interesting passage from the minority section of the Senate Judiciary Committee's just-released report into the US Attorneys firings.

Some members of the committee's Republican minority -- including senior senators like McCain pal Lindsey Graham, new NRSC chair John Cornyn, and ex-presidential candidate Sam Brownback -- strenuously disagreed with the findings of the Majority (and with an internal report produced by DOJ's Office of the Inspector General) that the White House helped engineer the firings, and that several of the dismissals were made for inappropriate political reasons.

Instead, they used the report as a chance to bang the drum on "voter fraud" one more time. But they continue to willfully confuse voter registration fraud with voter fraud -- even though numerous experts have now pointed out that there's no evidence that fraudulent voter registration forms lead to fraudulent votes being cast.

The dissenting Republicans wrote:

Perhaps the most Orwellian aspect of the Majority report is its repeated insistence that there is no vote fraud in this country that is ever worth investigating. At one point, the Majority even places scare quotes around the term, lest anyone receive the impression that the Majority believes that voter fraud could ever be a real problem. Yet during the federal elections just concluded, the American public saw numerous examples of serious attempts to commit voter fraud in this country.

Most of these incidents involved the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a group that actively promotes voter registration in many cities across the nation. ACORN tends to target areas where it believes that it can register Democratic voters, such as parks, public-assistance agencies, and liquor stores, ACORN's history is littered with claims and convictions of fraud. and generally hires part-time workers who are paid for each registered name to canvas these areas. In this election cycle, many different groups, from journalists to the GOP, strongly criticized the integrity of the organization's registration methods. As early as September, state officials reported fraudulent voter registrations submitted by ACORN, and as of October 6th, the New York Times reported that about 400,000 ACORN filings had been rejected by authorities as duplicates, incomplete, or fraudulent. After comparing their voter registration rolls, Georgia, Florida, and Ohio found 112,000 duplicate voters registered in two states, and authorities have rejected ACORN applications attempting to register such "voters" as Mickey Mouse and the Dallas Cowboys' offensive line.

Notice that the Republicans stop short of saying voter fraud was actually committed. They do say flatly, however, that faulty registration forms submitted by ACORN amount to "serious attempts" to commit voter fraud.

But they don't offer a single piece of evidence to support even this reduced charge.
Not one citation given -- most of which are to columns by conservative opinion columnist John Fund, or to posts on the conservative blog Powerline -- leads to an example that contains any evidence whatsoever of an effort to actually commit voter fraud.

It's one thing for Fund or Sean Hannity to try to muddy up these distinctions in an effort to confuse people into believing that voter fraud actually exists in significant numbers. But it's pretty shocking when Senate Republicans do so.

Norm Coleman

Coleman Camp: Sec of State's Comments on Recount Were "Offensive"

Zachary Roth | November 12, 2008, 3:57PM

The Republicans' apparent effort to de-legitimize the coming recount in the Minnesota Senate race continues.

Yesterday, we reported that the NRSC was distributing to the press a negative research document attacking the man who'll oversee the recount, Minnesota's secretary of state Mark Ritchie, as a partisan Democrat with ties to ACORN, among other alleged sins.

Today, the campaign of incumbent Republican Norm Coleman doubled down on that strategy.

This morning, in an interview with MSNBC, Ritchie was asked about the Coleman camp's criticism of the recount. He replied: "Their goal is to win at any price. They've invested millions and millions of dollars. We consider this part of the normal political rhetoric."

Ritchie added: "We're used to the political rhetoric being amped up. That's part of their job -- to win at any price."

Ritchie seemed to be trying to say that amped-up political rhetoric is to be expected from both sides. But his comments were clumsy at best, and they offered Coleman an opening.

Soon afterwards, the Coleman campaign released a statement calling the remarks "offensive" and saying they underscore "our concerns about his ability to act as an unbiased official in this recount."

With the first count almost complete, Coleman leads by around 200 votes. Although that's easily within the margin that triggers an automatic recount under state law, Coleman has fought the notion of a recount from the start. He originally called on Al Franken, his Democratic challenger, to waive his right to a recount -- a request Franken quickly declined.

Karen Handel

Georgia's "Non-Citizen" Voting Controversy: A Recap

Zachary Roth | November 12, 2008, 11:34AM

So let's briefly look back at what appears to have happened in the controversy over voting in Georgia this election cycle.

First, GOP Secretary of State Karen Handel, based on an interpretation of federal election law, purged around 50,000 newly registered voters from the rolls, based on discrepancies between the information on their voter registration form and that in state databases. About 5000 of those voters were purged because the state found that they had checked a box on their drivers license application indicating that they're non-citizens.

Voting-rights groups sued Handel, claiming that the purge violated federal voting laws, and that the procedure for identifying non-citizens was flawed. For instance, the plaintiff in the case, Jose Morales, had applied for his drivers license while a non-citizen, but had become a naturalized citizen before the election. Since the drivers database is not automatically updated in such cases, he was still flagged as a non-citizen.

Ultimately, a judge required Handel to send a letter to the voters flagged as non-citizens, informing them that their status was in question and notifying them that they could cast a provisional ballot. But if they didn't provide election officials with documents proving their citizenship, within a few days after the election, their ballots would be thrown out.

Many such voters -- in some counties, about two thirds -- did return with the correct documentation. But of course, many didn't, and some counties began throwing out ballots this week.

And the fact that so many did provide documentation only served to bolster the contention of voting-rights groups that the process for flagging voters had been badly flawed. That claim was further strengthened by the fact that the system now seems to have flagged not only naturalized citizens like Morales, but also U.S. born voters whose citizenship has never been in question. One of these voters, a veteran of the U.S. military who received Handel's letter telling her that her citizenship was in question, spoke to TPMmuckraker yesterday.

It's still not clear how many voters were wrongly flagged, and either had their ballots thrown out or were discouraged by Handel's letter from voting in the first place. The question is not academic, because a runoff vote in Georgia's U.S. Senate race, between Republican Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin, is scheduled for December 2nd, after neither man gained 50 percent last week. The vote is expected to be extremely close, and voters who have been designated as non-citizens, correctly or incorrectly, will presumably be barred from casting conventional ballots once again.

Handel's office has said it's working on compiling those numbers, though it appears to be in no rush. We'll keep you posted on what we hear...

Voting

Georgia Military Vet, American Born, Was Flagged As Non-Citizen

Zachary Roth | November 11, 2008, 6:33PM

Yesterday we reported on the election's aftermath in Georgia, where some ballots cast by voters who were flagged as non-citizens are now being thrown out, despite evidence that the state's system for identifying non-citizens was flawed.

We just spoke to one such Georgia voter. Karen Branch of Roswell, in North Fulton County, told TPMmuckraker that just a few days before the election, she received a letter from the office of Secretary of State Karen Handel, a Republican, informing Branch that there were questions about her citizenship.

When Branch went to vote on election day, poll workers told her she had to cast a provisional ballot. Eventually, voting-rights lawyers got on the phone with county election officers, and Branch was allowed to cast a conventional ballot.

But why was Branch flagged in the first place? Handel's office has told us it compared new voter registrations with a state drivers registry, which asks applicants for a drivers license to check a box if they aren't a citizen. It flagged any new voter who had checked that box as a possible non-citizen. After voting-rights groups sued, Handel was required by a judge to send letters to those voters -- around 4700 in all -- telling them that their citizenship was in question and that they would be forced to cast a provisional ballot.

Branch, an African-American who served in the U.S. military during the 90s and now works for a hospital corporation, said she has voted in Georgia in every presidential election since 2000, including this year's primary. She moved from one part of the state to another after the primary -- she re-registered at her new address -- making her, technically, a newly registered voter. But her citizenship has never been in question -- she was born in the U.S. and does not even own a passport. And she applied for her drivers license years ago -- since which time she has been voting without incident -- making it unlikely that she mistakenly checked the "non-citizen" box on her license application.

Branch told TPMmuckraker that she perceived the obstacles as a deliberate "deterrent" to voting, set up by the state.

It's not yet clear how many other voters, like Branch, were mistakenly flagged. But as we noted yesterday, many counties found that around two thirds of flagged voters returned to election offices after election day with documentation proving their citizenship. That would suggest that the error rate in the state's system is high, and that many of the voters who did not return with the proper documentation, some of whom are now having their provisional ballots thrown out, were also mistakenly flagged.

A spokesman for Handel's office yesterday told TPMmuckraker that the office was compiling information from individual counties which would help determine the number of errors. We'll be watching...

ACORN

Before Recount, GOP Smearing Minnesota Sec Of State

Zachary Roth | November 11, 2008, 5:00PM

The recount in the Minnesota Senate race hasn't even begun yet, but already the GOP is working to delegitimize it in advance, by smearing the man who will run it as a partisan Democrat.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has been distributing to reporters a three-page "backgrounder" that attacks Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat, for having spoken at the Democratic convention this summer, and for having "led a voter registration coalition that included ACORN," among other alleged sins.

In the first vote count, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman currently holds an edge of around 200 votes over Democratic challenger Al Franken, though that number may continue to dwindle as more votes are counted. Either way, the margin is easily close enough to require a recount under state law, which will begin next week under Ritchie's supervision.

Despite the backgrounder's sometimes hysterical compilation of anti-Ritchie greatest hits -- it claims that "the Communist Party USA Wrote Encouragingly Of His Candidacy," citing an unsourced line from a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribue -- there's no evidence that Ritchie has ever used his role as the state's top elections administrator to advantage Democrats.

But that likely misses the point of the GOP gambit, which appears to be to cast public doubt on the integrity of the recount process, thereby bolstering Coleman's claim that's he's the rightful winner and that a recount is unnecessary -- just the strategy pursued by George Bush's campaign in Florida in 2000.

Indeed, Coleman's shrinking lead in the first count has already prompted him to try to question the ongoing vote counting. A lawyer for the campaign yesterday told The Politico: "We're not going to sit idly by, while mysterious, statistically dubious changes in vote totals take place after official government offices close."

Voting

Is Voting Reform On The Horizon?

Zachary Roth | November 11, 2008, 3:07PM

It looks like the battle over voter registration didn't end with the election.

Of course, Republican-driven fears of rampant voter fraud perpetrated by ACORN proved unfounded. (So, we should note, did Democratic fears of an election stolen through massive purges of valid voters -- though that was thanks partly to the vigilance of voting-rights groups who brought lawsuits in some states in the weeks before the election.)

But, reports the Los Angeles Times, advocates of election reform still think there's a whole lot of room for improvement. They're talking up the idea of "universal registration," which would have the government take the initiative on voter registration, as is done in other major democracies.

The specific proposals for a universal system differ, but they all aim to address the fact that nearly 1 in 4 American adults is not on the rolls. Most would do things like ensuring that when voters move, states would update their rolls, and some would automatically add teens to the rolls when they turn 18, and to add people .

Perhaps most far-reaching is a proposal to have Congress create a national voter registration database modeled on the Social Security database. But other plans would put registration in the hands of the states.

One benefit of universal registration is that it would take groups like ACORN -- which was criticized, mainly by Republicans, for submitting large numbers of bogus registration forms, wasting time and resources for election officials -- out of the voter registration equation.

And that would prevent the GOP from using ACORN as a boogeyman for fears of systematic voter fraud -- as the party tried to do this year -- thereby making it harder to justify efforts at voter suppression.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a leading voting-rights group, Hillary Clinton has said she plans to introduce legislation for a federal version of the system, and officials in a handful of states have also expressed interest in passing similar state laws.

It's too soon to know whether the bitter fights over ACORN and voter suppression that we saw this year are a thing of the past. But it's encouraging that people are still paying attention to the problem.

voter fraud

Georgia Can't Say How Many Eligible Voters It's Currently Disenfranchising

Zachary Roth | November 10, 2008, 5:37PM

This morning we told you that election officials in Georgia are throwing out ballots cast by new voters who couldn't prove their citizenship, on the orders of the Republican secretary of state, Karen Handel.

And now Handel's office says it can't say how many of those disqualified ballots were actually cast by eligible voters.

A spokesman for the office insisted to TPMmuckraker that most of the voters originally identified through the state's system for finding non-citizens had self-identified as being such. But voting-rights groups argue that that system -- which checks registrations against state drivers records -- is flawed, and could lead to be eligible voters being included through data entry errors and other administrative errors.

Handel's office couldn't yet say how many mistakes had been made, though the spokesman added that the information would soon become available as information from individual counties came in.

In other words, the office can't say how many eligible voters cast ballots that are now being thrown out.

The dispute began back in October, when voting-rights groups including the ACLU sued the state over an effort by Handel to purge from the rolls newly registered voters whose citizenship was called into question by the state's database.

A judge ultimately ruled that the state must allow the voters whose citizenship was in question -- around 5000 -- to cast provisional ballots, and must inform them of the challenge to their eligibility. The voters would then have to show documents proving their citizenship, either on Election Day or in subsequent days, in order for their ballot to be counted.

As we wrote earlier today, many voters did so, but in some counties, around a third did not, causing their some of their ballots to be disqualified starting today. But it now appears almost certain that some ballots cast by eligible voters who were mistakenly flagged, and who then failed to provide election officials with the necessary documents after the fact, are being wrongly thrown out.

We'll continue to keep you posted as more information becomes available...

Karen Handel

After Citizenship Challenges, Ballots Thrown Out in Georgia

Zachary Roth | November 10, 2008, 11:31AM

A significant number of the almost 5000 Georgia voters whose citizenship was challenged before the election will not have their ballots counted.

Last week, about 4,770 voters were told they would have to vote on paper ballots because their citizenship was in question. It was then up to them to return to their local election boards with proof of citizenship.

In several counties, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, about one third of those voters neither returned with the necessary documents, nor showed up to last-chance hearings late last week. As a result, in many counties at least, their ballots will be thrown out.

The issue is not merely academic for this year's election. Neither major candidate got 50 percent of the vote in Georgia's U.S. Senate race, forcing a run-off to be held December 2nd. Voters whose ballots were thrown out would presumably also be barred from voting in the runoff.

The state requires newly registered voters to verify their citizenship -- a requirement that has been questioned by the U.S. Department of Justice and is the subject of a lawsuit.

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel -- who before the election was criticized by voting-rights groups for taking an overly restrictive approach to voting -- verifies citizenship by checking voter registration information against state records.

Handel has said that the only people who were checked were new voters or those who changed an essential piece of information on their registration form. But it's unclear on exactly what basis the citizenship challenges were made.

We'll keep you posted as things become clearer.

Voting

Legislating Early Voting and Universal Registration Create Partisan Rifts

Kate Klonick | November 7, 2008, 12:13PM

As we spend the day recounting yesterday, there were no incidents of voter fraud in the states where the GOP made a fuss over ACORN and other voter registration groups.

In fact, voting went remarkably smoothly, despite the surge in turnout -- a result, many voter experts say, of the use of early voting in key states.

Which raises key questions -- why isn't there early voting in all states? And after all of the debate over voter registration fraud, why not just institute universal voter registration?

"The single most important thing that Congress can do right now is create universal voter registration, which would mean that all eligible voters are automatically registered," said Rosemary E. Rodriguez, the chairwoman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, in an article on the subject in the New York Times this morning.
The majority of states -- 32 -- have early-voting, with Congress discussing its expansion, the Times reports.

In fact, legislation for universal registration is already in the works in Sen. Hillary Clinton's office -- which would minimize long lines and the problems created by third-party groups like ACORN, which might sate the appetite of the GOP who has long accused ACORN of propagating voter registration fraud.

But, as the Times points out, even though making voting easier might sound like a non-partisan issue accepted by both sides of the aisle, it is anything but:

Lorraine C. Minnite, a political science professor and voting rights expert at Barnard College, said Republicans had generally resisted such efforts in part out of concern about ineligible voters like noncitizens being permitted to vote.

"But the bigger reason that Republicans have resisted expanding the franchise," Dr. Minnite said, "is that the new people who are likely to come into the electorate are more often of lower income and are people of color, who tend to vote Democratic."

Tom Jensen, a Democratic pollster based in Raleigh, N.C., said early voting gave Mr. Obama the edge for his narrow victory in North Carolina by offering his campaign more time to organize rides and get people to the polls. Mr. Jensen noted that Mr. Obama won early balloting by 178,000 votes but lost among Election Day voters by 165,000 votes.

"Obama had a great ground game," he said, "but if you only have 13 hours to get everyone out, it's much harder."

ACORN

Ohio and Minn. Sec Of States: No Reports Of Voter Fraud

Zachary Roth | November 6, 2008, 2:39PM

Since we're rounding up the evidence (or lack thereof) of voter fraud taking place yesterday, it's worth also noting what the top election officials in Ohio and Minnesota told us on Tuesday night.

Ohio secretary of state Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, said in a statement released toTPMmuckraker the night of the election: "We have received no reports of election irregularities in Ohio today - and we have been on the lookout for any hint of illegal voting or voter suppression."

And her counterpart in Minnesota, Mark Ritchie, also a Democrat, told TPMmuckraker in an interview that his office had received no reports of voter fraud.

In both states, Republicans or their allies had raised concerns about the possibility for fraud. Brunner had reportedly received death threats after she fought a GOP lawsuit aimed at cracking down on voter fraud. The Supreme Court sided with Brunner.

Voting

Besides Small Tech Glitches, Florida Has Successful Election Day

Kate Klonick | November 6, 2008, 2:19PM

Despite last minute legal wrangling on Election Day eve, Florida's election came off without a hitch, with no reports of voter fraud and few problems.

Democrats and Republicans had reached a truce on Monday evening, that the Florida GOP would not file "frivolous" challenges to voters.

But on Nov. 4, there were glitches at individual polling places, but no major problems

From the Miami Herald:

• The only scanner at Coral Ridge Mall in Fort Lauderdale broke and voters had to put ballots in a bin until it was replaced.

• In the David Park Community Center in Hollywood, the first 20 or so voters were handed misprinted ballots listing Amendment 3 twice.

• A poll worker in Sunny Isles Beach was dismissed for being ``rude and overzealous.''

• Two precincts in Palm Beach County opened late.

Statewide, voting went so smoothly that Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning called Election Day ''almost eerily quiet,'' despite an unofficial record turnout.

''It's been a great day for Florida,'' he said.

Voting

Colorado Voters Vote Early in Smooth Elections

Kate Klonick | November 6, 2008, 12:55PM

Colorado's Secretary of State Mike Coffman -- who was elected on Tuesday to Tom Tancredo's Congressional seat -- had been ordered by a judge just days before the Election to stop purging voters from the system.

But despite his best efforts to purge voters from the rolls -- voting rights groups who filed suit estimated 35,000 people were purged in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act and settled to get 20,000 back on the rolls just days before Nov. 4 -- Colorado had record turnout and early voting, with few problems.

From the AP:

Colorado Common Cause, one of the groups that sued the state, and another watchdog group, Election Protection, said they received about 800 calls from Colorado voters, mostly about registration questions.

"Compared to 2006, Colorado is doing fabulously," said Jenny Flanagan, executive director of Common Cause.

Flanagan said there were some hiccups, such as provisional ballots being given out "wholesale" in some counties, including Arapahoe and Denver, at the first sign of trouble with a voter's registration.

"I don't know if election judges are overwhelmed or if it's a training issue, but it's something we're going to be looking at in the coming days," she said.

Voting

"Voter Fraud" Van Hollen: Wisconsin Voting Goes Smoothly

Kate Klonick | November 6, 2008, 12:04PM

Though his lawsuit threatened to hold up registrations and his poll watchers threatened to create long lines and frivolous challenges, not even GOP Attorney Gen. J.B. Van Hollen's best efforts to raise the specter of voter fraud could suppress Wisconsin's voter turnout.

Wisconsin's top election official, Kevin Kennedy, estimated between 2.9 million and 3 million voters cast ballots in the election the AP reports. That's just under the number of 2004 and nearly 70 percent of the voting-age population.

"As far as voting, everything seems to be going very smoothly in the state," Van Hollen told WTMJ radio.

"We've had very few problems around the state. It appears as though the reports are that most polling places are conducting themselves very well."

voter fraud

PA: No Voter Fraud Issues, Despite GOP Suit

Zachary Roth | November 6, 2008, 11:53AM

In Pennsylvania, where the state Republican party had filed a grab-bag of a lawsuit related to concerns over the integrity of the vote, there were no such problems yesterday.

Voting did not always go smoothly, reports the Associated Press. Fox News showed footage of a man in Black Panther attire holding a nightstick at the doorway of a polling place. There were long lines at many other locations. And according to voting rights groups, some voters whose names were missing from registration books were sent away without being given provisional ballots, as required.

But none of these problems related to voter fraud. That issue had been the major underlying concern of a lawsuit filed late last month by the GOP. It sought, among other things, to force ACORN air public-service announcements reminding first-time voters that they must bring identification to the polls, and to compel the state to provide more provisional ballots.

A judge rejected the suit.

voter fraud

NV: GOP Voting Fears Unfounded

Zachary Roth | November 6, 2008, 11:36AM

In Nevada, where the state GOP had raised concerns about possible voter fraud if election officials didn't take a more restrictive approach to voting -- and where authorities had raided an ACORN office -- everything seems to have gone smoothly.

Robert Walsh, a spokesman for Secretary of State Ross Miller, told the Associated Press: "We've been preparing for virtually every possibility we could imagine. But to this point, none of those scenarios have come to pass.

Walsh added that no formal complaints were filed with the state's election office. And the AP confirms that state and federal court officials reported no election-related lawsuits.

Late last month, the chair of the state Republican party wrote to Miller, a Democrat, arguing that voters who had to correct discrepancies in their voter registration at the polls should be forced to cast provisional ballots.

Miller quickly responded with an interpretation of state law that rejected the GOP argument.

And earlier last month, state authorities raided the Las Vegas office of ACORN, as part of an investigation into voter registration fraud.

Voting

IN: Despite GOP Warnings of Voter Fraud, "It Was a Good Clean Election."

Zachary Roth | November 6, 2008, 10:58AM

In Indiana, Republican fears of voter fraud appear to have been unfounded.

Before the election, GOP secretary of state Todd Rokita, a fast-emerging TPMmuckraker favorite, had called on law enforcement authorities to investigate ACORN, claiming he had found evidence of widespread registration fraud perpetrated by the group.

And the Lake County Republican party had filed suit, unsuccessfully, to shut down early voting "satellite" centers in three Democratic cities in the northern part of the county. The GOP argued, among other things, that allowing early voting at the satellite centers, rather than limiting it to the county seat, which is in a more Republican area of the county -- could increase the chances of fraud.

But yesterday, the man who led the Republicans' legal effort in Lake County, party chair John Curley, told the Chicago Tribune: "The election is over and it was a good clean election."

Curley even added, according to the paper, that early voting "might be the wave of the future."

The final margin of victory for Obama in Indiana was just 22,986 votes -- close enough that Republicans might have been expected to raise concerns over fraud if such evidence had existed.

James Tobin

Tobin Pleads Not Guilty To Lying In Connection With Phone-Jamming Scheme

Zachary Roth | November 6, 2008, 9:07AM

James Tobin, the former GOP official accused of participating in a plot to jam Democratic phone lines in New Hampshire on Election Day 2002, appeared in court yesterday and pleaded not guilty to new charges related to the episode.

Tobin was earlier convicted of telephone harassment in connection with the scheme, but the conviction was overturned last year, and this year he was acquitted. He never served jail time. Prosecutors had appealed, but recently filed new charges, alleging Tobin lied to FBI investigators during questioning about the plot.

The case is being heard in federal court in Portland, Maine, Tobin's home state.

Two other people -- the head of the New Hampshire GOP and a Republican consultant -- have served jail time for their roles in the phone jamming.

Phone records released in the case show that Tobin, at the time a New-England-based staffer for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, made two dozen calls to the office of then-White House political director Ken Mehlman within a three-day period around Election Day 2002. Mehlman has said none of the calls involved the phone-jamming incident.

But the Republican National Committee has admitted to paying Tobin's legal bills during that case, totaling nearly $3 million.

ACORN

Minnesota Sec of State: No Reports Of Voter Fraud

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 8:45PM

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie says that his office received no reports whatsoever of fraudulent voting occurring today.

Ritchie, a Democrat, told TPMmuckraker that one young man did attempt to sell his vote on eBay(!), but he was quickly apprehended and charged with a felony. No one voted fraudulently in his name.

Minnesota Majority, a conservative group, had raised concerns about voter fraud in recent weeks.

Earlier tonight, we posted a statement from Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, saying she also had received no reports of illegal voting in her state.

Ritchie said his office would conduct a review of the state database in the coming weeks, and that it was possible that they would find a very few cases of ineligible voters casting ballots.

But he stressed that, in his experience, genuine voter fraud "does not happen."

He added: "The specter of this is raised as a political strategy," by losing candidates, to explain their losses. Ritchie called the strategy "despicable."

Jennifer Brunner

Ohio Sec of State: No Reports Of Illegal Voting

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 8:24PM

A statement from Jennifer Brunner, the Ohio Secretary of State:

"We have received no reports of election irregularities in Ohio today - and we have been on the lookout for any hint of illegal voting or voter suppression.

Republicans in the state had raised fears of voter fraud after the Supreme Court rejected their lawsuit against Brunner, over discrepancies in some voters' registration information.

Voting

Security Assigned To Ohio Dem Sec of State

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 7:05PM

Security has been assigned to Ohio's Democratic secretary of state Jennifer Brunner, reports the Toledo Blade.

Brunner was sued by the state Republican party over a dispute about discrepancies in the registration information of newly registered voters. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Brunner last month.

Brunner has reported receiving death threats after the ruling, and her office was the target of a security breach.

Voting

RNC Ready To Sue Over Computerized Voter Fraud?

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 6:36PM

Is the GOP now laying the groundwork for claims of computerized voter fraud?

The computer forensics company Forensicon just sent out the following press release:

Republican National Committee Prepares for Computerized Voting Fraud Legal Battle

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - November 4, 2008) - Forensicon, Inc., a Chicago-based computer forensics company, was contacted last Thursday by a security firm lining up vendors to assist the Republican National Committee with consulting related to potential allegations of computerized voter fraud. It has been widely reported that electronic voting machines in many states are vulnerable to hacking by anyone with the right equipment and a few minutes' access to the voting machine.

Yesterday, noted Chicago resident Oprah Winfrey attempted to cast her vote for her candidate, but the vote failed to register correctly.

It has been widely reported that electronic voting machines in many states are vulnerable to hacking by anyone with the right equipment and a few minutes' access to the voting machine with a handheld computing device. The lack of printed voting receipts in many of these systems leaves the election ballots in many areas vulnerable to rampant fraud and abuse.

"If the election returns vary significantly from the polled numbers in any precincts that proves crucial to the election outcome, I expect that a legal struggle over the validity of the election results will ensue," said Forensicon's President, Lee Neubecker.

Voting

Republican Poll Watchers Removed from Indiana Polling Site

Kate Klonick | November 4, 2008, 4:55PM

The Indianapolis Star has the play by play:

The removal of two Republican election workers from a Warren Township polling site - for using improper methods to challenge voters' rights to cast a ballot - has prompted local Republican Party leaders to issue a statement of regret. The two officials - an official challenger and a clerk - were removed by unanimous vote of the Marion County Election Board.

The officials were reportedly challenging voters with information obtained through party affiliation reports, which is not one of the accepted challenges such as a person's address, age or lack of ID.

"We were disappointed to hear of the incident regarding these two workers. The Marion County Republican Party was not aware of these alleged activities, nor did the Party instruct any worker to engage in such behavior," Marion County Republican Party Chairman Tom John said in a statement issued at 2 p.m.

Voting

Bogus Texts Tell Florida Students They Can Vote Tomorrow

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 4:50PM

Students at the University of Florida have received text messages falsely informing them that voting has been extended until tomorrow.

Steve Orlando, a spokesman for the university, told TPMmuckraker that the administration had heard from several students who reported having received the bogus texts. He said he then was contacted by the office of the county elections supervisor, who told him that they were aware of the messages, and asked the university to make clear to students that the messages were bogus. The administration quickly did so in an email.

Orlando said he couldn't imagine that too many students were fooled by the texts. Still, he added: "If even one student didn't know [that the message was false], that would be a terrible thing for them to miss the opportunity to vote for the first time"

Earlier today, we reported that a bogus email was sent from the account of the provost of George Mason University in Virginia, informing recipients that election day is tomorrow. Authorities are said to be investigating the source of the email.

Voting

OH GOP Preempts Election Day Results With "Placeholder" Complaints

Kate Klonick | November 4, 2008, 4:27PM

With the polls closing in just hours, the Ohio Republican party -- already thwarted in their attempts at voter suppression by the DOJ and the Supreme Court -- have continued to file complaints against Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the Wall Street Journal blog Washington Wire reports:

Republicans also raised new concerns about the counting of provisional ballots and other voting procedures. The party wants an injunction that would require Brunner to rescind some of her voting directives.

Brunner filed a motion asking to have the case consolidated with another federal suit pending in Cleveland. In the Cleveland case, the secretary of state recently reached an agreement with the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless that county boards of election will have consistent standards for counting provisional ballots. Such ballots require additional checks and aren't counted until well after Election Day.

The WSJ quotes Edward B. Foley, director of the election-law program at the Ohio State University, who calls the Republicans' suit a "placeholder" in case the voting results in Ohio are close -- an idea echoed by a voting expert

Rick Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and an election expert, echoed this to TPMmuckraker saying it was "a way to have a foot in court" in the event that the vote is tight in Ohio and litigaiton is needed.

ACORN

No Restraining Order For Rogers -- Voter Intimidation Suit Continues

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 3:27PM

A judge declined today to grant a temporary restraining order against Pat Rogers, the New Mexico GOP lawyer who is being sued by MALDEF for alleged voter intimidation.

Nina Perales, a lawyer for MALDEF, told TPMmuckraker that despite the judge's decision, her organization believed it had achieved its goals, because Al Romero -- the private investigator hired by Rogers -- testified under oath that he would not go back to the home of one of the plaintiffs, Dora Escobedo, to question her about voting.

Romero's visits to Escobedo and another Hispanic woman in Albuquerque -- during which he questioned them about their right to vote -- triggered the lawsuit.

The visits were reported last month by TPMmuckraker and others.

Perales said MALDEF's lawsuit against Rogers and Romero continues, and will move to the discovery phase.

Voting

Virginia Looking Like Ground Zero For Voting Problems

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 3:03PM

Virginia, perhaps this year's most crucial swing state, is also shaping up as the center for voting problems.

For weeks, voting-rights groups have been warning that the state -- which does not allow early voting -- has not adequately prepared for the huge turnout it was likely to see on election day. Last week, the NAACP filed suit, trying to require the state to extend voting hours and provide more voting machines in heavily-populated African-American areas. But the board of elections insisted it was following the law, and the effort failed.

And so, predictably, we've already seen a slew of problems in the state today.

The Nation reports:

As of 10:30 am ET, more than two dozen polling places across the state were reported to be close to a standstill because of machine failures, lack of back-up paper ballots and other problems. Dozens of other locations were experiencing abnormal delays and long lines, raising serious questions about the ability of Virginia voters to exercise their democratic rights before the scheduled close of voting at 7 pm.

Many of these problems were concentrated in key Democratic areas of the state, including the DC suburbs and the African-American heavy Hampton Roads area.

The Nation's report adds more detail:

Some polling locations did not open on time. In others, electronic or optical-scan voting machines failed to function properly. Precincts either did not have back-up paper ballots available, or else chose to regard them as provisional ballots--something they should not do, according to election lawyers. In Richmond, where it was raining, some voters accidentally got their ballots wet, causing the optical-scan readers processing the votes to jam.

Virginia's governor, Tim Kaine, is a Democrat, and the head of the Board of Elections, Nancy Rodrigues, is a Kaine appointee.

John Greenbaum of Election Protection told the magazine: "The problems are so widespread, it's going to take action on part of state election officials to deal with problems they are facing today. If they don't, we might potentially have to seek other recourse."

voter fraud

Fox Desperately Stokes Fears of Flawed Election

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 2:22PM

Check out FoxNews.com's frantic effort to lay the groundwork for the claim that Obama's expected win is illegitimate, the product of a chaotic and fraud-prone election system and voter intimidation carried out by violent African-Americans.

At one polling site in Vermont, voters could maybe even look over and see each other's ballots! The election is ruined!

Not to pooh-pooh the importance of a secret ballot, but this is really grasping at straws.

In a way, you can't blame Fox. In stoking fears of an illegitimate election, it's only following John McCain's lead.

Voting

Call Tells Californian To Vote November 5th

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 12:43PM

Dan Daugherty, a reader in Pasadena, California, reports that he received a call on his answering machine teling him to vote November 5th.

Daugherty provided TPMmuckraker with an audio recording of the call, which you can listen to here:

Click To Play

Here's a transcript:

...is a message for (um) all people (um) in Pasadena. The (um) place for (uh) people in Pasadena is for you to vote at Jackie Robinson on Wednesday the 5th, November 5th. The (uh) ballot can be delivered on November 5th at Jackie Robinson.

Election day, of course, is today, November 4th.

California is not a presidential swing state and has no competitive statewide races, though it does have a controversial initiative -- Proposition 8, which aims to outlaw gay marriage -- on the ballot.

Pasadena is a liberal-leaning city, adjacent to Los Angeles.

Voting

WI GOP "Volunteers" Admit They Lied To Voters

Kate Klonick | November 4, 2008, 11:49AM

Four people in Wisconsin who were hired by a temp agency to pass out absentee ballots and encourage voting for John McCain have admitted they were instructed to tell people that they were GOP volunteers, the AP reports.

From the AP:

The employees told The Associated Press on Monday they were hired by Allstaff Labor Group to go door to door in the Milwaukee suburbs locating McCain supporters and distributing absentee ballot request forms. Allstaff recruited them under a contract with a consulting firm hired by the Republican Party of Wisconsin to run its absentee ballot program.

The workers claim they were told to say they were GOP volunteers even though they were getting paid $10 an hour. They were required to sign agreements stating they would not publicly discuss their work but said they decided to speak out because they were angry they had not been paid for the last few days. They claim they are owed between $200 and $300.

GOP spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski confirmed there was a dispute over how many hours the employees worked and said the party's vendor was working to resolve it.

Voting

EDITED: Calls Give Wrong Polling Location To Virginia Voter

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 11:25AM

NOTE: This post has been significantly edited since posting.

A TPM reader in Northern Virginia reports getting three different calls directing her to the same incorrect polling location, with the callers claiming to be volunteers from the Obama campaign.

Rebecca Kingery of Arlington, Virginia, a heavily Democratic area, told TPMmuckraker that all three calls directed her to a housing complex in Arlington which is not close to where she votes.

Kingery, a graphic designer who was recently laid off, answered two of the calls. The caller ID for one said "Master Replica," and listed a 925 area code, which is in the Bay Area. For the other, the caller ID said "Olude Novosiore" and had a 408 area code, which is in central California and San Jose.

Kingery said she wasn't confused about her voting location. She added that when she responded to one of the callers that she was being given incorrect information, the caller insisted that the information was correct.

Calls by TPMuckraker to the numbers that Kingery provided were not immediately returned.

After speaking to TPMmuckraker, Kingery went to cast her ballot -- at the correct location.

Late Update: TPMmuckraker has heard back from people at both of the numbers that Kingery reported seeing on her caller I.D. Both people said they were volunteers for the Obama campaign -- one in Oakland, and another in Walnut Creek, Calif. -- and that they were calling as part of a phone-bank to give legitimate voting information. One woman, Dina Bohacek, said that she gave Kingery a phone number at which she could verify her polling location.

So this appears not to have been an effort to mislead voters about their polling place.

voter fraud

Hoax Email Tells Virginia Students To Vote Tomorrow

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 10:23AM

Hackers broke into the email account of the George Mason University provost in Virginia, early this morning and sent out the following email:

Subject: Election Day Update To the Mason Community:

Please note that election day has been moved to November 5th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Peter N. Stearns
Provost

According to Dan Walsh, a spokesman for the university, the hoax message went to the entire student body -- more than 30,000 students -- and about 5000 faculty and staff.

Stearns himself quickly sent out a followup message assuring recipients that it was a hoax, which was being investigated.

Walsh said the university had contacted campus police, who are working with outside law enforcement to look into the hoax.

ACORN

No Ruling Yet On Restraining Order For Rogers

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 8:47AM

The court hearing the lawsuit filed by MALDEF against New Mexico GOP lawyer Pat Rogers did not rule yesterday on the plaintiffs' request for a restraining order to be placed on Rogers, reports the Albuquerque Journal.

The plaintiffs, two Hispanic voters in Albuquerque, want Rogers and Al Romero, the private investigator and ex-FBI agent hired by Rogers, prohibited from intimidating the plaintiffs or challenging their ballots.

The judge, William P. Johnson, questioned lawyers for the plaintiffs skeptically, reports the paper, but said the hearing will continue this morning.

Rogers' attorneys argued that Rogers had hired Romero not because he wanted to intimidate voters, but because he wanted to investigate ACORN for a possible lawsuit. ACORN had registered the plaintiffs to vote. Romero's visits to one of the plaintiffs, Dora Escobedo, and to another voter, were reported last month by TPMmuckraker and the New Mexico Independent.

But Escobedo told the court that Romero came to her home and intimidated her about her right to vote, adding that he "not only threatened me, but he made fun of me."

Romero's lawyer said Romero didn't threaten Escobedo, and that he had good reason to visit her because her voter registration form contained discrepancies.

After the hearing, Rogers told reporters: "This (lawsuit) is clearly a strategy to distract Republican lawyers from the duty at hand, which is getting out the vote."

John McCain

Election Expert: McCain's VA Suit On Military Ballots May Be Barred

Zachary Roth | November 3, 2008, 8:58PM

Earlier tonight we told you about a lawsuit filed by the McCain campaign that seeks to ensure that military ballots not received until after the election are counted in Virginia. Election law expert Rick Hasen writes on his blog that he's now had a chance to look more closely at the suit, and here's his take:

I think there's a strong argument that because of the long delay the suit could well be barred by laches.

More fundamentally, the suit under UOCAVA may be barred for the same reason the Ohio mismatch case failed at the Supreme Court-- there's no private right of action: 42 USC Sec. 1973ff-4 Enforcement: The Attorney General may bring a civil action in an appropriate district court for such declaratory or injunctive relief as may be necessary to carry out this subchapter." The McCain campaign likely doesn't have standing to bring this suit; only DOJ does (and don't count them out!).

So it's by no means clear that the suit will even be heard on its merits. But we're likely to hear more on this...

Voting

FL GOP Promises No "Frivolous" Voter Challenges in Legal Truce with Dems

Kate Klonick | November 3, 2008, 6:23PM

Specters of the 2000 election have risen in Florida, with Democrats and Republicans engaging in legal wrangling just days before Election Day.

Last week, the Florida Democratic Party joined a suit against Republicans, asking a judge to clearly define what constitutes a challenge to a voter, in anticipation of problems tomorrow.

The suit makes multiple allegations, including claims that the GOP tried to ''cage'' a Duval County voter, and that a Republican sheriff's candidate challenged approximately 300 voters. Democrats also accused Republicans of planning a ''lose your home, lose your vote'' challenge, similar to the threats allegedly made by a GOP county leader in Michigan. "Caging" refers to the practice of sending mail -- marked "Do Not Forward" -- to voters to see who has moved and prompt removal from the rolls.

But today, with just hours until polls open in the state, the two parties have reached an agreement -- putting the lawsuit on hold in exchange for a promise from state Republicans to not engage in "frivolous mass voter challenges."

From the Fort Mills Times:

That came after the GOP filed sworn statements Monday saying the state and national Republican parties "have not and will not" engage in frivolous mass voter challenges.

Circuit Judge Kevin Davey, though, will remain on standby Tuesday in case Democrats present evidence that Republicans have broken their promise.

It's still not clear what this means for Florida Democrats, since it seems to hinge on a court's definition of "frivolous."

Voting

McCain Camp Sues Virginia Over Military Ballots

Zachary Roth | November 3, 2008, 5:55PM

Here's a possible last-minute effort by the McCain camp to throw a wrench into the vote counting in a key swing state.

The Associated Press reports:

John McCain's campaign sued Virginia's electoral board today, hours before the election, seeking to force the state to count late-arriving overseas military ballots.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to order the State Board of Elections to count any overseas absentee ballots sent by November 4 and received by local election officials as late as November 14.

McCain claims the rights of military voters are protected by the federal Uniform and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Rights Act of 1986.

The campaign's complaint says that Virginia military voters posted overseas who support the Republican nominee will be denied their right to vote unless the court grants the order.

The report adds that no hearing was scheduled by this afternoon.

Under normal procedures, military ballots would likely only be counted if their number exceeded the total margin of victory of one candidate, meaning they could affect the result. So the suit may be designed to ensure that Virginia can't be officially called for Obama early in the evening, which could depress Republican turnout in other parts of the country.

Late Update: Rick Hasen, an election law expert at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, tells TPMmuckraker that the suit is likely an effort to ensure that military ballots that arrived after election day -- which will likely favor McCain -- will be counted. That was an issue during the Florida recount of 2000, in which the courts ultimately ruled that such ballots could be counted. (Hasen cautioned that he hadn't yet had a chance to look closely at the suit.)

And on his blog, he asks a good question: "Why did this suit have to wait until the eve of the election?"

ACORN

More Use Of P.I.s By GOP In New Mexico?

Zachary Roth | November 3, 2008, 5:00PM

Is the Republican National Committee, too, turning to private investigators to help make it harder to vote in New Mexico?

David O'Niell, a P.I in the state, has told the New Mexico Independent that he was contacted by Todd Stefan of SETEC investigations, who told O'Niell he was recruiting P.I.s to advise poll challengers on election day, and was working on behalf of the Republican National Committee.

Stefan declined to confirm to the Independent that he was working for the RNC, but said: "I was told to see if there were some individuals, people with investigative experience, IT [information technology] experience... to advise attorneys and make sure that everything goes smoothly."

Voting- and civil-rights groups last week filed suit against the New Mexico GOP and Pat Rogers, a lawyer associated with the party, after the Independent and TPMmuckraker reported that Rogers had hired a private investigator who questioned several Hispanics in Albuquerque about their right to vote.

No evidence has yet emerged tying the national GOP to that alleged scheme.

In Wisconsin, the Republican Attorney General has called for law enforcement agents to serve as poll-watchers.

Voting

WI Attorney General Won't Appeal Lawsuit Before Election Day

Kate Klonick | November 3, 2008, 2:43PM

Looks like the clock has run out for Wisconsin's Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, who won't file an appeal to his lawsuit tossed out by a judge late last month.

Van Hollen, a Republican and co-chair of the McCain campaign in Wisconsin, filed the lawsuit in an attempt to force the state's non-partisan General Accountability Board to re-confirm thousands of voter registrations.

From the AP:

The lawsuit demanded state election officials verify the identity of tens of thousands of voters registered since Jan. 1, 2006, and do it by Election Day Tuesday.

. . . Justice Department officials said that day they planned to appeal, but spokesman Bill Cosh said Monday the agency realizes there's no chance of relief before the election.

ACORN

Restraining Order For NM GOP Lawyer?

Zachary Roth | November 3, 2008, 2:36PM

A hearing is scheduled for this afternoon in the suit filed last week by MALDEF against New Mexico GOP lawyer Pat Rogers. The suit, triggered by reporting from TPMmuckraker and others, alleges that Rogers hired a private investigator, Al Romero, to intimidate Hispanics in Albuquerque about their right to vote. Romero is also named as a defendant.

MALDEF, which is bringing the suit on behalf of two of the voters in question, wants an injunction blocking Rogers from conducting further alleged intimidation of the plaintiffs, and from challenging the plaintiffs' right to vote.

The hearing will occur at 3pm EST today, before U.S. District Court Judge Martha Vázquez in Albuquerque. We'll keep you posted on what happens.

Voting

Dems. Question WI Attorney General's Intent with Voter Checks

Kate Klonick | November 2, 2008, 1:09PM

While Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) and Junior Sen. Russ Feingold (D) have both questioned the state Attorney Gen. J.B. Van Hollen's authority to dispatch state prosecutors to poll watch on Election Day, state Democrats came together again to question Van Hollen's newest move: asking chief district court judges across the state to alert him on Election Day in case he has to "initiate emergency election-related proceedings."

From the AP:

Governor Jim Doyle is one of the Democrats who say they don't understand Van Hollen's intent. Doyle adds that "Looking at this letter, you can only imagine what kinds of things he's dreaming up doing on Election Day."

Chief Judge Sue Bischel of Green Bay asked Van Hollen for more details. She says Brown County doesn't even have "duty judges." Also, she says chief judges don't belong anywhere near politics because the independence of the judiciary is absolutely critical.

Voting

CO's Secretary of State Calls Reinstating Voters "Absolutely Ridiculous"

Kate Klonick | November 2, 2008, 12:04PM

On Friday, a Colorado judge was forced to issue a cease and desist order against the Secretary of State Mike Coffman, who had continued to purge voters from the rolls despite an agreement reached earlier in the week with voter rights groups.

Apparently, Coffman still thought he could be removing duplicate registrations and voters who had reportedly died. Needless to say, the judge didn't agree.

And today Coffman -- who by all accounts has complied with the judge's order -- spoke out against the decision that states he will have to reinstate 146 voters, purged since the agreement Wednesday.

"I think it's absolutely ridiculous for me to be ordered to go back and reinstate those registrations," Coffman said according to the Denver Post. "Fortunately I think it's late enough in the process that whatever damage that will be done is so marginal it won't compromise the integrity of the election. Had it happened earlier, it absolutely would have compromised the integrity of the election."

Voting

GA Secretary of State Calls Dem Calls for Extended Hours on Early Voting "Grandstanding"

Kate Klonick | November 2, 2008, 11:43AM

We told you yesterday about the Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel's refusal to extend early voting hours after record turnout across the state. Handel claimed her hands were tied because of Department of Justice rules which require Georgia to received DOJ approval before any changes are made to election rules -- a dubious claim given that the DOJ is fully equipped to handle expedited claims in the final hours before Election Day.

But in statement last night from her office, Handel claims that it's not her politicizing early voting -- it's the media, elected officials and activist groups:

Secretary Handel is extremely pleased with early voting turnout and how the overwhelming majority of Georgia's county election offices prepared for and managed the early voting process. Two million Georgians voted early, nearly 90 percent in person with photo ID. This historic turnout will ease pressures on the state's 3,000 precincts on Election Day. County election officials will now spend Saturday, Sunday and Monday making critical final preparations for Election Day, and the Secretary of State's office will deploy election monitors and technicians to assist them.

At the same time, Secretary Handel is disappointed that a handful of elected officials, political party organizations, activist groups and media outlets used this occasion to politicize the early voting process. Their failed attempts to find fault with the Secretary of State's role in election oversight through grandstanding, patently false allegations and biased reporting revealed their desire to create confusion and chaos among voters to further their political agendas.

With just hours to go until Election Day, it looks like Handel has successfully thwarted extending early voting hours -- how that will affect Election Day voting remains uncertain.

ACORN

McCain Camp Can't Give Example Of Registration Fraud Leading To Voter Fraud

Zachary Roth | November 2, 2008, 11:33AM

A member of John McCain's "Honest and Open Election Committee" has admitted that he can't give a single example of voter registration fraud leading to actual voter fraud.

In an interview with Pro Publica, which was also published on Politico.com, Ronald Michaelson, a veteran elections administrator, acknowledged:

"Do we have a documented instance of voting fraud that resulted from a phony registration form? No, I can't cite one, chapter and verse."

The Honest and Open Election Committee was set up by the McCain camp to provide a veneer of expertise and non-partisanship to the campaign's efforts to stoke fears about voter fraud. In a September conference call, one of the committee chair's, ex-Missouri senator John Danforth, highlighted reports of faulty registration forms in Michigan, Colorado, and other states, and tried to link ACORN to Barack Obama.

Michaelson also admitted, in Pro Publica's words, that "an election-rigging scheme starting with phony application forms would not make much sense." But he argued that the mere perception of fraud can do damage to the integrity of the election.

Of course, the McCain campaign and other Republicans have been the foremost creators of that perception. Earlier this month in a presidential debate, McCain warned darkly that ACORN -- the community organizing group that Republicans have tried to turn into a voter-fraud boogeyman -- "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

Pro Publica adds that a McCain campaign spokesman couldn't do much better than Michaelson:

Asked for specifics about the dangers of fake registration, Ben Porritt, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, provided links to 13 news clips and a 2003 Missouri state auditor's report. Eleven of the cases did not involve registration fraud. Two recounted how felons appeared to have cast illegal votes under their own names. The lone example of a forged registration leading to an illegitimate vote comes from The Wall Street Journal's John Fund, who in April 2006 wrote that a community organizer had improperly registered a noncitizen, and then "someone eventually voted in [the noncitizen's] name."

Voting

Georgia's Secretary of State Promotes Voter Challenges and Refuses to Extend Early Voting Hours

Kate Klonick | November 1, 2008, 5:04PM

Add Georgia to the list of states where Republican officials are actively engaged in voter suppression efforts.

In the midst of a record turnout for early voting in Georgia, that has led to long lines, discouraged voters and exhausted poll workers, Secretary of State Karen Handel, a Republican, has claimed federal law ties her hands, preventing her from extending early voting hours.

With just days to go to the election, Democratic politicians demanded yesterday that Handel step in and extend early voting hours -- as has been done in both North Carolina and Florida.

But in an opinion piece published in the AJC on Thursday, Handel blamed her inaction on the issue on federal law which requires Justice Department approval to change voting law.

Ironically, it is Georgia's history of discriminatory voting practices that puts it on a federal "pre-clearance" list, mentioned in Section 5 of the Voter Rights Act of 1965.

While the DOJ can take up to 60 days to review any change that is submitted, it has the power to grant expedited review in emergency situations -- and Georgia's situation would certainly seem to qualify, Gerry Hebert, a former acting head of DOJ's voting-rights section, told TPMmuckraker.

"Georgia has asked and been granted expedited review by the DOJ in the past, so to say because of the voting act, we can't do this -- that's not really accurate," Hebert said. "The DOJ has done this in as little as 24 hours. . . so to use Section 5 as an excuse that this isn't possible, that's someone that really doesn't want to make the change."

U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Democrat, issued a statement yesterday that he was writing Attorney General Michael Mukasey urging him to grant expedited review, when -- or if -- it was asked for by Handel.

This isn't Handel's first brush with voter suppression charges. Early last month, voter rights groups brought a suit against Handel after she threatened to purge over 4,500 voters from the rolls because their citizenship had been questioned.

This Tuesday, a panel of federal judges said the 4,500 plus flagged voters must be given ballots -- and that Handel must "make diligent and immediate efforts" to inform those voters that had been challenged.

In compliance with the decision, Handel sent out letters to flagged voters yesterday, telling them they could still vote on election day but with a "challenged" paper ballot.

Handel, however, has reacted to the judges' decision by turning to ordinary Georgians to continue her voter suppression campaign by proxy.

As first noted by the blog, Facing South, in an interview Wednesday with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Handel took pains to remind voters that any voter can challenge another's qualifications to cast a ballot by notifying a precinct poll manager. According to Handel, that voter then would be given a challenge ballot and would have to go before the election board.

Department of Homeland Security

Conyers on Obama Aunt Leak: "Very Disturbing"

Zachary Roth | November 1, 2008, 12:54PM

Rep. John Conyers, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has responded to the Bush administration's leak of information on the immigration status of Obama's aunt.

In a hastily written letter, Conyers makes the same connection that we did with the administration's leaking of information on the FBI's nationwide investigation of ACORN. Both leaks went to the Associated Press, and appear to have been done for political purposes.

There's some other news in the letter in regard to that leak about ACORN. Conyers writes:

[I]n recent weeks law enforcement sources leaked information about an alleged investigation of a community services organization, a leak that the Department of Justice informs me is now under investigation by the Department's Office of the Inspector General and Professional Responsibility.

So, two internal DOJ offices are looking into the ACORN leak. That's certainly worth keeping an eye on.

The full text of the letter follows after the jump...

Read more »