Friday, October 10, 2008

White Refused To Remove 88,000 Invalid Registrants From Voting Rolls

The Star's Tim Evans has a good run down of concerns over vote fraud in this year's presidential election in Indiana. I've previously mentioned Paul Ogden's analysis showing that about 105% of Marion County's population of voting age is registered to vote and my surprise that the statewide effort just two years ago to purge invalid registrants from the voting rolls could be so quickly reversed. This little item in Evans' story helps explain the higher numbers here in Marion County:

Under state and federal rules, inactive voters -- those who failed to respond to two mailings and have not cast ballots in the past two federal elections -- should be purged from county voter lists.

"Almost all counties have removed their inactive voters, but Marion County elected not to remove 88,210 who have been inactive since at least 2004," Tusing said. "We notified them that they weren't in compliance with Indiana and federal law, but they did not heed our notice." He said that as many as 30,000 voters on the Marion County list could be deceased, and many others might have moved from the county.

However, the point is moot now, Tusing said, because voter lists cannot be purged within 90 days of the election.

"I am not going to say this anomaly is exclusive of any inappropriate behavior," he said, "but we would hope that those on the ground in Marion County are working hard to prevent any inappropriate behavior."

This is simply inexcusable not to purge these 88,210 registrants from the rolls. What is the point of the protection against fraud in the law if Beth White can simply ignore it? This simply encourages the same people in the Marion County Democratic Party who are inclined to steal votes to ply their trade. And don't use the Voter ID law to say in person fraud can't occur. In some heavily Democratic precincts in Marion County, the Voter ID law has never been followed and will most likely be ignored once again this election. More importantly, fraud can more easily occur in absentee voting. Voter ID does nothing to stop fraud with absentee ballots. Beth White has been one of the most partisan clerk's in recent memory. Earlier this week, she was questioned for encouraging Marion County voters during a TV news interview to come in and vote early at the Clerk's Office if they wanted preferential seating for Obama's campaign rally at the state fairgrounds on Wednesday.

10 comments:

Downtown Indy said...

Even the least developed 3rd world countries deal with fraud with a simple solution - indelible ink applied to the voter's finger.

Eclecticvibe said...

Are their no Republican poll workers in these "heavily Democratic precincts"? Why are the two Republican clerks and judges not insisting on checking voter ID's? Perhaps the GOP should send observers and challengers to these districts that are perpetrating fraud. If voter fraud is so common in this largely Republican state with the toughest voter ID laws in the country, it must be worse elsewhere. Can we even trust our election results at all?

Indy4U2C said...

Corruption is as corruption does. It wouldn't surprise me if Bart Peterson's Mexican Consulate located in the city's Union Station assists by issuing its fake "matricula consular" ID card to show that people such as "Johns Jimmy" with a registered address of Jimmy Johns Sandwich Shop get their "ID". With the fake ID using ACORN's (Obama campaign) false voter registrations, they can perform the "Chicago Vote."

Vox Populi said...

If the voter ID law isn't being followed in these mystery precincts, then the Republicans are just as guilty. There should be a Republican Clerk and Judge at each precinct in the county. If something is not being followed they need to notify your party bosses and the Republicans need to get their lawyers to that precinct ASAP.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Hey, we have some precincts where none of the workers show up to staff the polling place on election day. Are you surprised that there are precincts where only Ds are working?

Vox Populi said...

If it happens that there are precincts operated by only Democrats, that is a major failure on the part of Republicans.

I've worked precincts in heavily Republican areas and heavily Democratic areas, and have always had at least one member of the "other" party there each time.

Paul K. Ogden said...

AI, don't forget the absentee voters. There is nothing stopping someone on behalf of a "inactive" voter casting a ballot for that person if their on the list. The only precaution is the signature under oath. If you saw the CNN Lake County ACORN story, people would realize that's not much of a hurdle to stop fraud.

So is Vox embracing the photo ID law now? I thought that was a Republican "voter suppression" effort. Now he seems to think to be touting it as a needed tool against fraud.

artfuggins said...

You can not blame the Democrats that the republicans routinely fail to staff the voting places.....it is hard workd and all the republicans want to do is complain and scream FRAUD when they have no idea if there is any or not.

Vox Populi said...

Mr. Ogden, I have never been opposed to a sensible voter ID law. I don't think it is unreasonable to prove that you are who you say you are at the polls.

What I am opposed to is the government charging money to receive photo identification that is a requirement to vote, because at the most basic level that is akin to a poll tax, especially for folks who either cannot afford to or simply choose not to own a vehicle (and thus have no reason for getting a driver's license).

Jon E. Easter said...

Democrats have fully staffed every precinct in the Republican stronghold of Decatur Township and have for the last few years. If we can do it, Republicans can do it, too.