A Cincinnati Voting Fraud Update
Jonn wrote about three weks ago about Melowese Richardson of Cincinnati. Seems she was a poll worker – and also admitted to voting multiple times during the last Presidential election. She voted twice as herself (once in person, once absentee), and several other times “on behalf of” other people.
Well, yesterday Melowese Richardson was charged with eight counts of illegal voting . If convicted, she’s looking at up to 12 years in prison.
She’s not the only one in trouble, though. Hamilton County authorities also indicted a nun and an elderly man for illegal voting – one count each. Each is accused of casting an absentee ballot on the behalf of an individual who had requested one but died before returning their ballots. They’re each facing up to 18 months behind bars.
Silly me. I thought the operative principle in a free and fair election was “one man, one vote”. And I thought the dead only voted in Precinct 13 in Alice, Texas (see Robert A. Caro’s Means of Ascent for context). (smile)
Category: "Teh Stoopid", Politics
Alice TX?
The dead have been voting in Chicago for nearly a century. Maybe more.
Why votes one times, when you’s can votes six times?
But the Dems want you to believe that voter fraud is a myth and that having a voter registration card is wrong.
…more importantly, wtf is a “Melowese”?
Whitey_wingnut: a voter registration card alone is pretty useless, actually. Last 3 I’ve gotten haven’t had my photo or any other type of anti-tamper protection.
What’s needed is the requirement for (1) tamper-resistant government-issued photo ID, (2) proof of current residence, and (3) one’s name being on the voter registration rolls in order to vote. And the tamper-resistant photo-ID needs to prove citizenship status if it’s a Federal election. Otherwise it’s relatively easy to “game” the system and allow ineligible persons to vote.
I’d personally love to see a Passport and government ID both required for Federal elections (in general you have to prove you’re a US citizen to get a passport). Unfortunately, the cost of a Passport is so damn high these days that that’s simply not feasible.
@3,
Well we’re movin on up, To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.
Fish don’t fry in the kitchen;
Beans don’t burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin’
Just to get up that hill.
Now we’re up in the big leagues
Gettin’ our turn at bat.
As long as we live, it’s you and me baby
There ain’t nothin wrong with that.
Well we’re movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.
That’s a little uptight, Hondo.
If you aren’t planning to go-abroady, why would you need a passport? It doesn’t provide proof of residence.
Driver’s license proves residence, as does a state-issued photo ID. Takes 5 minutes to get a photo ID, plus a small fee, about $10.
People who are here legally (went through the system) like Russian and Polish immigrants but aren’t yet citizens can vote.
Dead voters again, huh? Not from Cook County? Amazing!
She’s a poll worker?? Did you see her? I sure don’t want to be anywhere near the poll she’s working!
Cincinnati, Ohio? She’ll get probation and likely a fine is all.
@9 I thought Hamilton county leaned Republican….
@Hondo The Voter ID card they were trying to get before this election was a photo ID that had to be shown before you were allowed to vote. Certain groups said it was a racist thing.
@Twist Hahahahaha
Ex-PH2: the “only in Precinct 13” remark was a joke. That’s probably the most blatant instance, and likely the best documented. But it’s hardly the only area even in Texas where the dead dome back to vote on Election Day. Some states and localities may well allow non-US citizens to vote in state or local elections. However, in Federal elections US citizenship – not legal resident status – is required to vote. http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=fb853a4107083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=fb853a4107083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD If you want a voting process that is reasonably free from fraud, four elements are required. They may occur either at registration, when one votes, or in some combination: 1. Accurate and accessible records of eligible and currently registered voters. 2. Tamper-resistant proof of personal identity. 3. Tamper-resistant proof of US citizenship (for Federal elections) or proof of status conferring eligibility to vote (state/local elections). 4. Tamper-resistant proof of current residence. An accurate, secure online roster of eligible registered voters does the first. It must be scrubbed against records of felony convictions in jurisdictions where felons are forbidden to vote, or that information must also be available. Prior scrubbing is probably best, as this allows flagging of those ineligible and also can identify why. A passport proves citizenship status for Federal elections, plus verifies a person’s identity; it is also reasonably tamper-resistant. This takes care of the second and third items above. For that reason, in a perfect world a US passport would be the correct document to require to validate both identity and US citizenship status for the purpose of voting in elections. Unfortunately, passports are not universally possessed by the public – and due to their expense, it’s not feasible to require everyone to possess one. This is one of my pet peeves regarding allowing the use of most state drivers’ licenses as sufficient voter ID – they do not always adequately verify citizenship status. To get my last drivers’ license and register to vote, all I had to do was claim I was a US citizen. I was not required to offer any documentary proof of that fact. And due to the “wonderful” Clinton-engineered… Read more »
Old Tanker: don’t think so. Most of Hamilton County is Cincinnati. At least parts of Cincinnati are heavily Democratic.
Ohio–gee, wasn’t that where our boy sippy was “helping out” in the last election?
Curiouser and curiouser…
@12 Hondo, here in the PRoM we are considering issuing illegals drivers licenses….i never cease to be amazed at how this state works….we already offer them instate tuition at our colleges and universities.
I am absolutely amazed at how little the law actually means to most people when it comes to voting….at my local balloting location I just have to walk in and state my address and name nobody checks any ID of any kind. As my stepson still has my address as his own on the voter rolls, but lives elsewhere it would be easy for anyone to vote using his name if they knew my address….
Voting registration processes in many jurisdictions are a joke. As far as I can recall, in nearly 40 years I have never been asked to provide any real evidence that I am in fact a US citizen in order to register to vote. I do not ever recall being asked to provide a birth certificate w/raised seal plus photo ID, nor to provide a passport. If I recall correctly, the most I’ve ever had to do was sign my name to an affidavit stating that “I am a US citizen”.
Since voting registration is handled at the state and local level, that means Federal elections have no effective “front end” screen. Thus, there’s no good way to ensure up-front that even a registered voter meets the US citizenship necessary to lawfully vote in Federal elections. Add to that the fact that many if not most jurisdictions don’t even want to see a photo ID when you vote, and it’s easy to see why so many are concerned about vote fraud. It exists, and IMO it’s a helluva lot more common than most everyone realizes.
Michigan recently did a partial review of its voter rolls. That partial review showed close to 1000 noncitizens registered to vote – which translates to an estimate of around 4000 total. And 54 of these individuals appear to have voted in past elections.
http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127–286465–,00.html
You’re talking Landslide Lyndon and Archie Parr the Duke of Duval county.
James: Almost. George B. Parr was the Duke of Duval in 1948. He was Archie Parr’s son.
202 voter names, each added in the same ink in alphabetical order, to the list of those voting. All of the latter 202 names were added in different ink and handwriting than the previous 700+ names. And of those 202, 200 voted for LBJ – with 2 additional votes given to Steverson as a pilon.
This wasn’t “discovered” until either 2 or 3 days after the polls had closed, either. And after the original county-wide total for LBJ had already been initially reported as 765 votes on election day – but had been obviously altered to read 965 later by adding a loop to turn the original digit 7 into a 9. The latter figure of 965 was reported as a “corrected” total.
LBJ won that election (Democratic Primary for US Senate in 1948) by 87 votes statewide.
Hondo, people have dual citizenship and have two passports. They compete in the Olympics that way.
Passports are no proof of anything other than you match the ID photo in the passport.
If your passport is stolen, your photo can easily be replaced. For that reason, I haven’t renewed mine, which expired in 1976, and won’t until or unless I decide to leave the country for parts unknown.
Voting fraudulantly is not at all difficult. The joke really is on those who support the fraud because the rest of us (the overwhelming majority of citizens) see through their name calling et al.
I always present my voter registration card and DL when voting, not because it’s required or even asked for, but because it speeds up the process. The poll workers and those behind me in line appreciate the gesture. More often than not, as soon as I get mine out, others do as well just because we all think it’s a good idea.
Speaking of messed up voting, the DOJ OIG released its report on the DJ Voting Rights section: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2013/s1303.pdf
Wow, DaveO! That looks like it is going to be one interesting read!! A quick look certainly was.
Ex-PH2: I did say “tamper resistant”, not “tamper proof”. Nothing is completely “tamper proof”. But tampering with a passport issued today is quite likely to be noticed – probably more so than alterations to a drivers license.
Dual citizenship is a different issue altogether. We cannot control other nations’ laws; other nations often consider naturalized (and sometimes native-born) US citizens to be “their citizens”. However, that’s irrelevant to this discussion – because those individuals qualify under US law as US citizens and thus are eligible for a US passport and to vote.
My whole point in bringing up the Passport is that voting legally in any Federal election requires US citizenship – not merely residence. (Many if not most states also require US citizenship to vote.) My experience is that one does not have to provide actual proof of US citizenship either to register or to vote. If we were really serious about the integrity of the process, everyone would have to produce proof of citizenship either to register, to vote, or both. We don’t require that.