In Lake County, ACORN registered Jimmy John (at the address of the Jimmy John’s restaurant). Today we learn that ACORN tried to register Mickey Mouse (see picture to the right).
OK, but is this really election fraud? In Ohio we learn today that an individual who ACORN was fraudulently registering to vote has tried to cast a ballot.
The vote of Darnell Nash, one of four people subpoenaed in a Cuyahoga County probe of ACORN’s voter-registration activities, was canceled and his case was turned over to local prosecutors and law enforcement, Board of Elections officials said yesterday.
Nash had registered to vote repeatedly from an address that belonged to a legitimately registered voter, officials said during a hearing at which the subpoenaed voters were to testify.
Board officials had contacted Nash this summer, questioned his address and told him to stop repeat registering.
But still, he breezed into Ohio election offices – the state allows early voting for president – reregistered with a fake address and cast a paper ballot, officials said.
“He came in on 9/30 and Mr. Nash again registered to vote at [someone else's] address, and he cast a ballot,” said board official Jane Platten.
Nash did not turn up for the hearing.
What a surprise. They caught this one–how many are getting through without being caught?
To me, this only points up how poorly voter registration databases are constructed and maintained.
Voter registration needs to be a statewide concern, not a municipal or county government concern. There needs to be a central system for voter registration and you should have to appear in person before a registrar with the same kind of documentation of residence and eligibility that the BMV requires for a first-time driver’s license. (Certain exceptions being made for the elderly and shut-in, of course, but with the same stringent requirements for documentation.) The registrar should be able to key your name and social security number into the system and determine whether you’ve been registered somewhere else before, and on the basis of your sworn petition to register, delete any old registrations found in the system and create a new one.
And when you walk into the precinct to vote, the clerk should be able to pull up your record on the computer right then and there, and if you’re trying to vote fraudulently, there should be a police officer or special deputy present to write you a citation on the spot and boot you out of the building.
We don’t allow people to have two driver’s licenses, or a driver’s license and a state ID card. Why should we allow an antiquated system of voter registration that fails to drop voters from the system as soon as they move out of their precinct and re-register elsewhere?
Reform of this system has been needed for years. What we’re seeing right now is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s time to get serious about it.
Agreed Nathan. The system works for those willing to abide by the rules, but ACORN (and others, I supposed) are actively trying to break the system right now.
One note on your proposal: I believe that the Feds have ruled that SSN’s cannot be used for voting ID purposes. So there will have to be some creativity in overcoming that.
Of more concern for me is fixing the absentee voting process. But that is only slightly ahead of this. I would also recommend eliminating or greatly reforming 3rd party registrations.
“One note on your proposal: I believe that the Feds have ruled that SSN’s cannot be used for voting ID purposes. So there will have to be some creativity in overcoming that.”
Sure, that’s fine. Use the driver’s license or state ID number.
As I’ve commented before, this is a job for BMV for a number of reasons.
Heh: Via Instapundit,
If it can happen in Ohio, it can happen here.
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