Possible Republican voter fraud under investigation

Editor’s Note: After publication, the author of this story, through further research on this case, discovered that the alleged voter fraud in Nevada detailed in this story occurred in 2004 and not 2008. The author further discovered that the ensuing investigation found no evidence of organized voter fraud. For these reasons, this story has been removed from the front page.

The pattern in American politics is well known: Democrats accuse Republicans of voter suppression, Republicans accuse Democrats of voter fraud (though as Gerry Hebert of the Campaign Legal Center told me in an interview last week, almost all the evidence is in favor of the Democrats on this; voter fraud is quite rare). From KLAS-TV Channel 8 in Las Vegas, here’s a case where it appears the Republicans may be engaging in voter fraud:

Federal, state, and local officials are gathering information about allegations of voter registration fraud that were first raised Channel 8 Eyewitness News.

An employee of a private voter registration firm alleges that his bosses trashed registration forms filled out by Democratic voters because they only wanted to sign up Republican voters.

The only question that matters, of course, is whether those accusations can be backed up with evidence. The article says that the employee retrieved some of those voter registration cards from the trash and turned them over to authorities and at least one person whose card was trashed has been publicly identified:

On Tuesday afternoon, Las Vegan Eric Russell and his girlfriend took a packet of documents to the Las Vegas FBI office but left before filing a formal complaint about what Russell says was a deliberate effort to disenfranchise local voters.

Russell worked for a company called Voters Outreach of America, along with 300 other people. He says he got into a beef with the company over a pay dispute, and witnessed his bosses ripping up registration forms that had been filed by Democrats.

“They were thrown away in the trash. I grabbed them out,” said Eric Russell. One of those forms belonged to Daren Gray, who was shocked to learn that the re-registration form he filled out was never turned in.

“I’m pretty mad, upset. I’m still gonna vote,” said Daren Gray. Russell doesn’t know how many Democratic registrations were tossed in the trash but guesses the number could be very high since Voters Outreach of America operated in Las Vegas for more than two months.

If they have voter registration cards that were never turned in, that’s clear evidence of wrongdoing. By law, all registration cards must be turned in to election officials within ten days. The question then becomes who is responsible for it and were they specifically targeting voters from one party.

To be fair, ACORN employees have also failed to turn in registration cards in isolated cases. At least one canvasser was found with registration cards in their trunk that were never turned in. But there is no evidence, as far as I know, that this went on with the knowledge of anyone else, like his supervisors, or that anyone in particular was targeted. The guy just didn’t turn in the cards.

If this group, particularly leaders rather than canvassers, were specifically disposing of registration cards by Democrats, this could be a major scandal. This company was hired directly by the Republican National Committee. Identical allegations were made against this company in Pennsylvania in 2004. In that case, one of the employees handed over a copy of a script they said was given to them by supervisors instructing them to not register Democrats:

“If they were a Kerry voter, we were just supposed to walk away,” said Michael Twilla, of Meadville, who said he has been paid for only eight of 72 hours he worked.

Twilla provided the Post-Gazette with a copy of the script he said he had been given.

It instructs the canvassers to hand unregistered Bush supporters a clipboard with a registration form, and to advise them the canvassers will personally deliver the forms to the local courthouse.

A lower portion of the form also advises the canvassers to ask undecided voters two questions: “Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro life?” and “Are you worried about the Democrats raising taxes?” If voters say they are pro-life, the form says, “Ask if they are registered to vote. If they are pro-choice, say thank you and walk away.”

The form also tells canvassers, “If anyone asks who you are working for, it’s ‘Project America Vote.’ ”

America Votes, whose name is similar, is a self-described nonpartisan voter registration organization sponsored by generally liberal-leaning groups.

Several canvassers said they had been instructed to skip the lower portion of the form and others said they were told to say they were working for a local employment agency.

Twilla said the canvassers were told to say they worked for Career Concepts, a local employment agency. Career Concepts was contracted by a Florida firm, Apple One, to assist them in locating temporary employees. A spokeswomen for Career Concepts last night said her firm did not employ the canvassers.

Sproul’s role in voter registration drives this month triggered official investigations in several other states, with canvassers alleging they had been told to discard Democratic registration forms, leaving voters who thought they had registered off the rolls.

The firm has a contract with the Republican National Committee to register new voters and has operated using the name Voters Outreach of America. Sproul’s chairman, Nathan Sproul, is a former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party.

CNN reports that a similar investigation is going on in Oregon:

Voter Outreach of America is also under investigation in Oregon for “alteration and destruction of voter registration cards,” said Anne Martens, a spokeswoman for Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury.

She said her office had received numerous complaints since CNN affiliate KGW in Portland broadcast a report spotlighting an out-of-state canvasser who was registering only Republicans.

“That’s how I get paid, and I am doing it for the money,” said the canvasser, whom KGW identified as Mike Johnson. He said he received $5 per card. The TV report aired Tuesday — the registration deadline in Oregon.

As with the ACORN allegations, the key here is whether these allegations can be confirmed. But if they have scripts from the organization telling them not to register Democrats and voter registration cards that were disposed of in the group’s offices, that’s pretty strong evidence. The FBI and local election officials are investigating the allegations.