Fake Votes in New Mexico Primary?

[darrels joy]

Fake Votes in New Mexico Primary?
Jim Geraghty offers an interesting report that, if verified, could be quite significant:

Today, news out of New Mexico, the state GOP looked at information for 92 newly-registered voters in one district, and found 28 had "missing or inaccurate Social Security numbers or birth dates. In some cases, more than one voter was registered using the same Social Security number. In others, people who the Republicans said had no Social Security number on public record were registered." All of these are of individuals who have already cast ballots in the June New Mexico state legislative Democratic primary.

The key element of the story, if confirmed, is that these individuals actually voted, so that this would not be a case of simple registration fraud, but actual vote fraud. Another possibility is that the individuals in question were all eligible voters who simply submitted sloppy or inaccurate registration forms. We'll have to see. The Santa Fe New Mexican has more here.
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2...tml#1224302688

[darrels joy]

ALBUQUERQUE — The Republican Party of New Mexico alleges 28 people voted fraudulently in one Albuquerque state House district in the June Democratic primary.

Party representatives said at a news conference Thursday they found the suspect voters in a review of 92 newly registered voters in House District 13.

"We really have a bombshell — evidence of voter fraud in the 2008 primary in Albuquerque," said State Rep. Justine Fox-Young, an Albuquerque Republican. "We are presenting undeniable proof that there was voter fraud in the June election."

But the head of an Albuquerque community organization that registers voters charges the Republicans' claims are overblown and they are trying to scare people ahead of the Nov. 4 election.

The Republicans released voter registration cards for 10 of the suspect voters, saying they showed missing or inaccurate Social Security numbers or birth dates.

In some cases, more than one voter was registered using the same Social Security number. In others, people who the Republicans said had no Social Security number on public record were registered.

State Republican Secretary Nazarena "Nina" Martinez said the party is "greatly concerned" by the lack of attention to this issue by District Attorney Kari Brandenburg and state Attorney General Gary King.

"As we speak, votes are being cast through absentee ballots. We do not have the luxury to wait until Nov. 4 — another 19 days — to resolve this matter," Martinez said. "This matter must be resolved now. It must be resolved today."

The party filed a Freedom of Information Act to review secretary of state and Bernalillo county clerk voting history records to conduct the review.

Brandenburg said the allegations are part of an ongoing investigation. FBI agents met last week with Bernalillo County clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver after she notified authorities about an estimated 1,500 possibly fraudulent voter registration cards.

"Every single case we get is handled the same way. We seek justice based on a thorough investigation and evidence," Brandenburg told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

A spokesman for King did not immediately return a call late Thursday seeking comment.

Pat Rogers, an attorney who advises the state GOP, says the party plans to turn the suspect registration cards over to King's and Brandenburg's offices.

Fox-Young said several of the suspect voters were registered by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN, an advocacy group for low-income people that has come under fire in recent weeks for its voter registration practices.

On Thursday, the FBI announced a national investigation into whether ACORN has helped foster voter registration fraud. The organization also is being investigated for fraud in Nevada, Connecticut, Missouri and at least five other states. Election officials also have recently questioned the group's voter forms in Ohio and North Carolina.

ACORN has said it has registered 1.3 million young people, minorities and poor and working class voters nationwide — most of whom tend to be Democrats.

Matthew Henderson, head organizer for ACORN in the Southwest region, said virtually all of the 80,000 New Mexico voters they registered are legitimate.

The group flags suspected registration cards, tracks voter registration agents connected to each card and has fired 46 employees for fraudulent violations, he said.

He said the Republicans are trying to "whip up hysteria" before the election, just as they did in 2004.

"They're scared, they're desperate and they don't want to see more people participate in the election process," Henderson said.

Fox-Young said she believes ACORN is acting as a "quasi-criminal" organization.

Toulouse Oliver said she had not seen the state Republican Party's findings, but suggested the party should notify law enforcement to prevent future problems.

"This is the first I'm hearing of it," she said in an interview. "We're not law enforcement. We don't investigate. The best we can do is identify and red flag and sequester the documents and turn them over to law enforcement and we'll gladly do that."

Oliver said her office checks registrations as they come in. Cards raise red flags if they have the same name as a voter who's already registered, but carry a different birth date or Social Security number, or have addresses that don't exist.

Her office tries to contact the voter to see if a mistake can be corrected, but if that's not possible, the card goes into the questionable pile and is not added to the voter rolls.

Fox-Young said they targeted state House District 13 for review due to high activity by third-party groups and the large volume of new voter registrations there.

"Anybody in politics knew that third-party groups were interested in those races," Fox-Young said.

She said Republican registration cards and those for voters who declined to state a party also were reviewed, but the state GOP did not have the resources to present their findings for more voters.

"It was not specific toward political parties," she said, when asked why only Democratic voters were named as suspected fraud cases.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Loc...suspect-voters