Little Evidence Of Voter Fraud Prosecution Shown (Part 1)
Tuesday, February 14, 2006 at 10:09AM Here it is 2006 and the NH AG's office is releasing another of its earth-shattering reports on the non-existence of voter fraud in our fine state.
I remember the last “report” they did back in 2001. The AG's office was so proud of it we did not find out for several months afterward they had gone to the effort of ginning up a report on the 2000 election at all.
I stopped by Senator Jack Barnes's office one day and asked him to pry it out of them if he could. Senator Barnes made a call and I headed across the street to the AG's office to pick it up. Orville “Bud” Fitch was there in person to hand it to me with some pathetic disclaimer I told him I was too busy to listen to.
Here is how the first report went.
Durham was “investigated” and it was found by the NH AG's office that some students there were registered in other states but voted here in NH on an impulse. That would be stealing a vote in the real world.
(As has been the case with the AG's office that they claim they want to prosecute people who vote twice, and seem not to care about the huge amount of people who have no business voting here at all. If we investigated arson this way we could practically eliminate that crime as well.)
A dozen or so students wrote letters to the Supervisor of the Checklist asking to be taken off the Durham voter checklist after casting a vote here. They stated in their letters that they were really residents of other states.
My favorite letter started like this:
Dear Supervisor of the checklist,
I am one of the 1,700 students who wrongly voted in Durham. Please take my name off the list...
In another letter a young fella described how he was “shanghaied” by a Gore/Lieberman van full of girls who took him to the polls to vote even though he said he was a non-resident. They told him he was allowed to vote anyway so he did. After getting back to his apartment in Lee his roomie informed him it was illegal for a non-resident to vote so he also wrote to have his name taken off the list.
The Coalition of NH Taxpayers has all the materials from the 2001 “investigation” by the NH AG's office in our ever growing collection. You know what is striking about all the letters from the non-resident voters who wrote to have their names taken off the Durham list AFTER voting here? (That would be stealing a NH vote.)
They are all very similar! And we have never seen any like them again. It is as though they were asked to write the letters to the Durham Supervisor of the Checklist by some “higher power.” What a coincidence. MAYBE SOME ENTERPRISING STATE REP. COULD ASK “BUD” FITCH AT THE NEXT ELECTION LAW COMMITTEE HEARING IF ANYONE FROM HIS OFFICE DID ASK STUDENTS TO WRITE LETTERS IN LIEU OF PROSECUTION, wink wink.
In any case, no one was prosecuted for being an out of state voter nor was any campaign or professor held accountable for lying to students or encouraging them to vote illegally in the 2000 election. (remember this point for part 2 or 3 of this series)
There was one of those dog and pony shows of a joint legislative committee investigation into voter fraud that year as well if memory serves me correctly. Supervisors of the Checklists from Durham and Hudson as well as other towns testified how non-residents are flocking to the polls to register same day using non-resident drivers licenses for identification.
It seems the local election officials were concerned enough in past elections to notify the Department of Safety's and Secretary of State's offices that long after elections non-residents still were using other states drivers licenses in violation of state law. In effect, they were not NH citizens after claiming to be to vote and several local election officials were concerned they were part of an illegal action by not taking the non-resident off the checklists.
Don't worry they were told. That is just a violation of Department of Safety laws regarding new residents being required to get a valid NH license after 60 days not election law violation. So just register everyone.
In an interesting moment during one of the joint legislative hearings into voter fraud, then Representative, now Senator Bob Clegg, pinned down an as-always illusive Secretary of State Bill Gardner with this question:
If a person registers same day to vote in NH but has no intention of living here is that a crime? Bill Gardner said, after some thought, “yes” he believed it was.
My how times have not changed. Out of the 50 thousand or so same-day registrants in 2000, the 96,000 same day registrants in 2004, an all the ones in between, the AG's office can't come up with one single non-resident voter.
And the NH press dutifully wrote about there being little evidence of voter fraud in NH.
Reader Comments (13)
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/celebrities/content/local_news/epaper/2006/02/15/a2a_josecol_0215.html
I certainly do not condone election fraud of any kind but do we think the impending installation/use of Diebold machines, with NO paper trail and more than a little controversy surrounding the integrity of same, and current legislation making voter access more difficult, if not more confusing, will make our voting Rights safer and the process cleaner?
I think the overwhelming preponderance of Republicans, elected and appointed, controlling all levels of government today, belie the illusion that "liberal" voter fraud exists. Physician heal thyself. Turn the page.
I have only time to track non-resident voters for now. There are in all likelihood thousands of non-resident voters in New Hampshire
For now, college students who vote in NH with out of state identification such as a drivers license are non-residents. Anyone with a valid drivers license is a resident of where that license is from. You can not posess a license from a state in which you do not live.
College students and summer residents should have enough respect for NH citizens to vote legally just as military personnel are required to do. Here is the relevant part of the procedure from The NH Secretary of States Office web site.
Voting Residency Guidelines for UOCAVA Citizens
During the course of an election year, the FVAP receives numerous queries from citizens voting under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) regarding their state of residence for voting purposes. While the issue of voting residency can be complex, the following are general guidelines for helping members of the Uniformed Services, the merchant marine and their family members and all overseas civilian citizens determine their state of legal residence for voting purposes.
Part I. Uniformed Service Members and Eligible Dependents
One must have or have had physical presence in the state and simultaneously the intent to remain or make the state his/her home or domicile.
One may only have one legal residence at a time, but may change residency each time he or she is transferred to a new location. One must make a conscious decision to change residency; it cannot be done accidentally. There must be certain specific actions which may be interpreted as conscious decisions, e.g., registering to vote, registering a car, qualifying for in-state tuition, obtaining a drivers license, etc.
Once residence is changed, a person may not revert to the previous residence without re-establishing new physical presence and intent to remain or return.
Keep in mind that you may not arbitrarily choose which state to declare as your legal voting residence without meeting the states residency requirement.
"Home of Record" should not be confused with legal residence. "Home of Record" is the address a military member had upon entry into the Service. It does not change. "Home of Record" and legal residence may be the same address, and usually are when a person enters military service. It can remain so even though the person or his/her relatives no longer live at that location, as long as the military member has not established a legal residence elsewhere after entering on active duty.
If a military member changes legal residence after entering on active duty, he/she may not revert to claiming the "Home of Record" as legal residence without re-establishing physical presence and intent to remain in or return to that state.
Family members of active duty military personnel may each have a different legal residence. A spouse does not automatically assume the legal residence of the active duty member upon marriage.
The spouse must meet the physical presence and intent to remain or return criteria. Minors typically assume the legal residence of either parent when they become 18. They also have the option of establishing their own legal residence, which can be different from either parent, assuming they have met the guidelines of physical presence and intent to remain or return.
End
What you and your liberal union friends dont understand is yes you have that right, but you can only vote ONCE!
are two entirely different matters. One needs residency to establish in state tuition or to get a drivers license, but one does not have to be a resident to vote--- instead you have to establish domicile. residency requires an intent to remain for permanently, domicile can be for a short or indeterminant time. The constitution and numerous cases interpreting it guarantee the right to vote to any that have domicile, not residency. You may not like this, but it is the law.
Now back to my original question--- can you name a single person who voted twice?????????? Just one that's all I ask. give name, where and when they voted twice. I suspect you cant do this and all your talk of voter fraud is just a mask of an attempt to disenfranchise students.
As for the poor kid who wrote to the Durham town clerk asking to be taken off the voting list based on what his roomie told him. His roomie probably read the shameful and incorrect materials the Republicans pass out around college campuses trying to scare college kids from exercising their right to vote.
You can vote once and still steal a NH resident's vote if you are a legal resident of another state who votes here. That is what our taxpayer organization tracks.
The problem with some nearby states is they have gerry-mandered their districts for so long they are essentially a one party state and elections there are pre-determined.
The urge to cross state lines to have a Massachusetts or Vermont vote actually count for something is overwhelming for some people, so they show up here. I think that is wrong.
We catch liberals/progessives as well as Republicans. Picked up two prospects this morning. One is a 57 year old from Portland, Maine, and another is a 19 year old from Somerset Ma. Both are on a NH voter list - both were arrested in that same NH town in November 2005 and gave out-of-state identification to police.
If either one registered in November 2004, same day, and swore on their affidavit that they were domiciled in NH then how could they still be holding a drivers license from another state a year later?
Is that a concept you can get your minds around?
Or is winning elections at any cost more important to liberals who hide under that silly new banner "progressive" now?
So take your pick: either establish a domicile here, or get the hell out.
I guess 'progressive' means breakin the law.
Evidence has been collected to support the fact that there are many perpetrators, especially coming from Mass in Union-paid trailer trucks and vans.
I don't know about "evidence" of union-paid voters coming from Ma. except for some of them telling that themselves while I was standing on a street corner in Goffstown campiagning for Bob Smith.
When you get to the grass-roots, street level end of an intense campaign and are face to face with liberal/progressive/socialist activists it pays not to argue with them. Just be as pleasant as you can be and listen.
I got into a conversation with a Shaheen supporter who was trying to get me aggitated by describing how he was being paid from Speaker Finnerans office in Boston.
I qiuetly listened and spoke in general terms about what I thought were important issues. Instead of getting in a fight about it we got along well.
Now I know who he is and where he lives.
Beats arguing about politics.