Worrisome Democratic voter fraud:

From TPM:

Today's Must Read: More on Karl Rove's push to have voter fraud investigated just before the last election. Did it matter that the allegations were two years old and had already been investigated?

From TPMmuckraker: (the link above) (excerpts, bold emp add, italics original)

... Rove requested last October that the Justice Department investigate allegations of voter fraud in three jurisdictions ... all battleground states.

... at least twice in October, Rove or his deputies passed on word of the allegations to Kyle Sampson.

Sampson ... passed on the allegations to a Justice Department official ...

... Sampson also gave him a 30-page report prepared by Wisconsin Republicans about voter fraud in Milwaukee. Sampson apparently expected [it to be passed] on to the department's criminal division.

... you can see that 30-page report, titled "Fraud in Wisconsin 2004: A Timeline/Summary" here (pdf, see page 10). As the title would indicate, it was nothing but a collection of news clippings related to voter fraud allegations in Milwaukee... in the 2004 election.

Two things about that. First, it appears that Rove wanted the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation of two-year old allegations right before the 2006 election. But second, these allegations had already been investigated ...

What were these two-year old allegations that had already been investigated? Well, here's one from page 13 of the document: (emp add)

A flyer for a Democrat-themed 'vote-a-thon' planned for this Saturday on the state Capitol square in Madison fails to disclose who is funding the effort and promises free coffee at a local restaurant for taking part, in potential violation of state law. The flyer urges people to 'gather and go' to the City-County Building in Madison. The flyer includes cartoon images of donkeys but has no legally-required disclaimer that highlights who is behind the political effort. The flyer also promises free coffee at the nearby Sunprint Cafe, which typically charges $1.50 (tax included) for coffee. Wisconson Statute 12.11. defines election bribery as "... any amount of money, or any object which has utility independent of any political message it contains and the value of which exceeds $1." "Unfortunately, the Democrats are increasingly relying on the troubling and illegal practice of bribery to rustle up votes," Republican Party of Wisconson Executive Director Darrin Schmitz pointed out.

Shocking! And certainly a good reason to crank up the investigatory machine right before an election.


posted by Quiddity at 5/11/2007 09:05:00 AM