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Identifying Voter Fraud and Legitimate Voter Registration

September 10, 2010

At one of our trainings recently, I had the opportunity to sit in on a presentation from American Majority spokesperson Anita MonCrief.  You might remember hearing about her when she blew the whistle on ACORN voter fraud in 2008, having been employed by its writing and research department since 2005.

She shared cases of voter fraud from around the country, including the recent case of Harris County, TX.  Then she taught our attendees how to conduct legitimate and legal voter registration drives, and how to identify, find and expose corruption in their own communities.

We are often questioned about this topic, so I thought I would share a few of her points-

  1. Voter registration fraud: what is it?  It is “the act of registering to vote, or registering someone else to vote, when fraud is involved.”
  2. Voter registration fraud can include filling out and submitting a voter registration card for a fictional person, or registering a real person to vote without that person’s consent.

To identify voter fraud, here are a few important tips-

  1. Get involved before election day.
  2. Educate yourself- contact your county board of elections or clerk, and know the laws for your particular area.
  3. Become a poll worker.  Monitor what is happening on election day.  My mom became a poll worker last year, and while sitting next to the ballot box knitting away, she makes sure that only people who are legitimately registered to vote are allowed to do so.
  4. Gather evidence- be armed with a camera, video camera, etc.  Without evidence, anything you uncover cannot be backed up.
  5. Report what you find!  Whether it’s turning it into voter fraud hotlines, contacting your county clerk or publishing the fraud you find on your blog or social networks (facebook, twitter, etc), make sure that you tell your story.

In a country formed such as ours, nothing is more sacred or crucial than the legitimacy of our electoral process.  Use these tips to get involved and make a difference in these important upcoming months!

7 Comments

  1. Sharon Baur a.k.a. GrannyB on September 11, 2010 at 9:21 pm

    I LOVE American Majority. So much information; so little time. I am learning so much from AM my mind is on over-load but, make no
    mistake; this IS the place for INFO. Love you, Beka!
    Peace
    GrannyB

  2. Deborah Ascheman on September 12, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    Question regarding: 3.Become a poll worker. Monitor what is happening on election day. My mom became a poll worker last year, and while sitting next to the ballot box knitting away, she makes sure that only people who are legitimately registered to vote are allowed to do so.

    How did your mom make sure only legit people could vote?

    Thank you…And are there any online classes? I am a Maine resident…and it looks like most classes are quite far away…
    Thanks again,
    Deborah

  3. Glenda Chesler on September 13, 2010 at 8:15 am

    The voting locations are supposed to remain open until 7:00 PM.
    My son and I arrived at 6:45 pm to vote during the last presidential election. THEY WERE CLOSING!!!!!!! I said “what are you doing?!” One of the volunteers responded: “We haven’t had anyone in here in the last 15 minutes and decide to go ahead and close.” I told him to open back up because we were there to vote! He acted a little put out, but we were able to vote. At least 3 voters came in after us.

  4. Sheril Carey on September 13, 2010 at 3:12 pm

    One thing I am concerned about is that we have had a non-private ballot here in Ohio for some time now. It astounds me that it has been allowed to go on and that it seems that no one else is upset about it. I’ve heard extremely little said about it and when I myself have tried to bring it up to others, they feel certain that what we have is fine with no real reason for it to be fine.

    I’ve seen first hand that I can see other people’s ballots from all sorts of angles and distances as I walk up to the machine that I am assigned and I know logically that mine can be seen as well. Yet, all these people, simply accept it as if there would be something very wrong with addressing it. It is like an “emperors new clothes” situation accept when anyone speaks up, the rest of the audience is determined to look the other way.

    Why are we no longer allowed the right to a private ballot? Why does no one care?

  5. Joan on September 13, 2010 at 10:08 pm

    I work at the polls and it is clearly against the law for the poll to close before 7:00pm straight up…by the clock they opened by. This should have been reported to your local election board so they could take action on it. Only the “Judge”, who handles the register people sign can determine if a person is a legitimate voter. If your name is not on that book, she does not tell the “Clerk” to give them a ballot. If they want to vote a “Provisional Ballot” they may, but this does not go into the ballot box and is checked out at the election board the next day and deemed good or bad. Only then is that ballot counted or rejected.

  6. Beka on September 14, 2010 at 11:25 am

    @Glenda- I’m so glad you weren’t deterred and voted anyway!

    @Deborah- Here’s an example- there was a gentleman who came and tried to vote, but my mom noted that he needed to show photo ID. When she asked for it, he became irate and wouldn’t produce it, yelled at them for a long time until they threatened to call the police if he didn’t calm down. He never returned with his photo ID- strangely enough. Also, we’re working on getting some trainings set up in Maine- you can contact our national office to find out about dates/places.

    @Sharon- Thank you! 🙂 We do it all for people like you!

  7. John C. Ebanks on September 15, 2010 at 7:31 am

    The past general election I was unable to vote because my name and my sons name was confused with different addresses although we have different middle names,but same first and last names.

    I would like to be able to vote in this up comming election.

    Can you help? please.

    Thanks,

    John C. Ebanks

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