10.14.08
A third worker for Community Voters Project in Wisconsin has been charged with election fraud after prosecutors say he turned in 54 fake registrations, including one for a man who died 16 years ago. According to the criminal complaint, Frank Walton, 29, submitted the inaccurate voter forms to Milwaukee election officials with errors that also included fake driver's license numbers and Social Security numbers. Walton faces one count of falsely procuring voter registration and faces up to 3 1/2 years in prison and $10,000 in fines if he is convicted. News/Talk 1310 WIBA has more on the story here.
10.07.08
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced today that the Election Fraud Task Force has brought its second electoral fraud case. The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office has filed felony charges against Adam Mucklin for Providing False Information to an Election Official and Intentional Violation of Election Duty. According to the criminal complaint, Mucklin served as a Special Registration Deputy for the City of Milwaukee and was paid by the Community Voters Project, a special interest group organized under the auspices of the Fund for the Public Interest. To serve as a Special Registration Deputy, one must be a qualified elector (i.e., eligible voter). Mucklin, however, is currently serving a felony offense, and his civil rights will not be restored until January 10, 2012. The Wisconsin Department of Justice has more on the story, including a copy of the criminal complaint, here.
09.29.08
A Milwaukee resident was charged Monday with election fraud, the first charge in an investigation into voter registration workers who submitted fake names to the city in what a complaint says amounted to a quota system. According to the complaint, Endalyn Adams, 21, is accused of submitting dozens of fake names and addresses as a registration worker paid by the Community Voters Project, one of two primary groups under scrutiny. Adams is one of 49 cases that City of Milwaukee election officials submitted to the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office for review. Nearly all of those submitted were workers for the Community Voters Project or ACORN. According to the complaint, Adams faces up to 3 1/2 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 if convicted of the felony charge. A warrant was to be issued Monday for her arrest, officials said. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has more on the story here.
03.05.08
A jury deliberated for just 35 minutes on Wednesday before convicting Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee's uncle of committing election fraud by paying voters five dollars each to cast ballots. Garrett L. Huff was convicted of three counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud. The charges stemmed from a recall campaign against McGee a year ago. City elections officials were notified that McGee's campaign might have been breaking the law by offering food and drink for voting. Milwaukee police officers and a state Department of Justice agent went undercover to Mother's Foods grocery store in March 2007 after reports that McGee's campaign was driving people to City Hall to cast absentee ballots and then paying them $5. According to a tape played in court, undercover officer Wardell Dodds asked Huff last March if store owner Adel "Jack" Kheirieh would pay him, "I can take care of that," Huff said. "We try to keep it hush. Don't ask [Kheirieh] about it, please don't ask. . . . Don't say [expletive] to McGee either. He don't go for certain [expletive]." Officer Dodds also testified that Huff then drove him to City Hall and back to the store, and gave him $5. State justice special agent Willie Brantley also testified he was paid $5 to vote. Huff is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7 and faces up to 10 years in prison. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has more on the story here. (See also “Officers testify alderman's uncle paid for votes,” Chippewa Herald, 3/5/08.)
02.26.08
A 67-page “Report of the Investigation into the November 2, 2004 General Election in the City of Milwaukee,” prepared by the Milwaukee Police Department Special Investigations Unit, chronicles the Election Commission’s failure to adequately ensure the eligibility of “on-site” (election day) registrants, resulting in widespread irregularities, disenfranchisement and fraud, including:
- 4,600 more votes cast and counted than voters recorded as having cast ballots, with no record pointing to the origin or eligibility of these ballots;
- 1,305 votes by “on-site” registrants who provided registration forms lacking sufficient information to be entered into permanent database, including
- 48 voters who provided no name; and
- 854 voters who provided no address;
- Countless instances of ballots cast by ineligible “not in city” registrants;
- At least 16 cases of campaign workers from out-of-state who voted while employed by a group or campaign attempting to influence the election;
- Four deceased persons recorded as having voted; and
- At least three instances of votes cast by ineligible felons.
Investigators also pointed out that 18 felons had been sworn in as deputy registrars prior to the 2004 election, including eight who listed ACORN as their sponsoring organization. Investigators found that ineligible absentee ballots were counted, while the ballots of “numerous” eligible voters were not counted. The report also focuses on systemic irregularities arising from colleges and homeless shelters within the city, concluding “vote portability and the abject poverty that defines homelessness, makes these unfortunate individuals vulnerable to become the tools of voter fraud by those that would exploit the homeless.” Investigators, however, cited their inability to prosecute most offenses due to the “unreliability of the Milwaukee election records and the lack of confidence that both prosecutors and juries had in those records.”
The report concludes that the widespread voting irregularities, fraud and disenfranchisement in the 2004 election could be addressed by repealing election day registration and instituting a photo identification requirement. For the complete report, click here.
01.10.08
Israel Cordova, Jr of Milwaukee pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a felony charge of election fraud for voting while on probation for a previous felony. Cordova participated in the November 2006 election while still on probation for a 2005 battery case. Cordova entered into a plea bargain where a second count of voter registration fraud was dropped. He faces up to three and a half years in prison. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the rest of the story.