Wisconsin Republican Party Election Fraud Exposed: Breaking.
Wisconsin elections for sale or rent.
As if the Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice “recount” isn’t a big enough mess, It appears that the Wisconsin GOP has been engaged in widespread fraud surrounding their attempts to recall democratic senators. Inexplicably, the Republican Party of Wisconsin had relied heavily on people they hired from out of state to collect signatures against democrats, even paying to house these folks in hotel rooms. In all cases, they paid by the signature. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? The decision to pay out of state people when there are plenty of unemployed folks that reside in those senate districts who may actually be invested in the outcome of these recall elections makes no sense at all.
But the story gets even better.
In a press release issued today by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller states “”The overwhelming evidence clearly shows a pervasive pattern of election fraud committed by the shady out-of-state organization hired by Republicans to collect recall petitions,” and “Thousands of Wisconsin citizens fell victim to lies and misinformation spread by the circulators, and the papers submitted by this operation contain a river of omissions and wrong information.”
Additionally, another questionable organization, American Patriot Recall Coalition, is also involved and is headed by Dan Baltes, the convicted felon who spent 10 years in the Idaho prison system for grand theft, forgery and writing bad checks. Surprised?
Miller continued: “We believe that when the facts are reviewed, the GAB will throw out thousands of flawed signatures because they were fraudulent or defective. The vast depth of this misconduct calls into question the legitimacy of every signature collected by these circulators, and shows that the GOP effort failed to gather the valid signatures needed for recall elections.“
The formal challenge, to be filed on behalf of the Democratic senators is expected to happen this afternoon, and allegedly shows that the number of invalid signatures gathered through election fraud would reduce the valid signatures collected against all three democratic senators enough to invalidate the recall petitions. A press conference will be held at 4:15 today with Democratic Party of Wisconsin counsel Jeremy Levinson to discuss the challenge.
The challenge of GOP recall petitions features many claims from Wisconsin citizens who were victimized by the actions of a disreputable out-of-state firm hired by Wisconsin Republicans to collect signatures. Kennedy Enterprises received nearly $100,000 from the Republican Party of Wisconsin to circulate recall petitions. Kennedy owns a tarnished reputation based on past offenses in Colorado.
Some of the cases and examples of election fraud outlined in the formal recall challenge of GOP petitions to be filed this afternoon include:
- Senate District 12: Of the 534 people contacted who had signed the petition, 9.2% indicated they were misled into signing the petition or asserted they had never signed.
- Senate District 22: Of the 225 people contacted who had signed the petition, 6.6% indicated they were misled into signing the petition or asserted they had never signed.
- Senate District 30: Of the 372 people contacted who had signed the petition, 8.6% indicated they were misled into signing the petition or asserted they had never signed.
- Affidavit of a World War II veteran from Green Bay who was misled into signing a recall petition. Upon learning he had been duped, veteran called the sheriff to get his name removed. When confronted, the circulator claims he will remove the name, but a later review of the petitions reveals the veteran’s name was never crossed off.
- Many affidavits attesting that Circulator Sherri Ferrell – who gathered nearly 3,000 signatures in two districts — gathered signatures on Indian reservations claiming petitions were to support “schools,” “Democrats,” and “tribal rights.”
- Affidavit of voter in Senate District 22 attesting that circulator John Prijic claimed the petitions were for work to be done on a local park.
- Affidavit of voter in Senate District 30 attesting that circulator Annette Lord claimed the petitions were to recall Republican Senator Cowles.
- Affidavit of voter in Senate District 30 attesting that circulator Richard Madrill claimed the petitions were to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
- William Pocan’s forged name appears on line 10, page 362 of circulator Kevin Pursell’s petition. As his widow Corinne Pocan’s affidavit attests, William Pocan has been deceased 20 years, although his name remains in the phone book. Pursell circulated numerous pages.
- Claims by many Wisconsin citizens who were misled by out-of-state circulators who claimed they could sign on behalf of other people.
- Numerous examples of fake addresses and signatures appearing on GOP recall petitions, as well as sloppily gathered signatures also missing critical information.
- Summary of out-of-state circulators hired by GOP with largest percentages of fraud or deception on GOP recall petitions:
This is precisely why we outlawed paying petition gatherers per signature in Oregon. We had to get one of them forging a sig on a petition on video before it was done, but it got done.
Initiative reform in Oregon involved much, much more than just banning pay-per-signature. Oregon paid petitioners have to register with the Secretary of State, undergo training and meet rigid specific rules for petition format — even the color of the paper for each petition is regulated. Only volunteer signature gatherers can use white paper and download copies of a petition from a website. Paid gatherers must use colored paper and turn in their sheets promptly.
Forgot to add that the ballots are sent with a tamper proof security envelope, which is placed inside another envelope. And if you don’t want to mail it, you can drop it in a secure lock-box at designated locations near your home. Fire Stations, Police Station, etc.
Oregon has gone 100% to mail-in ballots. If you ain’t registered, you don’t get a ballot, and you don’t vote. After it’s mailed, it’s in the custody of USPS until it arrives at the Elections Board HQ. Any discepencies can be tracked directly to the source at either end. It works pretty good.
Excellent!! But sadly no surprise. Again…how many have read the Conyers report…this kind of stuff is business as usual I think with the GOP….
Now I do worry re the 2012 elections…we need to be on guard right from the start! You know they will be….
We need paper ballots … auditable paper ballots. Remember it was a Republican initiative that gave us these electronic machines after the Florida debacle that installed Bush in the White House.
I’m with you on the paper ballots. It may take a little longer to count but not as easy to commit election fraud.
Where else could someone from NY be kept up-to-date on political happenings in Wisconsin by reading an Alaskan blog? Gotta LOVE the mudflats!
Thank you, Patrick, for staying on top of this mess of an election, and to AKM for giving him this forum to keep us all informed. While this election may not affect most of us directly, the fraud and mismanagement have implications for elections around the country. With such an important election coming up in 2012, we need to clean up the process NOW so that we can all trust that our votes will be counted correctly and the candidates will truly be chosen by the majority.
More on it here from Sarah Jones.
http://www.politicususa.com/en/security-breach-wisconsin-supreme
unbelievably believable.
so now what? how do we the people get our votes counted?
how do we the people get just representation?
there has to be a way.
The pay-for-signatures screams of fraud. It’s sort of like the banksters in the housing collapse. Except these folks might actually be prosecuted.
The Republican Party has been trying for decades to disenfranchise legitimate voters in many key states. This is documented and continues today in efforts to require seniors and others to show photo ID’s, confusing students about where they are entitled to vote ( home district or college address), etc.
Funny, though, how when they NEED the little guy voters, they amass an army to get their signatures! I wonder if they required photo ID or proof of residence….since they, themselves, didn’t live there!
Patrick, Ryan’s in need of a whaaaaaaambulance. Keep up the outstanding work!
“Rep. Paul Ryan blames town hall backlash on ThinkProgress”
“House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) blamed the liberal blog ThinkProgress and others for some of the rowdy town hall meetings he recently faced.
“My town halls were phenomenally, overwhelmingly supportive,” the congressman told Bloomberg. “And this was after – you know, it was reported by the media that MoveOn, ThinkProgress, the labor council from Milwaukee were doing training sessions and trying to stack the crowds.”
An audience at a town hall in Milton, Wisconsin booed Ryan in April when he tried to defend his proposal to extend tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.”………..
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/05/rep-paul-ryan-blames-town-hall-backlash-on-thinkprogress/
Boo freakin’ hoo.
It was perfectly okay, celebrated even, when all those nasty, loud (armed) teabagger plants were given manuals on how to disrupt the health care town halls just for the sake of being disruptive. But it’s not okay for real citizens to express their outrage over the Republicans trying to usher them off to the poor house while raising their taxes to pay off the rich.
They’ve completely lost their grip on reality.
Leenie, this is correct except for one thing: There are no poorhouses anymore. They’re trying to drive us all to homelessness. I know, I know, I’m a stickler.
Did he face any guns at these events? Bet not. Citizens came “armed” with information and he’s all pouty? Poor baby. Republicans haven’t even begun to feel the heat that Democrats had to endure. Good Lord they do strain the patience.
“Somewhat ironic since it is the Wisconsin Republican Party and their elected officials (along with Sarah Palin) that dismiss the Wisconsin Uprising as a bunch of “Out of State Rent-a-Thugs”.”
This is what they do. They accuse the opposition of exactly what they’re doing. They are so transparent, and I do not mean that in a good way. They don’t actually believe everyone else is as dishonest as they, but that’s the perception they want to spread.
Thanks for posting, Patrick. Excellent, as usual.
Sooner or later, they’re going to have to replace their elephant mascot/symbol with a projector. (See psychological theory of “projection” if you’re thinking “what is that supposed to mean.”)
In fact, I think we should form an “friends of the elephant” lobby and sue the GOP for defamation of character. Elephants are way smarter and nicer than these folks.
This is what liars always do. If you want to know what they’re up to, look at what they’re accusing their opposition of doing.
Wow–GOP shut down ACORN for less than this. Of course, they had the Champion of Pimp Costumes, James O’Keefe, to help them.
Yes, you are right. The only times Acorn was in trouble was when they were hired by the GOP, and the GOP pushed them into doing questionable things.
I believe they put Acorn out of business to hide things such as what has been found in Wisconsin, and to avoid punishment.
They only judgement against Acorn was a judgement against the GOP.
Where, oh where, is O’Keefe when he could actually film/narrate the goings-on *without* having to heavily edit the results before passing it on to Briebart?
Good, Lord — they pixxed and moaned and destroyed ACORN with their misrepresentations and manipulations, but this, This!, is just hunky-dory and GOP/Baggy business as usual? beth.
Makes one wonder if we’ll ever be able to have fair, honest and inclusive elections again. At least the fiasco in Wisconsin has refocused our attention on the problems with our electoral system that got so much attention in 2000 and 2004.
Slightly OT, but….I’ve been checking the progress of the Supreme Court recount, interesting that the County with the “extra 14000 votes” 2 days after the election is only 12% in to recounting, while everyone else will be finished by May 9….
I just heard on Thom Hartmann that there is now a question concerning the chain of custody of those votes. Apparently, there was opportunity to “stuff” the ballot box containing the Waukesha,(I think that’s the county) County votes. Votes could have been added or removed without anyones knowledge. This is getting ugly.
Check out the link in the first line of Patrick’s piece above, to The Brad Blog. Brad Friedman has been a contributor here, talking about issues of election integrity. He mentions Patrick’s piece, and gives a great synopsis of all the hinkiness going on regarding the Supreme Court election. Worth a read!
What hinkiness? I tell you, those ballots were in the trunk of my 1984 Oldsmobile the whole time! Right next to my baggie full of dried rosemary!
UN-believable.
It’s getting to the point that if a Republican says one thing, you just have to document the lie. Amazingly, it only seem to be getting easier and easier to do that. Kinda like having a battle of wits with an entire unarmed army. Up the famous River of DeNile without a paddle. …with a mental age of the child that says “I didn’t eat the candy, Mom. Honest” with the chocolate smeared all over his face. What is that, around 4 yrs old?
It seems to be no longer a question of “Just how stupid do they think people are,” but more of a “just how on earth do they even tie their shoes?”
Patrick, keep up the good work!
The Republicans can be counted on for one thing: dishonesty. I just count on the opposite of what they say is what they mean.
Following a Rove’s dedication to the philosophy of “the ends justify the means,” the GOP will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. Shameful.
Very interesting, Patrick.
Let’s hope this is one more nail in the coffin of the arrogant GOP turds.
The Koch Brother arrogant? They just love their country so!
Is that a tear I see on the faces of those patriotic Koch boys? How terribly inspiring.
Oh wait…I do believe that’s the aroma of Vicks Vaporub I smell…
Guess it’s just one more fraud, courtesy of Koch Industries!
I think it would take raw grated onions in their eyes, personally.
Oh, Patrick – you’ve done it again! This is really an eye-opener. Just the idea of being paid per signature is an invitation to fraud. I think that’s where the Dems have it over the Repubs – they used volunteers, as I understand. (Not that that guarantees complete honesty!) Thanks so much for your insight.
Hey, Mudpups – only 4 more days until “The Lies of Sarah Palin” comes out. And, even more fun, “Blind Allegiance” later in the month. How am I ever going to get my gardening done?
Sorry, I disagree that using volunteers “guarantees complete honesty”. Hyper-partisans (and possible conservative plants) could still mess things up. But it goes a long way towards ensuring honesty by taking out the profit motive.
Holy frackincrap! How blatant – did they think the Wisconsin Dems were asleep or disinterested to watch for such fraud? I thought I read the Repugs were paying 50-cents per signature for their recall efforts. So I can see how the folks collecting didn’t have anything more than money motivating them. UNLIKE the folks running around collecting to recall the Republicans, working as volunteers to take back your state.
Thanks for the update, keep them coming!!!
what is truly astounding is that the republi-CONS are ALWAYS they ones crying voter fraud (think ACORN)….yet in convictions, they are the ones found guilty…oh, and ACORN has NEVER been convicted and when they discovered voter REGISTRATION irregularities, they turned themselves in…the republi-CONS, historically, are famous for deleting registered voters from the rolls (think florida 2000 & ohio 2004)…they always target minority and elderly with their approaches to make registering and voting more difficult…..think photo id’s…..