An entire houseful of young, non-Ohioan Democrat activists have used the Brownlee Avenue address to register themselves to vote in the Buckeye State and secure absentee ballots under extremely shady circumstances — all while mobilizing a large effort to register thousands of others for absentee and early voting. The activists are leaders of a group called “Vote From Home ‘08.” The group is self-identified as having “extensive experience with political organizing, election administration, and Democratic politics.” They were hailed as the “Justice League” by a Daily Kos blogger. Their Facebook page brags: “Want to turn the Presidential election blue in a key swing state? Vote from Home is a political organization that was founded by a team of young people for the purpose of assisting, aiding, and tracking voters to elect progressive candidates to the White House. Encouraged by the excitement of the 2008 elections and the movement around the Democratic candidates, Vote From Home will be in Ohio seeking to deliver 10,000 votes to Democratic candidates statewide.”...
...one of them says “It’s a perfect opportunity for them to come in, register at a temporary address like a homeless shelter or a YMCA or something like that. They can register at that address because they don’t know where they’re going to be tomorrow or next week.”...
No, Eric. There won't be any fraud on election day. Keep repeating that.
And remember. These are just the ones who are getting caught. This ain't Mickey Mouse. Rock the vote!
Rose, I am a democrat absolutely sick over this. It is just flat out wrong.
ReplyDeleteI hope the feds arrest and throw the book at these folks who call themselves progressive, but in actuality are nothing short of liars and cheats.
Amen. 4:50.
ReplyDeleteI just don't see how you can have any faith at all any more.
Change. That's what we're getting.
Used to be you could count on Ohio to deliver the Republican vote and it was so easy. It was just four short years ago that we saw registered voters standing in long lines for as much as six hours for their turn to vote in predominantly black and overwhelmingly democratic precincts where the number of voting machines totally under represented voter registration and turnout. And then you had that chicanery with the electronic voting machines with dedicated software that left no paper trails that would apply your one vote to the wrong candidate. Then there was the ballots that were tampered with when computers were hacked.
ReplyDeleteWant to talk about Florida? Want to talk about how every voting cycle Republican operatives stir up a shit storm of accusation about voter registration fraud and voter fraud while they contrive slicker ways to suppress the vote in districts that vote overwhelmingly Democrat? I listened G. Gordon Liddy today for about five minutes. Five minutes was all I could stand. He was attacking Michelle Obama. I think they taught him propaganda tactics in the FBI. Now he practices on the general public. He and Cheney should have to share the same pace maker and go through the rest of their lives joined by a patch cord.
What I find odd here is that this whole thing to allow this sort of crap was set in stone by Ken Blackwell just prior to the '04 election when he simultaneoulsy served as Ohio's Sec Of State and Co-chaired Bush's relection committee, virtually removing all safe guards to voter fraud,and setting in place draconian requirements in Ohio's poorest areas.But Rose,you seem to think to think it was okay in '04 when these loopholes aided Bush.
ReplyDeleteKonkler, I disagree. It is not ok no matter who it is and no matter what party it is. The election fraud issues have really come to light in the last 8 years and make me feel like we are living in some third world country known for stuffing ballot boxes. It should be happening here at all.
ReplyDeleteBut lets be real, there will always be cheaters and if all of us don't condemn it across the board and across party lines, then we end up encouraging it by our silence.
I thought it was ok? No, I don't think so. I don't remember even hearing about that, Mark.
ReplyDeleteBut I will say the way I see it, knowing about the fraud in SF/People's Temple days, and the potential for fraud with same day voting - essentially my position is, and always has been, that it is not unreasonable to require ID, proof of identity and residence in order to vote.
At this point, I favor a thumbprint with a nationwide database that includes running checks for duplicates.
I hate to say it, because in general I am against new layers of government. But it is the only way to ensure the one person one vote, and it is totally legitimate.
I don't care if this means some people are scared to come in and vote. That's their stupid problem, and has to do with their lifestyle choices and nothing to do with 'voter suppression.'
I do agree with 10:56 - this should be receiving extreme condemnation and action from ALL parties - ACORN has to be shut down. People need to go to jail over this one.
It's a little premature to call for the shutdown of ACORN. They would have to be proven guilty of purposefully carrying out voter registration fraud. The FBI is conducting a nationwide investigation. The results of their investigation will shed light on whether ACORN has knowingly participated in voter registration fraud. So far it looks like the blame resides with some low paid temporary workers. I expect the investigation will show this to be the case. ACORN has had a clean record since it's inception in the 'seventies.
ReplyDeleteThis looks bad from what is being reported, but did ACORN have anything to do with this?
ReplyDeleteYou can't "shut down ACORN." It's a private entity, and unless you have some evidence that ACORN actively encouraged the false registrations with the intention of casting fraudulent votes, you have no basis for criminal charges, which is why despite extensive police investigation in several states no charges have been filed. They can probably file charges against the low level people who were working the street to register people, but that's not going to make the Republicans happy.
ReplyDeleteThis particular household, if these people registered to vote in violation of Ohio law or intended to cast votes in Ohio and their home states, then they should be prosecuted and punished accordingly.
But Ohio has its safeguards and they're going to be watching this election very closely. Even the local Ohio Republicans have expressed confidence over it.
As I mentioned in my own post this morning, the majority of the ACORN problems were reported by ACORN itself, which by law must submit all of the forms they receive regardless of their suspicions.
I'll have to read your post, Eric, but I am not detecting any outrage, only that curious nuanced defense.
ReplyDeleteIs 'Vote from Home" independent? Or some sort of offshoot? Some "project?" Six degrees of separation so as to have plausible deniability... oh no, WE are not the ones doing this, our hands are clean...
If they dig deep, an investigation may turn up those connections. If they don't, but take the surface answer, that'll be the end of it.
Nope - only a thumbprint verified against a national database will do.
I don't know who they are Rose. Your post is the first I've ever heard of them.
ReplyDeleteAs for outrage, after the past few elections, I'm kind of numb. This is small potatoes by comparison. A household isn't going to turn Ohio for Obama, and I don't have a lot of information here. I don't even know what Ohio's residency requirements are. If it's widespread, ask me then.
Found their website on Google. Judging from the photos on the website, it looks like an organization of kids. I certainly hope they weren't stupid. So far Google only has two hits for the story, one of them from Human Events. I assume Fox News or somebody will pick it up. Even Malkin's not on it yet. Maybe they're holding back until they have more facts.
ReplyDeleteMalkin had it Oct 15th...
ReplyDelete- complete with the info on these people, where they REALLY live and go to school...
Palestra.net, a network of young reporters who have been doing the voter and registration fraud reporting that the MSM has been slow to do, have a breaking investigative report on how several members of the Democrat Vote From Home team — all Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, and Truman Scholars studying abroad — are turning up on Franklin County voter rolls despite having no bona fide residence in Ohio and admittedly having little to no knowledge about the state before descending on it in August to sign up other new voters in a rush to put 10,000 Obama supporters on the rolls....
Here’s just one of several Vote From Home activists, Daniel Hemel, who registered to vote with the Brownlee Ave. address listed as his “home:”
The Franklin County, Ohio site shows that Hemel was mailed an absentee ballot on October 1....
Palestra reporters Shelby Holliday and Tiffany Wilson visited the Vote From Home “home” in search of Hemel and were told that the Scarsdale, NY native and Harvard grad had returned to school — he’s a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University in England studying for an M.Phil in International Relations — and had no plans to return to Ohio.
You’ll recognize another of the names and faces from the Vote From Home team. This is Marc Gustafson, a driving force behind the effort and in front of the cameras:
He is also registered to vote in Franklin County, Ohio at the same Brownlee address and was mailed an absentee ballot on September 30:
He’s also the same activist Palestra reporter Shelby Holliday interviewed in her “Thug Thizzle” report. Gustafson’s the one who bragged about the free shuttle program for the homeless Ohioans for Obama:
“It’s a perfect opportunity for them to come in, register at a temporary address like a homeless shelter or a YMCA or something like that. They can register at that address because they don’t know where they’re going to be tomorrow or next week.”
Where’s Gustafson? Not in Ohio. He’s a Marshall Scholar at the Oxford University in England who worked as a field coordinator for the Howard Dean Campaign in Rhode Island, Iowa and New Hampshire. According to campaign contribution reports, he lists New York as his residence.
According to the Ohio Secretary of State’s page, you must be “a resident of Ohio for at least 30 days immediately before the election in which you want to vote.” The guidelines also state:
Generally, a person’s residence is the place where the person’s habitation is fixed (i.e., where the person lives on a permanent basis) and the place where the person intends to return whenever the person is absent.
...a person’s temporary presence in Ohio, such as during a vacation or working in
Ohio on a temporary basis, does not make the person eligible to register and to vote in Ohio.
Gustafson’s friend and business partner, Heather Halstead, is another Vote From Home activist who shows up in Franklin County, Ohio voter rolls:
She is based in New York, went to Dartmouth for college, and lists New York as her residence in campaign contribution reports. No connection to Ohio other than the brief period she spent signing up others — and herself — to vote in the swing state.
Halstead was mailed an absentee ballot on September 30.
Vote From Home team member Jennifer Kyle, whose bio states that she works for ShoreBank International in the Washington, DC area, is also registered to vote in Franklin County, OH using the Brownlee address:
Kyle was mailed an absentee ballot on October 4.
Vote From Home team member Greg Nolan also used the Brownlee address to register to vote in Franklin County, OH:
He is based in Florida, where he attended college and was “active in Democratic politics,” and is headed to Stanford for graduate school. No ties to Ohio other than his brief stint working with Vote for Change.
And on and on it goes. Shelby at Palestra tells me that some 12 activists associated with Vote From Home may have fraudulently registered and that some have voted already. If they were this breathtakingly careless or brazenly reckless with their own registrations, imagine what damage they might have done in their voter registration drive — and what damage they may yet do in following through on absentee ballots with those voters.
Don't kid yourself, Eric. These are just the ones getting caught.
Outrage? No? Not yet?
ReplyDeleteHow much does it take?
Oh, forget it. I know the answer. If McCain were only a Democrat. Then the outrage would be uncontainable.
Left out of both of those articles are any references to the residency requirements in Ohio. I don't even know if they're breaking the law, let alone acting unethically. Are they voting in their home states too?
ReplyDeleteWhen somebody besides Malkin and Human Events writes something about this, at least we'll have some facts not colored by an agenda, and Malkin has gone off half-cocked more often than I can count.
I am surprised that her post didn't come up on the Google search. Maybe there's liberal bias there too.
What does it take for me to be outraged? Well, some evidence of malevolence. You're making a huge judgment about these kids, who may have looked at the law and said "I'm spending the next couple of months here, I might as well vote here where it counts." A violation of the letter of the law? I don't know. Inappropriate to a full understanding of the spirit of the law? Perhaps, if they really didn't intend to reside in Ohio long term. Evidence of a grand conspiracy to steal an election? No.
Wake me up when a real media source covers it. I'll even take the Wall Street Journal.
According to the Ohio Secretary of State’s page, you must be “a resident of Ohio for at least 30 days immediately before the election in which you want to vote.” The guidelines also state:
ReplyDeleteGenerally, a person’s residence is the place where the person’s habitation is fixed (i.e., where the person lives on a permanent basis) and the place where the person intends to return whenever the person is absent.
Okay, I saw this with a second reading. So if they registered and voted, without having been there for 30 days, then they should be punished according to the law.
You mean wake you when hell freezes over? Oh come on, you know all the news organization have deployed TEAMS of reporters to look through Sarah Palin's garbage cans, there's no one left in the office to look into this one.
ReplyDeleteAnd, If ACORN is calling and 'verifying' their cards - they know who the blanks are - they can then send in people like these kids to act as voters, then go back home and vote again.
Vote early and often, from home and, well, somewhere else.
These are JUST THE ONES GETTING CAUGHT! How many more are there?
Rose, Vote from Home is not ACORN. They're two separate organizations.
ReplyDeleteHere's an Alternet article. According to that report here's no definitive conclusion that the 12 VFH kids broke the law.
And, If ACORN is calling and 'verifying' their cards - they know who the blanks are - they can then send in people like these kids to act as voters, then go back home and vote again.
ReplyDeleteYes, they do know. That's why they turned them in. The law requires ACORN to submit all forms they receive to the elections department. They can't withhold them even if they are suspicious. Most of the fictitious voter forms were turned in by ACORN itself.
ACORN is innocent Rose. VFH, the jury's still out.
Here's another article, which says that the Franklin County prosecutor is taking it "very seriously." And it looks like the 12 nor their attorneys are talking. Not a good sign.
ReplyDeleteThey need felony convictions and jail time if not prison.
ReplyDeleteThis election is already tainted beyond repair.
12 votes? I doubt it. But if it comes that close, I will call for their heads.
ReplyDeleteYes, Eric - at this point it appears that ACORN is not related to Vote From Home. Like I said, is that six degrees of separation in play? I don't know. I'm suspicious anymore. VERY.
ReplyDeleteI'm suspicious because of everything I have learned here - because of ads for "change agents' recruiting kids like those college kids for 'direct action' turning them into zealots and a small army to do the dirty work for the Soros backed causes... that's why I'm suspicious, and I am not alone.
if ever someone puts it all together I think even you, who loves Saul Alinsky, will be amazed.
12 votes? Times how many? In how many states? And what else has gone on?
And WHY the media's deliberate ignorance?
It is sickening.
"And WHY the media's deliberate ignorance?
ReplyDeleteIt is sickening."
It was just as sickeing in '04 when Ken Blackwell opened the floodgates for this sort of thing.And the same day voter registration and voting phenomenon started at his desk.
And Rose,you do remember that when Palco decided to its coup in full gear,approx. 40% of newly registered voter forms turned into county elections where found to no good for a multitude of reasons,one being that same names showed up on multiple reg. forms.When Lindsay made a stink about it,the recall crowd slammed him for what they viewed as acting partisan.
Eric and Mark are consumed with hatred for anything close to "Republican" !
ReplyDeleteACORN is wonderful, Obama is wonderful, Joe Biden is wonderful, voter fraud is OK as long as it benefits Obama and la la la la la.
You sure I support Obama?And check my registration.And so ya know,McCain has certainly worked with ACORN when it would suit him.You think I like ACORN,read some other stuff I have written in these threads.
ReplyDelete12 votes? Times how many? In how many states? And what else has gone on?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, but that's all speculation. How many legitimate votes have already been purged by Republicans? According to some, the Republicans have already suppressed tens of thousands of legitimate votes in several critical states. But it's all speculation at this point, so I don't sweat it. Perhaps I'm numb.
But this looks like a group of dumb kids who didn't pay very close attention to the residency requirements when they registered. I say "looks like" because I don't know. It may be that they met the requirements. We'll find out soon enough. You can bet that the FBI will be getting the names of every ACORN volunteer and cross-referencing them with voter rolls in the states in which they're working. I imagine the local authorities have already done it.
So far, we have no charges filed. No injunctions sought. It's been a couple of weeks.
Eric and Mark are consumed with hatred for anything close to "Republican" !
ReplyDeleteActually, a year ago I was campaigning for a Republican. Just saying.
Which republican Eric?
ReplyDeleteCarlos Quillez? I thought he was backed by Central Command...err HCDCC?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Eric was a closet Ron Paul booster and didn't tell us.