ACORN has been expending a great deal of time, money and energy registering fraudulent voters dedicated to the cause of Obama. Some of these people are dead, some are simply made up. At least 14 states, including Nevada, New Mexico, Indiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Michigan have fallen prey to ACORN in this election cycle. Now, you can add Missouri to the list.
According to Dave Reinhart, director of the Clay County Election Board, ACORN has been filling out voter registration cards for people who simply do not exist. It appears that they are taking the phone book, picking out an address and phone number, and then making a small change to the name, using a different middle name or initial, for example, to create a registration card.
For example, Paul F. Thomas supposedly registered to vote. His social security number and date of birth were falsified, and the signature does not match that of the Paul Thomas who actually resides at that address.
Clara Bowlin notified the Election Board that a registration had been filled out for Mark Bowlin, using her address. There is no one by the name of Mark Bowlin at that address; her husband’s name is Tom H. Bowlin.
The father of Patrick Michael Mathews brought in a registration card he had received in the mail for a Patrick Lee Mathews. Again, no Patrick Lee Mathews exists, and the card carried a made-up social security number and date of birth.
All of the fraudulent cards have ACORN across the top.
Mr. Reinhart states that it is thanks to a forward looking legislature that the fraudulent cards were caught; he believes Missouri has a strong system in place for registering voters. According to state procedure, when a voter registration is mailed in, it is entered into the system, and a “no accompanying i.d.” notice is generated. The registration card is then mailed to the address listed on the registration, along with a letter notifying the recipient that they must provide i.d. when they go to vote.
The one distinct weakness in the law, according to Mr. Reinhart, is in verifying U.S. citizenship. Although by law one must be a citizen in order to vote, the voter’s word is the only real verification of citizenship. An applicant for voter registration checks “yes” next to the question “Are you a U.S. citizen?” and signs the application, stating that the information they have provided is factual to the best of their knowledge. For the Election Board, there is no additional layer for verifying citizenship information.
As the number of states in which ACORN has committed voter registration fraud continues to climb, I wonder- when will Obama renounce this organization and claim total ignorance, as he did with his pastor?
Cross posted at The Missouri Edition.
UPDATE:
Red State/The Minority Report has the issue covered also. They write:
Fortunately in Missouri, it seems that we have a reasonable system in place to make sure that a majority of these people don’t make it to the polls on election day. When a suspicious card is turned in to the Board of Election Commissioners a letter is sent to the address on the card requesting that the person bring identification to the polling place or they will not be allowed to vote. Often times, as in the case of Mark Bowlin and Patrick Lee Matthews, someone at that address contacts the Board stating that no such person exists. Other times, hopefully like Paul F. Thomas, the person doesn’t exist and isn’t allowed to vote for lack of identification.
Where the system in Missouri does fall flat is in the larger metropolitan areas of Saint Louis and Kansas City. On high turn out elections, like this year’s Presidential election is expected to be, polling stations are often swamped and under staffed. This leads to a chaotic scene where many IDs that should be checked aren’t. How many of the fraudulent registration cards aren’t asked to show ID? Even a tiny fraction could swing Missouri’s electoral votes. That’s why this issue is so important.
