Another Alleged Case of Voter Fraud

Here’s another one. 

For the second time, local prosecutors contend a new state-run database has caught someone double-voting in Milwaukee County.

Ronald Hoppus, 49, of the 2800 block of S. 71st St. was charged this week with a single felony count of election fraud for voting twice in the November election, according to a criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. He would face up to 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.

Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf said investigators found Hoppus’ alleged multiple votes when Milwaukee elections officials attempted to enter his Nov. 7 voting information from the Fairview School polling place on W. Kinnickinnic Parkway into a statewide database used to track who voted.

“They got a big buzz” indicating Hoppus was already in the database from election records from Brookfield that same day, Landgraf said.

Hoppus told investigators in March that he voted at Fairview School in the morning, then took a utility bill from a house he owns in Brookfield, where his fiancée lives, and registered to cast a ballot in Brookfield “on some local issues that he felt were important,” the complaint says.

I’m starting to love the state voter database. 

OK, before all of the liberals start pooh-poohing voter fraud and saying that it’s not a problem, let’s run through a few scenarios…

In Wisconsin, we don’t need a picture ID to vote.  If you are registered, all you have to do it give them your name and address and you will be allowed to vote.  Also, we allow same day registration.  You can take several forms of documentation to prove identity (not necessarily a picture ID) and register to vote on the same day of the election.  How many ways can you fraud the system?

I could steal, forge, or borrow a utility bill, register to vote, and cast a ballot.  When the elections board tries to confirm my registration after the fact, it wouldn’t matter because the vote is already cast.  I could never be prosecuted because there’s no way to prove what I did.  Thousands of same-day registrations proved to be invalid after the 2000 and 2004 elections in Milwaukee alone. 

I could vote as a felon.  There’s no way for the people working the polls to check.  I could be prosecuted after the fact, but it’s a hard case to prove because I could just claim that someone voted under my name.  Since identity is not verified at the polls, there’s no way to disprove my claim.  Watch how many of the 82 cases of this actually result in a guilty verdict.  I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that very few will be convicted. 

If I move, I could vote in both jurisdictions.  It is the responsibility of the local clerk to purge the voter rolls of people that no longer live there.  But often, they have no idea that you’ve moved until someone else comes in to register to vote with your address.  Furthermore, many clerks are just lazy and don’t purge the rolls.  Odds are, I could still vote in Germantown, where I haven’t lived for four years.  Again, you could prosecute me after the fact, but I could claim the same thing that the felon did and you couldn’t disprove my claim. 

I could just walk up to the polling place, look at the book, pick out a name and address, claim that I’m that person, and vote.  The only way anyone would ever know is if the real person came in later.  But you would never find me or be able to prosecute me.

I could pick a name and address out of the phone book and go into vote.  As long as the person hadn’t voted already (and the odds are in my favor in low turnout elections), I could cast a ballot and nobody would ever know.  If the person had voted already, I could just turn tail and walk out.  I can probably outrun the octogenarian manning the polls. 

If I own property in two or more districts, I could vote in each of them.  Again, you could prosecute me after the fact, but you would be unlikely to get a conviction because I could just claim that someone else voted with my name. 

If I am an illegal alien from Iowa that went to Wisconsin to get a drivers’ license, I could use that license to register to vote… and then vote.  Although I’m not a citizen, I could still cast a vote. 

I could go on, but I think that reasonable people get the point.  With our current system, almost anyone with a brain stem can fraud the system and it is impossible to prove that they did it. 

This is why I support voter ID.  It would help deter voter fraud and make convictions of voter fraud more attainable.  This is why I support the state voter database.  It will allow for cross-checking and cleaner voter rolls.  This is why I support better training and oversight of poll workers.  It will help ensure that the appropriate procedures are followed on election day.  This is why I support the Real ID bill, which helps make sure that only citizens can get a drivers license - the key to legitimacy.  This is why I support abolishing same-day registration.  It is a policy designed for abuse. 

Will these things make elections completely secure?  No.  But it helps make it better.  And it helps make sure that our elections reflect the real will of the people and not the will of a fraudulent few.

Posted by Owen at 0935 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin