Bogus Petitions

[CrimsonRaine]

From here

Students have parties switched by bogus petitions
Registration changed to Republican without consent
Friday, October 22, 2004

By Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Scores of college students in Pennsylvania and Oregon have had their voting registrations switched by teams of canvassers circulating bogus petitions and, in some cases, partially concealed voter registration forms students were requested to sign.

The canvassers have visited campuses asking students to sign petitions advocating lower auto insurance rates, medical marijuana or stricter rape laws, according to elections officials.

After signing their names, the students were pressured into registering with the Republican Party by being told that their signatures otherwise would be invalid, or they were asked to fill out the signature and address portions of blank voter registration forms as proof of citizenship. In multiple instances, students already registered to vote have had their registrations changed without their consent, elections officials said yesterday.

Petition canvassers in Pennsylvania apparently did not identify themselves, although one told a University of Pittsburgh student that he was being paid by the Republican Party.

In another instance, the head of the Oregon Students Association said a canvasser at Portland State University told him he was with Project America Votes, a Republican-backed registration effort.

Elections officials yesterday said the switch in party registration would not affect the students' eligibility to cast ballots for the candidates of their choice on Nov. 2, although it could determine the party primaries in which they could take part in the future. Several said they were mystified why the canvassers would bother to change registrations, although one told a student in Oregon that he was receiving $12 for each new Republican registration.

Students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a branch campus of Montgomery County Community College told officials they were tricked into filling out blank voter registration forms, listing their names and addresses when they signed a petition advocating the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

"I'm pretty sure that they weren't students," said Erik Strobl, an IUP student who said he signed the petition. Strobl said the canvasser then asked him to put his signature and address on a voter registration card. Although Strobl had already registered to vote as a Democat, he did so when he was told his signature was needed to verify his status as a voter.

Several days later, Strobl received a mailed notification that his party registration had been switched to Republican.

IUP appeared to have been hardest hit by the scam. County voter registration director Donna Hoover said as many as 400 registration suspect forms have arrived in her office. Most of them, she said, changed the registered party of students who had signed up to vote just days earlier during a registration drive by two other groups, America Coming Together and VIP.

"Most of the students had registered Democrat the day before," Hoover said. "I've talked to the sheriff."

Markings on many of the forms appeared to be in the same handwriting, she said.

"I kind of thought there was something odd. I don't even know which party would have done it," Hoover said. "These people circled the different spots [on the form] for the people to fill in."

In Allegheny County, elections director Mark Wolosik referred another case, involving a Squirrel Hill college student, to county detectives. Ruairi McDonnell said his registration was switched from Independent to Republican by someone who circulated a petition to lower auto insurance rates for young drivers on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh last month.

McDonnell said the man instructed him to fill out portions of a voter registration form, although McDonnell told the man he already had registered to vote.

"He then told me I would have to register as a Republican because 'that's how we get our funding.' I said I would not. He kept the form which contained only my name and address and certainly did not indicate I was a Republican," McDonnell said in a letter to the Allegheny County Department of Elections.

Several days later, McDonnell received notice from the elections department that he had changed his registration from Independent to Republican.

In Montgomery, an identical scam took place in September, when students at the Blue Bell campus of Montgomery County Community College were handed the marijuana petition.

"They're just trying to get numbers," said Joseph Passarella, director of elections for Montgomery, who said he has so far received a handful of complaints from students who said their party affiliation had been changed without their consent.

Susan Adams, a spokeswoman for the college, said the petition canvassers did not have permission from the school to work on the campus.

Project America Votes was a name used by canvassers for Sproul & Associates, an Arizona-based consultant under contract with the Republican National Committee.

Nathan Sproul, the firm's owner, yesterday denied that his workers had used petitions to bait students into party switches.

"This is clearly the Democratic plan to make these baseless allegations," said Heather Layman, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee. Layman said she was speaking on behalf of Sproul. She said no Sproul workers were involved in such tactics in Oregon or Pennsylvania.

Sproul's role in ostensibly nonpartisan voter registration drives have triggered official investigations in several states, with canvassers alleging they had been told to refuse to register Democrats or to discard Democratic registration forms, leaving voters who thought they had registered off the rolls.

[LadyTevar]

Sonna Biscuiteater....

Are the Republicians *TRYING* to get themselves outlawed?!

[Enforcer Talen]

I dont think you have to vote with your registration, tho

[Imperial Overlord]

No, they think they can get away with just like they got away with the shit they pulled in 2000 and the bullet that Reagan dodged with Iran-Contra.

[Jalinth]

No, they think they can get away with just like they got away with the shit they pulled in 2000 and the bullet that Reagan dodged with Iran-Contra.

I'd think it is most likely the law of unintended consequences. The Republicans are paying people to sign up (new voters) assuming that a registered Republican will tend to vote for Bush. Democratic groups are probably doing the same.

But some inventive (read broke) students decide to "expand" the market and bring in more names=more money. They probably also realize that pitching things as petitions will get in more people, therefore more money.

Given that the switch doesn't alter the ability to vote in November one iota, this sounds like entreneurialism run amock - not deliberate tampering.

[LadyTevar]

But some inventive (read broke) students decide to "expand" the market and bring in more names=more money. They probably also realize that pitching things as petitions will get in more people, therefore more money.

Given that the switch doesn't alter the ability to vote in November one iota, this sounds like entreneurialism run amock - not deliberate tampering.

So why has this problem occurred in so many different states? Why has there not been the same complaints about being switched to Democrat? This is an election year, any kind of shenanigans by either party is going to be jumped on with both feet... yet we've heard nothing about Democrats pulling this kind of trick.

It's not just switching people's registrations, either. My state and a few others have suffered a phone scam that tricked many voters into "voting by phone" or ordering an absentee ballot when they're not eligible for one. One newspaper in my state called this a "subversion of voter's rights". Then there was the Republican-backed push to get Ralph Nader on the ballot, which led to petitioners committing fraud to get people to sign the petition.

I'm not the most conspriracy-minded person, but there's definately *something* going on here, and I'm calling shenanigans on the Republican Party.

[MKSheppard]

and I'm calling shenanigans on the Republican Party.

Hahahah, why don't you go look at democratic strongholds such as Chicago,
et al where the dead vote often AND democratic first

[LadyTevar]

and I'm calling shenanigans on the Republican Party.

Hahahah, why don't you go look at democratic strongholds such as Chicago,
et al where the dead vote often AND democratic first

WV was doing it first, back before there was a Chicago, so hush. It's been happening since Washington was president, and it will always be there as long as there are politicians.

[Jalinth]

But some inventive (read broke) students decide to "expand" the market and bring in more names=more money. They probably also realize that pitching things as petitions will get in more people, therefore more money.

Given that the switch doesn't alter the ability to vote in November one iota, this sounds like entreneurialism run amock - not deliberate tampering.

So why has this problem occurred in so many different states? Why has there not been the same complaints about being switched to Democrat? This is an election year, any kind of shenanigans by either party is going to be jumped on with both feet... yet we've heard nothing about Democrats pulling this kind of trick.

It's not just switching people's registrations, either. My state and a few others have suffered a phone scam that tricked many voters into "voting by phone" or ordering an absentee ballot when they're not eligible for one. One newspaper in my state called this a "subversion of voter's rights". Then there was the Republican-backed push to get Ralph Nader on the ballot, which led to petitioners committing fraud to get people to sign the petition.

I'm not the most conspriracy-minded person, but there's definately *something* going on here, and I'm calling shenanigans on the Republican Party.

Note, I'm not saying that the Republicans have not engaged in questionable tactics (both parties will push - look at Chicago - the dead walk and vote again). All I'm doing is saying - why would generally smart (or at least devious) people take the time and effort to rearrange voters parties if it has zero impact on the election.