SpunGirl
10-16-2004, 12:20 AM
This came from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, today's edition. This is crap.
LAWSUIT FILED: Judge may reopen voter sign-ups
Democrats say GOP-funded group destroyed registration forms
By ADRIENNE PACKER
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A District Court judge is expected to determine today whether Clark County should reopen voter registration to accommodate Democrats whose forms allegedly were destroyed by a Republican-funded group.
The Democratic Party of Nevada filed a lawsuit against Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax on Wednesday evening.
"We would like the judge to give Larry Lomax the authority to reopen voter registration for voters who have been victimized by the company," said Jon Summers, Nevada State Democratic Party spokesman.
The lawsuit stems from a KLAS-TV Channel 8 report that an employee working for the voter registration outfit Voter's Outreach of America saw a supervisor tear up and throw away forms signed by Democrats.
Federal investigators and the Secretary of State's office are looking into the allegations to determine if any laws have been violated. Altering or destroying signed registration forms is against the law.
Clark County officials fear that if District Court Judge Valerie Adair reopens the registration period, other voters' rights could be at risk.
Aside from monitoring early voting, which starts Saturday, elections staff members must mail out and process about 50,000 absentee ballots. Those forms might not be processed in time if election workers also must register thousands of voters.
"It just cannot be too burdensome of a solution," Lomax said. "I can't deal with several days where everybody is given an opportunity to register. While you're helping one group get on the rolls, you're penalizing the other by not allowing them to cast a vote."
There is no way the county can monitor who registers if the period is extended, said Mary-Anne Miller, Clark County deputy district attorney. She said 4,000 voters registered on Tuesday, the deadline. Some residents probably left because of long lines.
"If it's wide open, it rewards the people who were lazy and didn't pay attention to public service announcements all summer long that said when voter registration ends," Miller said.
The Arizona-based political consulting firm Sproul & Associates was hired by the Republican National Committee to register Republicans in Nevada, a hotly contested swing state in the presidential election. Voter's Outreach carried out the registration effort.
Sproul, a former director of the Arizona Republican Party and former high-ranking official with the Christian Coalition, did not return phone messages left Wednesday and Thursday by the Review-Journal.
Brian Scroggins, spokesman for the Clark County Republican Party, reiterated that his party has "zero tolerance" for voter registration fraud.
Scroggins said Democrats are trying to cast doubt on the state's elections process so the result of the Nov. 2 presidential election can be challenged in court.
"It's rumored that Nevada could be the Florida of this year's election," Scroggins said, referring to the 2000 debacle when Florida voters used punch-card ballots, resulting in a significant number of votes that could not be counted.
"They're looking for any way to cover their bases in case the elections don't go their way," Scroggins said.
He said the Republican Party doubts that the allegations against Voter's Outreach are true. Eric Russell, the former employee who came forward to discuss the destruction of registration forms, was fired and upset he hadn't been paid, Scroggins said.
"If there are charges out there, they should be fully investigated to see if they're true or not," he said. "We're not going to let the Democrats steal the election by making false charges against the Republicans."
The Democratic Party's recent charges against the Republican Party could have been predicted based on the Democratic National Committee Election Day manual, Scroggins said. Democrats announced months ago that they expected Republicans to disenfranchise voters, Scroggins said.
The manual, portions of which were published on www.drudgereport.com Thursday, says: "If no signs of intimidation techniques have emerged yet, launch a 'pre-emptive strike,' " such as issuing a press release "quoting party/minority/civil rights leadership as denouncing tactics that discourage people from voting."
Matt Drudge, who operates the Web site, quoted a member of the Democratic Party who said the manual is authentic, but the party's intention was not to intimidate voters.
"We all know the Republicans are going to try to steal the election by scaring people and confusing people," the unnamed source told Drudge.
This week's accusations of voter fraud are the latest in a series of claims that have plagued Lomax and the Clark County elections division. Even though Nevada is a contentious battleground for the two parties, Lomax said the majority of the fraud early in the process was money-driven.
Some voter registration organizations paid their employees $3 per form submitted, a practice that violates state election laws. Organizations are supposed to pay employees by the hour.
Lomax encouraged voters to check their registration information on Clark County's Web site, which is www.accessclarkcounty.com.
Scroggins said the Republican Party would prefer that the county stick to the state law that calls for provisional voting rather than reopen the registration period.
"I don't think they should with a broad brush reopen registration and let people do what they want," he said.
Under state law, voters who show up at the polls, but do not appear on registration rolls, may request to vote provisionally. Provisional votes are counted in federal races and only in case of a close election.
If provisional voters bring voter registration receipts with them to the polls, it increases the likelihood their votes will be counted, according to county election officials.
LAWSUIT FILED: Judge may reopen voter sign-ups
Democrats say GOP-funded group destroyed registration forms
By ADRIENNE PACKER
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A District Court judge is expected to determine today whether Clark County should reopen voter registration to accommodate Democrats whose forms allegedly were destroyed by a Republican-funded group.
The Democratic Party of Nevada filed a lawsuit against Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax on Wednesday evening.
"We would like the judge to give Larry Lomax the authority to reopen voter registration for voters who have been victimized by the company," said Jon Summers, Nevada State Democratic Party spokesman.
The lawsuit stems from a KLAS-TV Channel 8 report that an employee working for the voter registration outfit Voter's Outreach of America saw a supervisor tear up and throw away forms signed by Democrats.
Federal investigators and the Secretary of State's office are looking into the allegations to determine if any laws have been violated. Altering or destroying signed registration forms is against the law.
Clark County officials fear that if District Court Judge Valerie Adair reopens the registration period, other voters' rights could be at risk.
Aside from monitoring early voting, which starts Saturday, elections staff members must mail out and process about 50,000 absentee ballots. Those forms might not be processed in time if election workers also must register thousands of voters.
"It just cannot be too burdensome of a solution," Lomax said. "I can't deal with several days where everybody is given an opportunity to register. While you're helping one group get on the rolls, you're penalizing the other by not allowing them to cast a vote."
There is no way the county can monitor who registers if the period is extended, said Mary-Anne Miller, Clark County deputy district attorney. She said 4,000 voters registered on Tuesday, the deadline. Some residents probably left because of long lines.
"If it's wide open, it rewards the people who were lazy and didn't pay attention to public service announcements all summer long that said when voter registration ends," Miller said.
The Arizona-based political consulting firm Sproul & Associates was hired by the Republican National Committee to register Republicans in Nevada, a hotly contested swing state in the presidential election. Voter's Outreach carried out the registration effort.
Sproul, a former director of the Arizona Republican Party and former high-ranking official with the Christian Coalition, did not return phone messages left Wednesday and Thursday by the Review-Journal.
Brian Scroggins, spokesman for the Clark County Republican Party, reiterated that his party has "zero tolerance" for voter registration fraud.
Scroggins said Democrats are trying to cast doubt on the state's elections process so the result of the Nov. 2 presidential election can be challenged in court.
"It's rumored that Nevada could be the Florida of this year's election," Scroggins said, referring to the 2000 debacle when Florida voters used punch-card ballots, resulting in a significant number of votes that could not be counted.
"They're looking for any way to cover their bases in case the elections don't go their way," Scroggins said.
He said the Republican Party doubts that the allegations against Voter's Outreach are true. Eric Russell, the former employee who came forward to discuss the destruction of registration forms, was fired and upset he hadn't been paid, Scroggins said.
"If there are charges out there, they should be fully investigated to see if they're true or not," he said. "We're not going to let the Democrats steal the election by making false charges against the Republicans."
The Democratic Party's recent charges against the Republican Party could have been predicted based on the Democratic National Committee Election Day manual, Scroggins said. Democrats announced months ago that they expected Republicans to disenfranchise voters, Scroggins said.
The manual, portions of which were published on www.drudgereport.com Thursday, says: "If no signs of intimidation techniques have emerged yet, launch a 'pre-emptive strike,' " such as issuing a press release "quoting party/minority/civil rights leadership as denouncing tactics that discourage people from voting."
Matt Drudge, who operates the Web site, quoted a member of the Democratic Party who said the manual is authentic, but the party's intention was not to intimidate voters.
"We all know the Republicans are going to try to steal the election by scaring people and confusing people," the unnamed source told Drudge.
This week's accusations of voter fraud are the latest in a series of claims that have plagued Lomax and the Clark County elections division. Even though Nevada is a contentious battleground for the two parties, Lomax said the majority of the fraud early in the process was money-driven.
Some voter registration organizations paid their employees $3 per form submitted, a practice that violates state election laws. Organizations are supposed to pay employees by the hour.
Lomax encouraged voters to check their registration information on Clark County's Web site, which is www.accessclarkcounty.com.
Scroggins said the Republican Party would prefer that the county stick to the state law that calls for provisional voting rather than reopen the registration period.
"I don't think they should with a broad brush reopen registration and let people do what they want," he said.
Under state law, voters who show up at the polls, but do not appear on registration rolls, may request to vote provisionally. Provisional votes are counted in federal races and only in case of a close election.
If provisional voters bring voter registration receipts with them to the polls, it increases the likelihood their votes will be counted, according to county election officials.