A Conservative government watchdog group named Minnesota Majority, had the voting records from the last election compared to people who died before November and found that voter records suggest that at least 2,800 people who voted in the election were very far out of town at the time, being fitted for white robes and wings.
The Minnesota Secretary of state this counters that this was all the fault of data-entry errors by county election officials and the dead people never voted. And this might be true. But with a Senate race still in the courts, this might be something they want to check before the Judges render a decision,
The Minnesota Majority has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Secretary of State and 25 county election officials have failed to reconcile registrations -- matching votes cast with actual people registered and living at valid addresses -- as required by law.
More Below:
Do the Dead Vote in Minnesota?
By Dan McGrath on 6/3/2009
Today, Minnesota Majority announced the discovery of individuals who were deceased prior to November 4, 2008, yet have voter history records on the secretary of state’s files that indicate they voted in the 2008 General Election.
Minnesota Majority employed a data enhancement service to flag potentially deceased individuals on Minnesota’s voter registration file. Over 2,800 individuals who voted in the 2008 general election were flagged as being “deceased” prior to the election. Minnesota Majority then selected a sample of a dozen records for additional investigation. A representative drove to addresses listed on voter registration records. Interviews conducted with residents or neighbors confirmed that at least 5 individuals from the sample were deceased, the latest having died in March 2007.
Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann said that the records of the 5 dead voters were erroneously updated with a vote history by election workers and were not examples of fraud.
“The first problem with their explanation is that there should not even be deceased individuals on the voter rolls”, said Jeff Davis, president of Minnesota Majority.
Minnesota statute 201.13 says that the commissioner of health is to provide the secretary of state with a monthly report of residents who have died. The secretary of state is then responsible for working with county auditors to update voter registration records to flag the records of deceased individuals.
“The second problem with the secretary of state’s explanation is that it basically acknowledges the lack of controls in the way in which voter history updates are being captured and recorded,” said Davis. “If the proper controls had been in place, this situation would not have occurred.”
Minnesota Majority originally notified Secretary of State Mark Ritchie that there was evidence that a significant number of deceased people were present on the voter registration file in a letter dated October 16, 2008. “Even having been notified of this problem in advance of the election, the secretary appears to have failed to take corrective action,” said Davis. “Bottom line. Election officials have failed to obey the law, thus making our election system vulnerable to errors and abuse.”
As to the question of whether any fraud involving dead voters occurred in the past election, Minnesota Majority says this question must still be answered. “There are still 2800 records that need to be reviewed,” said Davis.
Minnesota Majority renewed its call for a formal investigation into Minnesota’s elections. An 18-month investigation conducted by a joint task force consisting of the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local law officials in Wisconsin revealed problems strikingly similar to what Minnesota Majority says it is finding in Minnesota’s election system.
3 comments:
And thats just in Minn.
Why can't we just have the voter rolls purged for each election? How hard is it to fill out a voter registration card?
I'll bet the majority of the dead voters were democrats ;-)
It is a wonder what Coleman will do to win,,,dead people voting who would have thought he would think of that....gee the next thing he will try is walking on water.
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