White knight said:
If you got proof of Democratic voter fraud, post it. So people willing to think for them selves can make up their own minds.
Well, okey-dokey.
http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/massive.htm
Voter Fraud Investigation
Every vote counts - unless ballots are being cast by people who don't exist, are dead or who don't even live in South Dakota. A major case involving those voter fraud issues has been under investigation by the FBI for the past month. KSFY has learned the investigation mainly focuses on six counties including: Dewey, Pennington, Fall River, Charles Mix, Shannon and Ziebach, although there may be other counties involved.
The focus of the investigation centers on absentee ballot registration requests in counties with or near Indian Reservations across South Dakota. A letter recently sent out by the Democratic Party confirms Party officials were notified about possible ballot discrepancies in Dewey County, and when notified contacted authorities immediately. According to their letter, a Democratic Party contractor, Becky Red Earth-Villeda was fired after at least two of the people she registered were found to be invalid.
On October 12, we found evidence that in Ziebach County a woman somehow applied for an absentee ballot after she died. The absentee ballot application for Denise Red Horse is filled out just as it should be: she has an address, she signed where she was supposed to. The major flaw? Denise Red Horse died September 3rd in a car accident. Her application was signed September 21st, 18 days after she was killed.
This is just one of the discrepancies of which Attorney General Mark Barnett has been notified and the FBI is investigating. Barnett says there was one case where the lady had apparently registered in two different counties, another case shows a lady supposedly sent in an absentee ballot some days after she was actually killed in a car accident.
Red Horse's bogus application isn't the only suspicious item Ziebach County's Auditor, Cindy Longbrake has noticed in the past few weeks. She says one person filled out 150 registration cards, and she could tell they were all filled out by the same person. Longbrake says she thought, "She either didn't know what she was doing or, I understand, she was getting paid to do these and she didn't care how she was doing them."
There are several different politically motivated groups on and around Indian Reservations trying to register that particular population. Native Americans make up 8.3 percent of the state's population -which transfers into roughly 63-thousand residents. With close races, especially on the Senate side, every vote truly does count.
According to our sister station KOTA in Rapid City, two brothers are now being investigated for turning in forged voter registration cards to the Pennington County Auditor. The auditor says most of the voter registrations were duplicates which could have been done by copying names and addresses out of a phone book. The brothers were caught after getting the "voters" birthdays wrong.
By Shelley Keohane
$12,000 paid to person in voter fraud probe
By AP and Journal Staff
The South Dakota Democratic Party reportedly paid the person at the center of a voter fraud investigation more than $12,000 in the last three months.
The figure comes from Federal Election Commission records from July, August and September.
They show that Becky Red Earth-Villeda received 18 paychecks totaling $12,867. The reason given for the money were administrative or voter drives. One check for $3,500 was credited to travel expenses.
Democratic Party spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg said the contractors are paid by the number of voter registration cards and absentee ballots they collect.
The news marks the latest development in a widening controversy over voter registration and absentee ballots in and around American Indian reservations in South Dakota.
One out of every 10 new voter registrations in Shannon County is being investigated, said Sherrill Dryden, county auditor for Fall River County, which handles voter registration for adjacent Shannon County.
The problems are related to an effort to increase voter turnout among Indians in South Dakota for the Nov. 5 election.
Shannon County makes up about half of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Dryden said more than 1,000 new registrations have come into her office from the reservation this fall. Some were from new voters and others from people who have not voted for a while and needed their registration updated.
"We had different birthdays and different signatures. Some of the middle initials were wrong," Dryden said. "We just got suspicious when we see a birthday that's a day or two off or a year or two off. It just sent up a red flag."
The state and the FBI have been asked to investigate, she said.
But Shannon County is not the first South Dakota county to report such problems.
Elsewhere in the state, officials said duplication, registering dead people and forging of signatures have been reported.
About 17,000 new registrations have been reported since the June 4 primary, and the level of absentee voting has exceeded that of a presidential election year.
The state Democratic Party fired Red Earth-Villeda, a contract employee, after registration and absentee ballot problems surfaced in Dewey and Ziebach counties.
Jackson and Corson county auditors reported similar voter problems Thursday.
Jackson County Auditor Vickie Wilson said she turned over seven absentee ballot requests to local authorities this week. "I was fairly certain that someone other than the voter could have signed them," Wilson said. She said she also provided the FBI with a total of 20 absentee ballot requests for investigation.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Office is looking into the matter.
Jackson County Sheriff Bruce Madsen said three people have advised him that they did not sign the requests, and two others didn't remember signing them. Madsen said he only found one person so far who had confirmed signing a request.
He said this is the first time in his 27 years in the sheriff's office that he has had to investigate suspicious voter signatures. "It sure is going to throw some doubt into the election," Madsen said.
Wilson said she had also received several incomplete registration cards in the past few months, but she did not consider them suspicious.
Corson County Auditor Dorothy Schuh said Thursday she had turned over a half dozen voter registrations and absentee ballot requests to authorities for investigation. The FBI and the South Dakota Attorney General's Office are looking into those requests. This is Schuh's first year as auditor, but she had been in the office for five years and hadn't experienced any suspicious voter documents prior to this year.
Attorney General Mark Barnett said the state Democratic Party has not been implicated in the suspicious documents, and that party officials have cooperated with the investigation.
In a separate Indian voter program in Pennington County, two brothers are being investigated for forging signatures on voter registration documents. Pennington County Auditor Julie Pearson said authorities are looking into possible inaccuracies in 230 voter registration cards turned in there.
So far, four cards have been found with inaccuracies, Pennington County Sheriff Don Holloway said.
Pearson said the only problems now are with voter registrations. As for requests for absentee ballots, Pearson said rules do not require auditors to check signatures against a registration card. In Pennington County, as many as 10 percent of the total voters might vote absentee, Pearson said. "We expect a lot and we get a lot," Pearson said. "We cannot check every signature."
This is the first time Pearson has ordered a voter fraud investigation since becoming auditor in 1987.
Officials in Buffalo County, which contains a large section of the Crow Creek Indian Reservation, said they also are investigating a handful of new voter registration cards.
"I had a few questionable cards that I gave to the sheriff," said Buffalo County Auditor Elaine Wulff.
Buffalo County Sheriff Wayne Willman said he is still investigating the cards and has not made a report to the state attorney general's office. Officials would not give additional details on the matter.
Barnett said Wednesday he is not prepared to say there are widespread problems with voter registration in and around Indian reservations.
"It is too early to categorize it one way or another. My focus is on one person," Barnett said, referring to Red Earth-Villeda.
Barnett said he is not involved in the Pennington County case. Local authorities are handling that investigation, he said.
Auditors and deputy auditors in Lawrence, Butte, Meade, Harding, Perkins, Custer and Haakon counties told the Rapid City Journal this week they hadn't had any suspicious signatures or registrations so far this year.
The deadline for voter registration is Monday, Oct. 21.
Copyright © 2002 The Rapid City Journal
Rapid City, SD
Shannon joins counties with voter trouble
Corrine Olson
Argus Leader
published: 10/17/2002
One in every 10 new voter registrations for people in Shannon County during the past few months is suspect and under investigation, Fall River County Auditor Sherrill Dryden said Wednesday, adding to problems surrounding a push to increase the number of Native American voters in South Dakota.
Fall River County handles voter registration for the adjacent Shannon County, which makes up about half the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwest South Dakota. More than 1,000 new registrations have poured into Dryden's office from the reservation this fall, some from new voters and others from people who haven't voted for awhile and need their registration updated.
"We had different birthdays and different signatures. Some of the middle initials were wrong," Dryden said. "We just got suspicious when we see a birthday that's a day or two off or a year or two off. It just sent up a red flag."
Both the state and the FBI have been asked to investigate the problems, she said.
Questions in Shannon County are the latest in a widening controversy surrounding voter registration and absentee ballots in and around reservations in the state. The issue raises the political tension in South Dakota, where in less than three weeks voters will pick a U.S. senator and representative, both of which are close races that could help decide the balance of power in the Congress.
Last week, Attorney General Mark Barnett said one woman working as a contractor for the Democratic Party was under investigation after problems with registrations and absentee ballots surfaced in Dewey and Ziebach counties. The worker - Becky Red Earth of Flandreau, also known by her Dakota name, Maka Duta - was fired by the Democratic Party after questions about her work emerged.
Also, voter-registration cards are being checked for authenticity in Pennington County, a county official said. Two brothers, who were working under a separate Native American voter program, are under investigation in that county, which is home to Rapid City.
Red Earth worked as an independent contractor under the Democrats' program, called the Coordinated Campaign, for several months and in many parts of the state. The Democratic Party has not been implicated in the questionable documents, and Barnett has said officials have cooperated with the investigation.
Barnett said Wednesday he is not prepared to say there are widespread problems with voter registration in and around Native American reservations.
"It is too early to categorize it one way or another. My focus is on one person," Barnett said.
The attorney general's office has had a number of calls from auditors in recent days questioning what they think might be suspicious ballots, he said.
"We know it involves one person, and it could easily expand. We are trying to get up to speed on the one," he said.
Barnett said he is not involved in the Pennington County case.
"The locals are running that investigation as they have the full authority to do, investigate and prosecute," he said.
More agents are being assigned to look into the suspicious registrations and absentee ballots in an effort to quickly resolve the situation, he said.
"I will ask auditors and sheriffs to help separate the wheat from the chaff, have them check it out," he said.
Julie Pearson, Pennington County auditor, said authorities are checking into alleged inaccuracies in 230 voter-registration cards turned in there.
Pearson said employees first noticed inaccuracies in two cards received from two brothers who have been gathering registrations. The birth dates were wrong on both cards, and the middle initial was wrong on one, she said.
"We happened to know both people," Pearson said.
The cards were turned over to Pennington County Sheriff Don Holloway, who said four cards have been found with inaccuracies so far.
"It appears that they were filling out the cards themselves instead of getting them signed," he said.
Those who submit falsified voter-registration cards could face forgery charges, the sheriff said.
"If people have legitimate registrations to vote, we don't want to interfere with that," Holloway said. "We want to make sure the election goes off without a hitch."
Voter-registration project workers are paid for each person they register, Pearson said. She said the area coordinator, Mary Janis, has been working with the auditor's office.
"She's been nothing but cooperative," Pearson said.
Confirmation cards are mailed to verify newly registered voters, the county auditor said. Cards that are returned as undeliverable are suspect, Pearson said.
People attempting to vote under those names could be required to provide some identification or proof of residence before they are given ballots, she said.
Reporter David Kranz and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
© 2002 Copyright Argus Leader.
AP materials © 2002 Associated Press.
First person charged with voter fraud
10/18/2002 11:16:09 AM
Jack Siebold and Carl Agnelly
A KOTA Territory man is the first person to be charged with voter fraud this election.
Police say Lyle Nichols is charged with five counts of forgery of voter registration cards. Nichols is one of two brothers hired by the Native American Voter Registration Project.
They collected and submitted 226 registration cards. The Pennington County Auditor's office found that two of those newly registered voters were dead.
If convicted, Nichols could be sentenced to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine for each of the five felony counts.
Last week, accusations of voter registration fraud began to surface in several counties. Dead people had been registered, people were registered in counties other than where they live, and names were misspelled, signatures didnÂ’t match.
Throughout the state, there are massive voter registration drives being conducted by both political parties, tribal governments and national organizations.
Nichols currently is the only person charged.
There is another voter fraud investigation involving a woman paid by the South Dakota Democratic Party to register people. Becky Red-Earth Villeda says she is innocent, that the accusations against her are an attempt to stop the registration of Native Americans. Red-Earth Villeda was fired after discrepancies were found in two applications she collected.
©Associated Press