D.A. considers 211 cases of possible voter fraud

Friday, February 6, 2009

D.A. considers 211 cases of possible voter fraud

Registrar of Voters submits names from November 4 presidential election

By KEEGAN KYLE
The Orange County Register
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The Orange County District Attorney's Office is investigating 211 potential cases of voter fraud from the November 4 presidential election, county officials said this week.

Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley sent the list to the DA late last month after three-months of screening for people who tried to vote twice or illegally.

Kelley said history has shown that most instances of double voting turn out to be unintentional. In some cases, people submit two absentee ballots or they submit an absentee ballot and then vote at the polls provisionally.

"I've never had a conversation with someone who's done it maliciously," Kelley said.

But the choice to press felony criminal charges will be determined by the district attorney's investigation. Spokeswoman Susan Schroeder declined to comment on the cases except to say, "We're looking into the matter." People convicted of voter fraud could face up to a three-year prison sentence.

Kelley said his office used computer databases to search through 1.1 million votes to find cases where one person submitted more than one ballot. His staff examined voter registration files, voter rosters from the polling site and other information to confirm the duplicate votes.

"The important thing is, all of these 211 were caught," Kelley said. "There was not a second ballot that was counted through our policing process."

Regardless of whether the DA chooses to press charges, Kelley said the 211 votes have been discounted from the election results.

Kelley said his office found a similar number of double voting cases after the 2004 presidential election, but he sent the DA only 25 names. Kelley said the 2008 list is longer because he is giving the district attorney greater discretion to decide which actions, if any, were criminal.

Stanford University computer science professor David Dill has helped election officials review their electronic voting systems and post-election audits.

"Typically, in a statewide charge of voter fraud, maybe a handful are demonstrable," he said. "This may be a waste of the DA's time, but that's not my concern. I want to make sure that justice is prosecuted."

Election fraud in California does happen. Investigators for the Secretary of State received 642 allegations of voter fraud between 1994 and 2006, spokeswoman Kate Folmar said. Just 56 of those cases were forwarded to prosecutors around the state and charges were filed in 23 cases.

"It's rare for someone to attempt to vote twice," Folmar said. "It's illegal to do so and the stakes are high."

Folmar said the last case of alleged double voting was pursued by a Siskiyou County prosecutor in January 2008. She said current investigations from the November 4 election are confidential.

Apart from checking for double voters on their own accord, state law requires county election officials to complete a 1 percent manual tally of their precincts to ensure the accuracy of electronic counting machines. A new rule from the Secretary of State also required counties to conduct an additional 10 percent manual tally in close races.

Orange County reported no differences in its 1 percent tally but it was unclear whether the county reported that check to state officials within the 28 days required. The registrar said the audit was performed, but the results were not posted on the Secretary of State's website with other counties. On Friday, the Registrar sent a letter reporting the audit to state officials and it was posted online.

Orange County reported minor differences in one 10 percent tally but the difference was too small to affect the election's outcome.

Computer science professor David Wagner studies electronic voting security at the University of California, Berkeley, and he said post-election audits across the state have improved in recent years under greater scrutiny from state and local officials.

"It's important for transparency because it gives voters more confidence that the right person won," Wagner said. "The big picture is the whole state of California is in good shape."

Academics and election officials seem to agree that their greatest challenge continues to be voter registration. The website ourvotelive.com tracked voter complaints from across the country on November 4 and registration errors were reported as the most frequent problem in Orange County.

During its analysis of young voter turnout, the Orange County Register discovered a small number of cases where one person had two active registration accounts on Election Day. These registration errors increased the risk of voter fraud, but there wasn't any evidence to prove that any of these people actually voted twice.

Wagner said the registration errors should be fixed for future elections but it's not something that's going to affect the outcome of an election because it's such a small-scale issue.

When reporters showed Kelley the registration errors The Register found, he said the office would continue to review and improve the accuracy of registration files.

Register staff writer Martin Wisckol contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7024 or kkyle@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/elec ... ley-county

These are just the ones who voted twice, what about illegals, criminals, and dead people.

Fraudulent voting applies only to US citizens. Illegal alien voters are not prosecuted but are rewarded with amnesty, citizenship and benefits including jobs, health care and stimulus checks from the stimulus crapsandwich..........