After ACORN reported some voter registration forms that appeared to be fraudulent, the media and Republicans jumped into action. Of course in their usual “shoot first, aim later” fashion, they shot the messenger. Now that more possible voter registration fraud has been discovered, where are they?
Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher found 106 questionable voter registration forms submitted to her office by a Florida GOP hired firm, Strategic Allied Consultants. The new voter, change of address and/or party forms included similar looking signatures, missing information and incorrect addresses. Monday Bucher turned over the questionable forms to State Attorney Peter Antonacci and Chief Assistant State Attorney Paul Zacks and informed Secretary of State Ken Detzner, did they jump into action? No she still waits for their call...
"I haven't heard from anybody --- the Assistant Secretary or the Secretary…and, ya know, we've had a couple of days and I know they have other things on their plate, but I would think this would be a front-burner issue as well,"
Maybe she just needs to be patient, they and Gov. Scott are very busy lately…suppressing votes.
I must admit, 106 possibly fraudulent votes in one county does not sound like a game changer, but let’s take a closer look at Strategic Allied Consultants.
Who is Strategic Allied Consultants? What did the Florida GOP expect to get for their $1.3 million? It’s one of many firms run by Republican political consultant, Nathan Sproul. Let’s take a look at his resume:
In Oregon and Nevada, Lincoln Strategies — then known as Sproul and Associates — was investigated for destroying Democratic voter registration forms. The Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential campaign paid Sproul $7.4 million for campaign work. [CNN, 10/14/04; KGW News, 10/13/04; East Valley Tribune, 09/07/06]
In Nevada, people who registered as Democrats with Lincoln Strategies — then known as Sproul and Associates — found their names absent from the voter registration rolls. [Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/29/04]
During the 2006 midterm elections, Wal-Mart banned Lincoln Strategies for partisan voter registration efforts in Tennessee. The Republican National Committee had hired the firm. [Associated Press, 08/24/06]
In Arizona, Lincoln Strategies employed a variety of deceptive tactics — including systematically lying about the bill — to push a ballot initiative to eviscerate the state’s clean elections law. [Salon, 10/21/04]
Lincoln Strategies, then employed by the Republican Party, was behind efforts to place Ralph Nader on the ballot in states such as Arizona. [American Prospect, 06/25/04]
ThinkProgress
Well I guess that explains what the Florida GOP expected. The good news is the FL-GOP did fire the firm, but was that because they didn’t get what they expected? Or because they got caught?
I wonder who else would like to hire the services of Nathan Sproul? None other than Mitt Romney…
Late last year, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign began paying Nathan Sproul, a political consultant with a long history of destroying Democratic voter registration forms and manipulating ballot initiatives. Sproul, who changed his firm’s name from Sproul and Associates to Lincoln Strategies, has received over $70,000 from Romney’s campaign.
Lee Fang
Looks like somebody else liked what they saw on Sproul’s resume.
We must remain diligent in shining a light on anybody who attempts to suppress, discourage or disenfranchise voters. Although we may feel secure in Obama’s reelection, voter suppression will have an effect of the down-ticket races and ballot measures.
Update I: NBC has broke this story, also connecting more states and the RNC...
Besides Florida, Strategic Allied Consulting was hired to register GOP voters in Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia. Spicer said it was the only firm hired by the RNC to conduct voter registration. In the case of Nevada, he said, the RNC was paying the firm directly. In the other four states, the firm was being paid by state parties with the funds reimbursed by the RNC.
They are still missing the Romney connection. This stench needs to be set at Romney's feet, he needs to answer for his connection with Sproul.
Update II: the term "voter fraud" has been replaced with "voter registration fraud" to better describe what happened. Some have called it election fraud, although possible, it has not been shown to rise to that level...yet.