As we witness the GOP in Mississippi openly linking African American voter outreach to vote fraud, let us pause to remember the three R's: vote fraud is real, but rare, and almost always Republican.
Shorewood resident charged with 13 felonies over alleged multiple voting
6/21/2014
wispolitics.com
Robert Monroe, a 50-year-old Shorewood health insurance executive, was charged Friday with 13 felonies related to his voting a dozen times in five elections between 2011 and 2012 using his own name as well as that of his son and his girlfriend's son.
"During 2011 and 2012, the defendant, Robert Monroe, became especially focused upon political issues and causes, including especially the recall elections," the complaint asserts in its introduction.
WisPolitics.com reported the investigation into Monroe's multiple voting last week after Milwaukee County Judge J.D. Watts ordered the records related to a secret John Doe investigation be made public after the investigation was closed.
According to those records, Monroe was considered by investigators to be the most prolific multiple voter in memory. He was a supporter of Gov. Scott Walker and state Sen. Alberta Darling, both Republicans, and allegedly cast five ballots in the June 2012 election in which Walker survived a recall challenge.
According to the John Doe records, Monroe claimed to have a form of temporary amnesia and did not recall the election day events when confronted by investigators.
Monroe voted in his own name, using his Shorewood address, as well as that of a home owned by his parents in Milwaukee. He also voted in the 2012 presidential election from Shorewood and then drove to Lebanon, Ind., where he voted again. He also owns a home there. This double voting allegedly occurred after he was made aware of a double-voting investigation involving his son.
The investigation was initiated after authorities in Waukesha found that Monroe's son, Benjamin, had voted in person in Waukesha in the June 2012 recall election where he lives with his mother, Robert Monroe's ex-wife. An absentee ballot for Benjamin was also cast for Benjamin using the Shorewood address of his father.
Also in the June 2012 recall, an absentee ballot was cast using the name Grant Mueller, son of Robert Monroe's girlfriend, using the Shorewood address. Initially, Grant Mueller denied casting the absentee ballot later but changed his statement, saying the signature on the absentee ballot was his. He told investigators "that Monroe was more like a father to him than his biological father." The state crime lab tested the envelope that sealed the absentee ballots and found Robert Monroe's saliva, according to the complaint.
The first election Monroe allegedly voted more than once was in the April 2011 Supreme Court race in which incumbent David Prosser faced Joanne Kloppenburg, a race so close that it eventually led to a recount.
Each of the 13 counts carries a penalty of up to $10,000 in forefeitures and three-and-a-half years in prison, for a total of $130,000 and 45-and-half years. If convicted of a felony, he would lose his right to vote.
We really should crack down on this sort of thing, right? Therefore, voter-ID laws! Small problem: it would have no effect in this case. This guy used his real name while casting multiple ballots.