And the submitting party of the forms? A firm paid $1.3 million dollars already this year by the Republican Party of Florida.
Anyone surprised, please raise your hand.....
The Republican Party of Florida is dumping a firm it paid more than $1.3 million to register new voters, after Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher flagged 106 “questionable” registration applications turned in by the contractor this month.
Bucher asked the state attorney’s office to review the applications “in an abundance of caution” because she said her staff had questions about similar-looking signatures, missing information and wrong addresses on the forms.
The state GOP hired Strategic Allied Consultants of Glen Allen, Va., for “voter registration services” and get-out-the-vote activities. The firm got identical payments of $667,598 in July and August.
The company has been looked at previously
From the August 31 diary on Daily Kos by gregflynn:
Strategic Allied Consulting, LLC, has set up a generic one-page web presence. The ambiguous text reveals nothing about the nature of the operation. The domain name is being used for email addresses by voter registration operatives in Florida. The domain name is registered to Sproul & Associates in Tempe, Arizona, a company founded by Nathan Sproul, former director of the Arizona GOP and the state’s Christian Coalition.
A 2005 article in the Baltimore Chronicle suggests that the RNC and Bush campaign took steps to obscure over $8 million it paid Sproul for voter registration operations in 2004.
Regarding the questionable forms flagged today for potential criminal prosecution, the Palm Beach Post further states:
Bucher said some of the applications she questioned were for new voter registrations while others were for address or party affiliation changes or requests for new voter cards, Bucher said.
Bucher said she gave copies of the applications to State Attorney Peter Antonacci and Chief Assistant State Attorney Paul Zacks at a meeting Monday. Zacks confirmed the meeting but said he could not comment on whether there is an investigation.
Willfully submitting false voter registration information, or altering information on an application without the applicant’s consent is a third degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Florida law requires political parties and other groups or individuals who collect voter registration applications to register with the Florida Division of Elections as “Third Party Voter Registration Organizations.” People collecting applications for family members are exempt.
The 106 applications flagged by Bucher were part of a batch of 304 turned in Sept. 5 by the contractor, using the Republican Party of Florida’s identification number.
A simple Google search of job opportunities with the company brought this North Carolina example:
Republican Voter Registration Captains Needed
Help GOP candidates win in November and become an integral part a presidential campaign.
Employees will go to high traffic areas, identify conservative voters, ensure that their voter
registration is up to date, and then report back at night with their data and the voter registration forms
that they collected.
Requirements:
‐Must be 18+ years old
‐Must be able to pass a criminal and partisan background check
‐Must have access to a cellphone and reliable transportation
‐Must work 20‐40 hours a week with a mandatory Saturday shift
Desired attributes:
‐Outgoing personality
‐Great interpersonal skills
‐Self‐motivated
‐Eager to help the Republican party
Compensation is $12 an hour and internship credit is available. The position ends October 9th, 2012.
EOE
To apply, submit a resume to:
John Bria
Strategic Allied Consulting
Regional Supervisor
John.L.Bria@gmail.com
Granted, this effort is not dissimilar from drives being conducted in Florida by groups with Democratic Party leanings, including SEIU, but this is the first incidence of an organized effort with potential criminal activity.
The irony of course is that Florida Governor Rick Scott and the Republican dominated legislature have cried wolf over "Voter Fraud" and passed a drastic overhaul of the Voter Registration procedures in 2010, leading to accusations, still ongoing, of voter suppression of minority, student and elderly voters.
Kudos to the Palm Beach County Supervisor's office for doing their job professionally.
