This is an update to the previous entry I put together in the wake of the Iowa Caucuses about a week ago: ["Rumor: Vote fraud at Iowa Caucus?"].
Earlier this week, I was able to put together more information concerning possible vote fraud by the Obama campaign in at least one eastern Iowa county which borders Illinois. In this county, Scott County, a campaign worker from the Clinton campaign believes that voters from Illinois may have been brought in to boost Obama's numbers.
This county organizer, who happens to be a former journalist who worked for a Top 10 market daily for a number of years before deciding to get involved in political campaigns, was working in the rural areas of Scott County. This area was considered "non-viable" by the Clinton campaign meaning that it was not viable to a win or lose scenario due to the low voter turnout. They did, however, spend resources in the area. This campaign worker spent weeks and weeks working in the area, getting to know a lot of people in the region.
On caucus night at one of the precincts, two tables were set up at the door: One for registered Democrats and a second table for new, unregistered same-day voters.
According to the poll worker, about 100 voters were expected by officials to show up. In 2004, only 80 voters showed up. So, the guess was a good one. In the end, 284 voters showed up.
Of those 284, more than 100 voters were new voters. Many of these voters came into the caucus at the very last minute, creating a line towards the front of the room. Officials quickly ushered everyone into the caucus before the assigned deadline time to close the doors and begin caucusing. According to the official, residence requirements for the new voters were not verified by officials. The voters were asked to sign in on a list and they did, many with illegible handwriting. Many of the new voters were also African-American in an area that is very, very Caucasian.
After the doors closed, the caucus began. Early votes for Kucinich, Dodd, and uncommitted shifted around a bit. However, the final vote breakdown looked like this:
Obama 137
Clinton 55
Edwards 47
Biden 44
After the voting stopped, when everyone reached 15 percent that could, the Clinton campaign worker asked a precinct captain for a copy of all the new voter registrations so they could be checked against resident lists the Clinton campaign had to verify residency.
The request was rejected.
Apparently, the process for checking these registrations is that the forms are sent to party officials on the county level and then sent to the auditor.
Other precinct captains working for both the Clinton and Edwards campaigns reported similar problems at the polls: A late influx of new voters, crashing the verification process, and maybe skewing the vote for an Obama win.
A few days after the caucus, a few Clinton campaign workers went to the Scott County Democratic headquarters and requested to look at the sign-in lists from various precincts. The Democratic Party there is chaired by Susan Frembgen, who is not only an open supporter of Obama but also the county chairwoman for the campaign. She reportedly refused to make copies of the lists or even allow Clinton campaign officials to look at them.
When asked when they would be allowed to look at them, she said after 14 days they would be sent to the county auditor and maybe the campaign workers could look at them at that time. But, maybe not. She reportedly said, "Sometimes we do this [submit them to the auditor], sometimes we don't," according to the Clinton campaign worker. The date for this would be Jan. 17, or past the time most of the Clinton campaign people will leave Iowa for other locations or to go home.
The Clinton campaign worker then started talking to some people involved in the political press in Iowa, with the hopes that they would look into the issue.
However, despite some early articles about the possibility of the Obama campaign flooding caucuses with college students going to school in Iowa, few wanted to look at the issue. The campaign worker concluded that any verified vote fraud allegations like this could put the Iowa Caucus process in jeopardy. The last thing anyone involved in Iowa politics would like to see happen is any allegation of fraud. Their first-in-the-nation caucus status could get tainted. As well, campaigns are spending big money in these early states. In 2004, about $9 million was spent on advertising alone in the state. In 2007-2008, about $40 million was spent. Why would media people involved in the political press want to stop that cash cow? So, better not to even look at it than look at it and put the caucus in harm's way.
Upon hearing about the allegations, I emailed a former Clinton campaign worker I know who still has connections inside the campaign to see if there was any legitimacy to the fears being raised by the Scott County organizer. This person said that the story had legs, so I went with the original rumor. Now, it looks like there is more to the story.
The Clinton campaign worker also mentioned that members of the Edwards campaign were seeing similar situations around in the precincts they were covering in Iowa and they were concerned about it. Officially, the campaigns say nothing; but it is a logical fear. Edwards lost the Iowa Caucuses by about 8 percent. If this 8 percent were less, say 4 or 5 percent, due to the fact that Obama supporters were illegally participating, then the bounce for Obama in to New Hampshire would not have been as big. It would have essentially been a three-way tie out of Iowa. Maybe the Obama surge would not have been as big and New Hampshire might have turned out differently as well.
According to a local Edwards person I know here in New Hampshire, who was also in Iowa for the caucuses, all the caucus officials were pretty overwhelmed by the flood of new voters to the precincts. This lends some credence to the allegations that the polls were overwhelmed and maybe, some illegitimates slipped through. However, when pressed on whether or not this accusation would matter and whether or not it should be looked at, he countered that he thought the entire thing was sour grapes by the Clinton campaign.
Whether or not it is sour grapes or legit, we may never know.
The makeup of the Scott County is 88.5 percent white and 6.1 percent black, according to the 2000 Census, with most of the minority population centered around the Davenport area. Now, these numbers are a bit old, but the demographics have not drastically changed in the area, according to people who live there. But, if you are in the rural areas of the county, where this campaign worker was, and the residents are almost completely white, where did all the new black voters come from? A flood of unusual activity like that in an obscure area of the county not known for that kind of racial makeup would probably be a bit weird and should have prompted caucus officials to verify residency requirements immediately. Maybe they thought they were being PC. Who knows.
I will add, in closing, that while I am not a fan of Hillary Clinton, I know this person and know her to be a good journalist. So, I trust her fears that the Iowa Caucuses may have been rigged and the entire thing needs to be looked at. She is hoping, with the help of some locals, to get copies of the sign-in sheets to double-check residency requirements and see if there was fraud. She will also be working on a story about the entire process, which I will post later on, when published.
Earlier this week, I was able to put together more information concerning possible vote fraud by the Obama campaign in at least one eastern Iowa county which borders Illinois. In this county, Scott County, a campaign worker from the Clinton campaign believes that voters from Illinois may have been brought in to boost Obama's numbers.
This county organizer, who happens to be a former journalist who worked for a Top 10 market daily for a number of years before deciding to get involved in political campaigns, was working in the rural areas of Scott County. This area was considered "non-viable" by the Clinton campaign meaning that it was not viable to a win or lose scenario due to the low voter turnout. They did, however, spend resources in the area. This campaign worker spent weeks and weeks working in the area, getting to know a lot of people in the region.
On caucus night at one of the precincts, two tables were set up at the door: One for registered Democrats and a second table for new, unregistered same-day voters.
According to the poll worker, about 100 voters were expected by officials to show up. In 2004, only 80 voters showed up. So, the guess was a good one. In the end, 284 voters showed up.
Of those 284, more than 100 voters were new voters. Many of these voters came into the caucus at the very last minute, creating a line towards the front of the room. Officials quickly ushered everyone into the caucus before the assigned deadline time to close the doors and begin caucusing. According to the official, residence requirements for the new voters were not verified by officials. The voters were asked to sign in on a list and they did, many with illegible handwriting. Many of the new voters were also African-American in an area that is very, very Caucasian.
After the doors closed, the caucus began. Early votes for Kucinich, Dodd, and uncommitted shifted around a bit. However, the final vote breakdown looked like this:
Obama 137
Clinton 55
Edwards 47
Biden 44
After the voting stopped, when everyone reached 15 percent that could, the Clinton campaign worker asked a precinct captain for a copy of all the new voter registrations so they could be checked against resident lists the Clinton campaign had to verify residency.
The request was rejected.
Apparently, the process for checking these registrations is that the forms are sent to party officials on the county level and then sent to the auditor.
Other precinct captains working for both the Clinton and Edwards campaigns reported similar problems at the polls: A late influx of new voters, crashing the verification process, and maybe skewing the vote for an Obama win.
A few days after the caucus, a few Clinton campaign workers went to the Scott County Democratic headquarters and requested to look at the sign-in lists from various precincts. The Democratic Party there is chaired by Susan Frembgen, who is not only an open supporter of Obama but also the county chairwoman for the campaign. She reportedly refused to make copies of the lists or even allow Clinton campaign officials to look at them.
When asked when they would be allowed to look at them, she said after 14 days they would be sent to the county auditor and maybe the campaign workers could look at them at that time. But, maybe not. She reportedly said, "Sometimes we do this [submit them to the auditor], sometimes we don't," according to the Clinton campaign worker. The date for this would be Jan. 17, or past the time most of the Clinton campaign people will leave Iowa for other locations or to go home.
The Clinton campaign worker then started talking to some people involved in the political press in Iowa, with the hopes that they would look into the issue.
However, despite some early articles about the possibility of the Obama campaign flooding caucuses with college students going to school in Iowa, few wanted to look at the issue. The campaign worker concluded that any verified vote fraud allegations like this could put the Iowa Caucus process in jeopardy. The last thing anyone involved in Iowa politics would like to see happen is any allegation of fraud. Their first-in-the-nation caucus status could get tainted. As well, campaigns are spending big money in these early states. In 2004, about $9 million was spent on advertising alone in the state. In 2007-2008, about $40 million was spent. Why would media people involved in the political press want to stop that cash cow? So, better not to even look at it than look at it and put the caucus in harm's way.
Upon hearing about the allegations, I emailed a former Clinton campaign worker I know who still has connections inside the campaign to see if there was any legitimacy to the fears being raised by the Scott County organizer. This person said that the story had legs, so I went with the original rumor. Now, it looks like there is more to the story.
The Clinton campaign worker also mentioned that members of the Edwards campaign were seeing similar situations around in the precincts they were covering in Iowa and they were concerned about it. Officially, the campaigns say nothing; but it is a logical fear. Edwards lost the Iowa Caucuses by about 8 percent. If this 8 percent were less, say 4 or 5 percent, due to the fact that Obama supporters were illegally participating, then the bounce for Obama in to New Hampshire would not have been as big. It would have essentially been a three-way tie out of Iowa. Maybe the Obama surge would not have been as big and New Hampshire might have turned out differently as well.
According to a local Edwards person I know here in New Hampshire, who was also in Iowa for the caucuses, all the caucus officials were pretty overwhelmed by the flood of new voters to the precincts. This lends some credence to the allegations that the polls were overwhelmed and maybe, some illegitimates slipped through. However, when pressed on whether or not this accusation would matter and whether or not it should be looked at, he countered that he thought the entire thing was sour grapes by the Clinton campaign.
Whether or not it is sour grapes or legit, we may never know.
The makeup of the Scott County is 88.5 percent white and 6.1 percent black, according to the 2000 Census, with most of the minority population centered around the Davenport area. Now, these numbers are a bit old, but the demographics have not drastically changed in the area, according to people who live there. But, if you are in the rural areas of the county, where this campaign worker was, and the residents are almost completely white, where did all the new black voters come from? A flood of unusual activity like that in an obscure area of the county not known for that kind of racial makeup would probably be a bit weird and should have prompted caucus officials to verify residency requirements immediately. Maybe they thought they were being PC. Who knows.
I will add, in closing, that while I am not a fan of Hillary Clinton, I know this person and know her to be a good journalist. So, I trust her fears that the Iowa Caucuses may have been rigged and the entire thing needs to be looked at. She is hoping, with the help of some locals, to get copies of the sign-in sheets to double-check residency requirements and see if there was fraud. She will also be working on a story about the entire process, which I will post later on, when published.
1 comment:
Please have anyone with caucus fraud stories or evidence contact Dr. Lynette Long. She has a website and is compiling documentation for book. Much of this documentation is already online. It was NOT just Iowa. Intimidation, lock outs and unchecked lists were common. Caucus fraud WAS committed on a large scale in nearly every caucus state. There are two documentaries being compiled too. One is by Brad May's. Video was taken.
Again, please contact Dr. Lynette Long. Dr. Long is a mathematician of good standing and her work is meticulous.
This needs to be exposed and the party involved needs to be held accountable. No one's vote will matter in the future if this is allowed to go on.
In the G.E. the Obama campaign is right now registering large numbers of voters. Some of whom have been charged with crimes and are being held for sentencing. Until proven guilty they are still eligible voters...Ohio does not require I.D. for voting in the G.E.
If you can volunteer for your local polling station please do. Expect cheating and be diligent.
I'm all for the real winner coming out on top but, this is all very suspect considering most of what Obama "won" were in caucus states and there are rampant reports of cheating.
Also, see "The Green Papers" long considered the bench mark for keeping track of election results. The numbers do not add up properly with regard to the Obama campaign.
Acorn, the organization that helped the Obama campaign "register voters" has been under investigation many times for voter fraud and once again they are being investigated.
The idea that legitimate votes should matter is fundamental to democracy. If that principle was circumvented in a concentrated effort then someone has broken the law and violated the rights of the American voter.
Since we no longer have real investigative journalism to count on any longer, it's up to the citizens of this country who witnessed this to fight back. If they get away with it this time then no ones vote will even matter in any future elections. They can just install leaders as in a banana republic.
Please contact Dr. Lynette Long with your caucus fraud stories.
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