Last week, the New Mexico Republican Party publicly wrongfully claimed that 28 people cast fraudulent votes in the June Democratic primary in House District 13. State Republican Party officials said a review of 92 newly registered voters in the district turned up 28 ballots that had inaccurate social security numbers and wrong birth dates. In other words, GOP officials said, this was a clear case of voter fraud.
At the center of these allegations is
According to an Associated Press report, FBI agents had met with
Два гады таму,
However, it has since emerged that the organization played a major role in suppressing the votes of people who intended to cast ballots for Democrats in various states.
About a week after the 2006 midterm elections, Rogers sent Rumaldo Armijo, the Assistant U.S. Attorney in New Mexico in charge of election issues, an urgent email, claiming he received an anonymous telephone call at his law office from a male “with a slight Hispanic accent” who said he was a Bernalillo County election worker “and during the counting process this week, had “added some votes for Heather.”
У той час
“He did not want to provide any information by phone, and asked that we meet,”
“After he hung up, I called our IT dept and was told we cannot trace calls/numbers. No one approached me at the
Two days after his first email to Armijo, Rogers sent him another note.
“I did not hear from any FBI agent, and would again urge the immediate investigation of the allegation,” Rogers wrote in a Nov. 13, 2006 email. “I am available at and would request you forward the e-mail to the FBI agents and any additional appropriate offices or individuals.”
Iglesias said “no case was ever filed as a result of Pat’s "referral.”
But Rogers continued to press his case. He took his complaints to the Bernalillo County attorney’s office and called for an investigation.
However, the investigation never got off the ground because Rogers’ claims could not be substantiated.
Wilson was reelected by a margin of 861 votes out of more than 211,000 ballots that were cast.
Some local New Mexico election and law enforcement officials believed Rogers’ allegations that Wilson’s vote tally was padded was an attempt to get federal investigators to call into question the veracity of ballots cast for Madrid while votes were being counted and the race was still up in the air.
Rogers appears to be raising the same issues again with regard to claims of voter fraud during the June Democratic primary of the Albuquerque State House District.
Furthermore, Rogers and other state GOP officials have targeted the grassroots organization Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), claiming the group has been engaged in a widespread voter registration fraud scheme in the state.
Спрабуючы выратаваць сваю кампанію, Джон Маккейн таксама ўцягнуўся ў справу ACORN, спасылаючыся на яе на трэціх прэзідэнцкіх дэбатах. Ён заявіў, што ACORN "зараз знаходзіцца на мяжы таго, каб здзейсніць адну з найбуйнейшых фальсіфікацый у гісторыі выбаршчыкаў у гэтай краіне, магчыма, разбурыць структуру дэмакратыі".
However, the investigations launched against ACORN have raised other concerns, especially that Republicans are flogging this issue in an effort to stir up anger, to revive McCain’s campaign, and to intimidate new voters.
Са свайго боку, ACORN настойваў на тым, што яго ўласны кантроль якасці адзначаў многія з падазроных рэгістрацыйных формаў, перш чым яны былі адпраўлены дзяржаўным чыноўнікам, і што законы штата часта патрабуюць, каб знешнія рэгістрацыйныя групы прадстаўлялі ўсе формы, незалежна ад відавочных праблем.
Independent studies also have shown that phony registrations rarely result in illegally cast ballots because there are so many other safeguards built into the system.
For instance, from October 2002 to September 2005, a total of 70 people were convicted for federal election related crimes, according to figures compiled by the New York Times last year. Only 18 of those were for ineligible voting.
According to an official at the New Mexico U.S. Attorneys office, GOP operatives pressured state officials to contact the FBI about the alleged fraudulent ballots and to probe ACORN.
On Wednesday, the website TPMMuckraker.com contacted Oliver, the Bernalillo County clerk, to follow up on her meeting with the FBI.
“Toulouse Oliver added a bit of detail to that picture. She said she had passed on redacted copies of the suspicious forms (many of which had badly mismatched information, or listed addresses that did not exist) to the offices of the District Attorney and the US Attorney in the area,” TPMMuckraker reported. “When the FBI contacted her, it said it had been asked to follow up by the US Attorney’ office. And the meeting between Toulouse Oliver and an FBI agent was also attended by an Assistant US Attorney.
Федэральныя інструкцыі па расследаванні настойліва не рэкамендуюць праводзіць расследаванні, звязаныя з выбарамі, да пачатку галасавання з-за верагоднасці таго, што расследаванні стануць палітызаванымі і могуць паўплываць на вынікі выбараў.
«У большасці выпадкаў нельга апытваць выбаршчыкаў або праводзіць іншыя расследаванні, звязаныя з выбаршчыкамі, пакуль не скончацца выбары», — гаворыцца ў рэкамендацыях Міністэрства юстыцыі па выбарчых правапарушэннях, перагледжаных у траўні 2007 года падчас знаходжання Ганзалеса на пасадзе генеральнага пракурора.
In a brief interview Wednesday, Iglesias, the former New Mexico U.S. Attorney who was fired as part of the White House-driven federal prosecutor purge in 2006, said he doesn’t know “who lit the fire under the [New Mexico] FBI regarding alleged voter fraud.”
Iglesias said he was surprised that the FBI would have agreed to investigate ACORN now and that the inquiry must have received a green light from high levels of the Justice Department.
Iglesias said that in September 2004, he set up an election fraud task force, to investigate allegations that ACORN was involved in voter registration fraud.
«ФБР у [Нью-Мексіка] было няўважлівым, калі я стварыў аператыўную групу па фальсіфікацыі выбаршчыкаў, якую сфармаваў яшчэ ў 2004 годзе, таму што SAC [адказны спецыяльны агент] сказаў, што генеральны юрысконсульт ФБР сказаў, што такія расследаванні не рэкамендуюцца з-за таго, што яны выглядаюць занадта "палітычны", - сказаў Іглесіяс.
«Мне прыйшлося выкручваць ім рукі, каб яны ўцягнуліся, і толькі пасля таго, як я іх запэўніў, што ніякіх крымінальных спраў да выбараў узбуджацца не будзе. … Цікава, чаму ФБР перайшло ад бадзёрасці ў 2004 годзе да таго, што зараз схіляецца наперад. Хто на іх цісьне і чаму?»
Rogers and other GOP officials claim ACORN has turned Bernalillo County into a hotbed of voter fraud and voter registration fraud.
The allegations first surfaced in 2004, when Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White showed up at the county clerk’s office demanding to know if there were any questionable voter registrations on file.
Mary Herrera, the Bernalillo County clerk, told White that there were about 3,000 or so forms that were either incomplete or incorrectly filled out.
Bernalillo County had been the target of a massive grassroots effort by the group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to register voters, which paid off with about 65,000 newly registered voters.
But Sheriff White intended to challenge the integrity of some of the names on the voter registration rolls.
White seized upon the registration forms as evidence that ACORN submitted fraudulent registration forms. He held a press conference along with other Republican officials in the county to call attention to the matter.
White pushed Iglesias to crack down on Democratic-backed voter registration drives.
Iglesias established an election fraud task force in September 2004 and spent more than two months probing claims of widespread voter fraud in his state.
«Пасля вывучэння доказаў і ў супрацоўніцтве з аддзелам па барацьбе з выбарчымі злачынствамі Міністэрства юстыцыі і ФБР я не змог знайсці ніводнай справы, па якой я мог бы прыцягнуць да адказнасці па-за разумнымі сумненнямі», — сказаў Іглесіяс. «Адпаведна, я не санкцыянаваў судовы пераслед, звязаны з фальсіфікацыямі выбаршчыкаў».
White was upset with Iglesias’s inaction against Democratic-back voter registration drives and other criminal issues. He took his complaints about Iglesias’s lack of aggressiveness to Washington.
In a little-noticed article in the Albuquerque Journal at the height of the U.S. Attorney scandal, White, who was New Mexico chairman of the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, confirmed that in spring 2006, he took his “complaints directly to the Department of Justice where he met with Attorney General [Alberto] Gonzales’ chief of staff, Kyle Sampson and others," the Albuquerque Journal reported on April 15, 2007.
White is now campaigning for the congressional seat being vacated by Rogers’ former client, Rep. Heather Wilson.
Rogers and White, the Bernalillo County Sheriff, are longtime friends. Rogers worked closely with White in 2004 to challenge the veracity of voter registrations in the county.
They also have something else in common: They were both implicated in Iglesias’s firing. New Mexico’s Republican Senator, Pete Domenici, had recommended Rogers to replace Iglesias as U.S. Attorney when Iglesias was fired. The DOJ report said Domenici played a major role in Iglesias’s ouster.
Паводле справаздачы генеральнага інспектара Міністэрства юстыцыі, «Патрык Роджэрс, былы генеральны дарадца Рэспубліканскай партыі штата Нью-Мексіка і партыйны актывіст, працягваў [перад выбарамі 2006 года] скардзіцца на праблемы з фальсіфікацыямі выбаршчыкаў у Нью-Мексіка.
«У сакавіку 2006 г. электроннае паведамленне, накіраванае [Крэйгу] Донсанта ў секцыю грамадскай добрасумленнасці [Міністэрства юстыцыі], Роджэрс паскардзіўся на фальсіфікацыі выбаршчыкаў у Нью-Мексіка і дадаў: «У мяне ёсць званкі [пракурору ЗША] і яго галоўны памочнік, але яны не вельмі дапамаглі падчас фальшывай рэгістрацыі ACORN на мінулых выбарах».
Донсанта быў аўтарам абноўленага ў маі 2007 г. дапаможніка Федэральнай пракуратуры па правапарушэннях падчас выбараў, які змякчыў папярэджанні адносна расследавання і судовага пераследу выпадкаў фальсіфікацыі выбаршчыкаў перад выбарамі.
У чэрвені 2006 года Роджэрс адправіў выканаўчаму памочніку Іглесіяса пракурора ЗША Румальда Арміхо па электроннай пошце:
«Вайны за фальсіфікацыі выбаршчыкаў працягваюцца. Буду ўдзячны за любое абвінавачванне жанчыне з Жолудзеў. . . . Дэмакраты ACLU/Wortheim [sic] звернуцца да камеры і выкажуць, што махлярства не з'яўляецца праблемай, таму што ЗША ўжо нешта зрабілі б. Carpe Diem!»
Джон Вертхайм быў тады старшынёй Дэмакратычнай партыі Нью-Мексіка.
Іглесіяс сказаў, што цяпер ён лічыць, што прэтэнзіі Рэспубліканскай партыі аб фальсіфікацыях выбаршчыкаў былі «ўнікальнымі для адміністрацыі Буша».
“If voter fraud is such a problem nationally, why have there only been a handful of prosecutions in the past few years?” he said.
Rogers told The Public Record the Justice Department report on the U.S. Attorney firings “is erroneous is so many ways it is not possible to address them all."
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