Mike
Well-known member
I don't know how important anyone else's vote is to them but mine is sacred to me.
NBC2 Investigates: Voter fraud
Posted: Feb 02, 2012 1:34 PM CST
By Andy Pierrotti, NBC2 Investigator - bio | email
Two elections supervisors are taking action after an NBC2 investigation uncovers flawed record keeping and human error allowing people who are not citizens of the United States to vote.
No one knows how widespread this problem is, because county election supervisors have no way to track non-citizens who live here.
So NBC2 did something election officials never thought to do, and found them on our own.
"I vote every year," Hinako Dennett told NBC2.
The Cape Coral resident is not a US citizen, yet she's registered to vote.
NBC2 found Dennett after reviewing her jury excusal form. She told the Clerk of Court she couldn't serve as a juror because she wasn't a U.S. citizen.
We found her name, and nearly a hundred others like her, in the database of Florida registered voters.
Naples resident Yvonne Wigglesworth is also a not a citizen, but is registered to vote. She claims she doesn't know how she got registered.
"I have no idea. I mean, how am I supposed to know."
Records show Wigglesworth voted six times in elections dating back eleven years.
"I know you cannot vote before you become a citizen, so I never tried to do anything like that," Samuel Lincoln said.
He isn't a U.S. citizen either, but the Jamaican national says he doesn't know how he ended up registered to vote.
"It's their mistake, not mine," said Lincoln.
We obtained a copy of his 2007 voter registration application. It's clearly shows he marked U.S. citizen.
"This is under oath, that document, they are attesting that it is true and by falsifying, it's a third degree felony," said Tim Durham, Collier County's chief elections supervisor.
County supervisors of elections tell me they have no way to verify citizenship. Under the 1992 Motor Voter Law, they're not required to ask for proof.
"We have no policing authority. We don't have any way of bouncing that information off any other database that would give us that information," said Lee County Supervisor of Elections Sharon Harrington.
NBC2: Does that need to change??
Harrington: "I think it needs to be looked at."
Until that happens, the only way supervisors of elections can investigate voter fraud is if they get a tip.
So that's what our list became. After showing them the nearly 100 names we compiled, both county election offices sent letters to each voter, asking them verify citizenship.
"It could be very serious. It could change the whole complexion of an election," said Harrington.
It's important we don't know we know if these folks are here illegal or not, just they are potentially not U.S. citizens who registered to vote.
Voters who received letters have 30 days to show proof of citizenship, or they'll be taken off the registration rolls.
Based on our investigation, both election offices say they'll now request a copy of every jury excusal form where residents say they can't serve because they're not a citizen.