January 17th, 2010 Boston, MA—With Tuesday’s special election for the open Senate seat in Massachusetts just two days away, citizen watchdog groups are paying special attention to the potential of voter fraud in a closely-contested race.
“The potential for voter fraud in Massachusetts is almost unlimited,” said Dan Tripp, a project leader for Americans for Limited Government Foundation’s election observers currently on the ground in Massachusetts.
“Voters in Massachusetts are not generally required to show identification at the polls,” Tripp explained, saying that the only voters who would be required to show ID were those first-time voters who registered by mail after 2003. “That’s less than 5 percent of the eligible voting population.”
“For the rest of the voting population, they need only provide a name and address associated with the voting list at the polling location,” Tripp said. “This enables multiple votes at multiple locations, with neither poll workers nor poll watchers having any means to detect the fraud, nor any means of verifying the actual identity of a voter showing up at the polls.”
According to the Massachusetts elections law, Title VIII, Chapter 54, Section 67, “No person shall vote if his name is not on the voting list…” And according to Massachusetts regulations, 950 CMR 54.04 (2009): “The voter must announce his address and name to the election officer in charge of the check-in voting list.”
“Given the lack of any ID requirement, Massachusetts elections law is an open invitation to fraud,” said Nathan Mehrens, counsel for Americans for Limited Government Foundation. Mehrens indicated that “Of course, the most probable fraud is dead voters showing up to vote on Tuesday.”
Tripp said scores of camera crews, poll watchers, and other election observers are deployed throughout the state. “Our special election observers are the eyes and ears on the ground, and who are well-positioned to ensure the legitimacy of Tuesday’s special senatorial election in Massachusetts.”
Americans for Limited Government Foundation, which is sponsoring the extensive election observation project, has partnered with NetRightNation.com, a nationwide coalition of bloggers that is coordinating with Massachusetts bloggers on the ground.
Tripp emphasized that Americans for Limited Government Foundation’s observers “are strictly non-partisan, and designed mostly to deter and detect voter and other types of election fraud and intimidation at the polls.”
“The message to anyone thinking about committing election fraud in Massachusetts is this: We will find you. Our camera teams could be anywhere,” Tripp declared, concluding, “We’re one of many groups engaged in monitoring the Massachusetts special election. The question individuals should be asking when they consider committing fraud is, ‘Is it worth the risk?’”
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