More Democratic Fraud: Patrick Murphy-linked Absentee Voter Controversy Unfolds

[Sandra]

More Democratic Fraud: Patrick Murphy-linked Absentee
Voter Controversy Unfolds

URL Source:

http://www.nationalreview.com/battl ...
sentee-voter-controversy-unfol
Published: Oct 27, 2010
Author: Thomas A. Shakely


Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTpkiXCX5p0&feature=player_embedded

Battle ‘10 reported on the continuing absentee ballot scandal in
Bucks County, Pennsylvania, home to the 8th district congressional race.
The race is widely seen as a bellwether, with Rep. Patrick Murphy a
member of the appropriations committee.

New reports are emerging that could spell trouble for Patrick Murphy’s
campaign after it was revealed that his campaign manager controlled a
post office box where voters were being instructed to send their absentee
ballots. The ballots were then re-mailed to the county Board of
Elections.

A letter from a fictitious agency, the “Pennsylvania Voter Assistance
Office,” was sent to an unknown number of residents across the 8th
district in southeastern Pennsylvania warning them that their ability to
voter could be jeopardized unless they returned an enclosed absentee
ballot in a pre-paid envelope that went to a private post office box in
Bristol, Pa.

At issue is whether Rep. Patrick Murphy was directly involved, and
whether absentee ballots were tampered with or discarded as they were
proceeded through the post office box maintained by Tim Persico, his
campaign manager.

John Cordisco, the chairman of the Bucks County Democratic Party, told a
local newspaper today that the local party had no connection to the
alleged fraud, saying, “if there was voter registration fraud, it was
being done outside the [local] Democratic organization.”

The local Republican Party is alleging voter fraud after more than 600
ballots were thrown out this week for “defects” like incorrect birthdays
and mis-matching signatures. The county district attorney is
investigating allegations of fraud from multiple citizens who have signed
sworn affidavits.

Last week, there was a sudden 67 percent increase in Democrat absentee
ballots, many sent in identical, pre-labeled envelopes, according to Pat
Poprik, vice chair of the Bucks County Republican Party. Some were dated
as far back as August, indicating that they had been held by a third
party:

Six Bucks County residents provided affidavits included in the petition
in which they describe encounters with campaign workers who instructed
them to complete absentee ballot applications when they did not plan to
be out of town for the election or to sign the names of family members to
obtain ballots for them.

One woman said that she received the Pennsylvania Voter Assistance Office
letters and discarded them. “Nonetheless an absentee ballot was submitted
in her name,” the petition says.

At the heart of the controversy is the unusual practice of a party not
only soliciting absentee voters, but specifically directing that ballots
be returned to the party ­ rather than directly to the board of
elections.

While Democratic operative insist there was no wrongdoing, the mere fact
that the ballots were directed to their private post office box before
being received by the county raises a cloud of suspicion over the motive
for receiving and holding the ballots.

In other words, local Democrats with the Murphy campaign are asking for
trust in their word alone that no ballots were discarded or manipulated.
Pat Poprik describes the story in greater detail in the Battle ‘10 video
below.

Mike Fitzpatrick, Murphy’s challenger and erstwhile congressman, will be
speaking with the press this afternoon. Mike Barley, communications
director of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, spoke with Fox News this
afternoon.

See video at the beginning...