Voter Fraud Epidemic by Joseph Farah

November 5, 1998 —Last April, the Carmel Pine Cone, a weekly newspaper in the affluent Northern California community whose most famous mayor was Clint Eastwood, published an expose on California voter fraud.

As part of the front-page report, headlined "Voter Fraud: Simple as 1, 2, 3," the paper registered a fictitious voter, "Sandra L. Klaus."

Under California law, the story explained, registering to vote requires only that individuals give a name and an address and declare that they are eligible to vote. They are then be entered on the rolls and sent a form — at whatever mailing address they specify, even if it's a post office box in another state or another country — asking if they would like to vote absentee. If they say yes, a ballot is then sent to that address.

The entire process can be conducted by mail without the voter ever being asked to provide evidence of their true identity. Elections officials make no attempt to verify the eligibility — or even the existence — of people submitting voter registration forms.

Nothing much happened as a result of the Pine Cone investigation. A similar series of reports by the Western Journalism Center beginning in 1994 went nowhere either — even though fake names and non-existent addresses were published. There were no prosecutions, and a probe by Secretary of State Bill Jones' office ended quietly.

Carmel has had many close elections and allegations of voter fraud in Monterey County have been rampant.

In early October, 1998, 16,000 fraudulent voter registration cards were discovered in Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles Times, the cards — in many cases bearing the names of people who didn't exist — were submitted as part of a state-wide voter registration drive conducted by the California Democratic Party.

As a result, 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft became interested in the subject of California voter fraud. His report aired November 1, 1998, on CBS.

As a result of the imminent national publicity, an embarrassed Jones last week asked Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo to prosecute Carmel Pine Cone publishers Kirstie Wilde and Paul Miller for voter fraud. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed in that office. No charges are expected to be filed.

It's not just California, however. Voter fraud is epidemic throughout the country. From Miami to L.A., elections have been won and lost because of illegal voter registration and phony ballot counts. No wonder fewer and fewer people are bothering to vote. What's the point? Elections are being rigged. The fix is in. The sanctity of the American electoral system is not under attack, it is under siege.

Officials like Bill Jones in California are an enigma. If there is one power the secretary of state has in Sacramento, it is the authority to clean up election fraud. Since Bill Jones is a Republican and most of the voter fraud perpetrated in California is on behalf of Democrats, you would think tough action would be a no-brainer. Uh-uh. Jones is content to collect his paycheck, certify that elections in the state are valid and direct a bureaucratic army of paper-pushers.

Once again, here's evidence that we don't have a two-party system in America. We have a one-party system with factions that protect each other and preserve a status quo of official lawlessness.

Dare to expose the corruption and you run the danger of being victimized by that official lawlessness.

America had an election this week. Do we really know what happened? Do we really care? Most people are so caught up in the sham ideological battle between Republicans and Democrats that they are missing a crisis neither political faction is willing or able to solve.

Confidence is so shattered across this country that, on Monday night, when ABCNEWS.com errantly published detailed election results 24 hours early, many intelligent Americans believed all those votes had actually been predetermined in a vast government-media conspiracy.

The solution is not more laws. It's a matter of enforcing those already on the books.

It reminds me of the great campaign-financing issue — closely related to this vote scam. When lawbreakers, beginning with the president of the United States, are found out, they become crusaders for more laws. What good are more laws when we don't pay any attention to those already on the books, or, worse yet, use them only to selectively prosecute people for political reasons?

Lying, cheating and thievery have become the accepted pathways to power. May God save us.

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and CEO of WND and a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate. His latest book is Taking America Back. He also edits the weekly online intelligence newsletter Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, in which he utilizes his sources developed over 30 years in the news business.

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Added January 7, 2006

Last modified 6/14/09