[EL] 1984 grand jury report

Fri Jun 24 07:01:32 PDT 2011

More amusement, this time from something Rick wrote:

It is a fascinating read, about what appear to have been the last days of a
corrupt Brooklyn Democratic party machine.

It may indeed have been the last days of a corrupt "machine," but corruption
of various stripes appear to be alive and well in Brooklyn political
circles. Of 16 City Council Members representing Brooklyn, by my count there
are no fewer than 4 currently embroiled in some sort of corruption or
ethical scandal (which doesn't seem at all atypical for the New York City
Council). I leave to others more familiar with New York City politics to
determine whether there's a new corrupt "machine," or whether the old
corrupt one is still alive and kicking.

Sean Parnell

President

Center for Competitive Politics

http://www.campaignfreedom.org

http://www.twitter.com/seanparnellccp

124 S. West Street, #201

Alexandria, VA  22310

(703) 894-6800 phone

(703) 894-6813 direct

(703) 894-6811 fax

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick
Hasen
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 9:56 PM
To: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] 1984 grand jury report

1984 New York Grand Jury Report on Voter Fraud Now Available
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=19560>  

Posted on  <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=19560> June 23, 2011 by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>  

Thanks to the hard work of the UCI Law librarians, and the cooperation of
the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, I am pleased to provide a link to
Kings County grand jury report, In the Matter of Confidential Investigation
R84-11
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/1984_grand_jury_report-r84-11
.pdf> .

This is the report I tried  <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=19393> to get
<http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/election_expert_cant_find
_report_on_1984_voter_impersonation_case_cited_by_von_spakovsky.php>  from
Hans von Spakovsky and the Heritage Foundation with no success.  von
Spakovsky had relied on the grand jury report in an effort to justify voter
identification requirements. (He wrote
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/012191.html> : "One doesn't have to
look far to find instances of fraudulent ballots cast in actual elections by
'voters' who were the figments of active imaginations. In 1984, a district
attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y. (a Democrat), released the findings of a grand
jury that reported extensive registration and impersonation fraud between
1968 and 1982.")

It is a fascinating read, about what appear to have been the last days of a
corrupt Brooklyn Democratic party machine.  Most of the fraud alleged
involved the cooperation of election officials or inspectors, or the
downright incompetence of election workers.  (One of the most colorful
episodes recorded involved party workers hiding in the restroom ceilings at
the Brooklyn Board of Elections, waiting to phony up voter registration
cards after an election to manufacture evidence for an election contest.)

It is not clear to me why von Spakovsky did not respond to requests to turn
over the grand jury report because the report contains the only apparently
successful effort in the last 40 years of which I'm aware to actually affect
election results through impersonation fraud.  Perhaps the reason is that
the way in which the fraud was done almost certainly could not happen today,
thanks to basic safeguards put in place by election officials (such as
checking the names and addresses of new registrants and ensuring greater
security of voter registration materials).  And of course when election
officials collude with those committing fraud, a voter i.d. requirement
would not help in the slightest.

The fact that most of this fraud took place 40 years ago and nothing like it
has been discovered since is a good argument that schemes like these cannot
successfully be done anymore. Vote buying schemes, fraudulent registration
schemes, and absentee ballot fraud does get discovered and prosecuted.
There's no reason to think this kind of fraud, if it happened, would not at
least occasionally be discovered and prosecuted as well.  At most we find a
handful of isolated cases-nothing organized, and certainly nothing to swing
elections.

Still, the grand jury report is the best evidence that the Fraudulent Fraud
Squad has, and now it will see the light of day.

<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> ,
fraudulent fraud squad <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8> , voter id
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>  | Comments Off 

-- 
Rick Hasen
Visiting Professor
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html

William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
Loyola Law School
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org

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