[EL] More history trivia on NY illegal voting convictions

Tue Jan 20 09:46:35 PST 2015

Correction, it was the Tombs, not Rikers Island, as pointed out by an alert reader.

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Brenda Wright
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2015 11:40 AM
To: Rick Hasen; law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] More history trivia on NY illegal voting convictions

Rick, thanks for picking up the Jim Dwyer piece.  It reminds me of the story of Michael Cady, who was convicted of illegal voting in 1894, making his more recent than Susan B Anthony’s.  Mr. Cady was an impoverished New Yorker with no place to live, who survived by getting himself convicted for vagrancy on a regular basis, so that he could stay at Riker’s Island.  He was such a regular presence at the prison that the warden would send him on errands occasionally with no concern about whether he would return.  On one of his trips outside of Riker’s Island, he decided to register to vote, which was permissible because vagrancy was only a misdemeanor.  But because he listed Riker’s Island as his address, he was promptly prosecuted for illegal voting because under New York law, a prison cannot be a residence.  The conviction was upheld by the NY Court of Appeals.
Below is a fact sheet that tells the story (note, the fact sheet was written before NY reformed its prison gerrymandering laws).
http://www.demos.org/sites/default/files/publications/FACTSHEET_people_v_cady_Demos.pdf

Brenda

Must Read Jim Dwyer NYT Piece on Lone Voter Fraud Prosecution in NYC<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69767>
Posted on January 20, 2015 8:03 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69767> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Somehow I missed this Jim Dwyer NYT piece<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/16/nyregion/man-seeks-to-turn-tables-on-officials-in-voter-fraud.html?_r=0> last week:

John Kennedy O’Hara spent most of 2003 picking up garbage in city parks and cleaning public toilets as part of his sentence for illegal voting in Brooklyn. Also, he had to pay a fine and restitution amounting to $15,192. His supposed crime was that he registered to vote using the address of a girlfriend on 47th Street in Sunset Park, where he claimed to live part of the time. But he also maintained a residence 14 blocks away.

While this sounds like pretty serious punishment for virtually nothing — the state election laws are so remarkably elastic on matters of residency that a former head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party was actually living in Queens during his reign — we cannot be sure if Mr. O’Hara got more than his unfair share.

There are, after all, very few people to compare him with.

Practically no one.
 It appears that the last person to be convicted of illegal voting in New York State before Mr. O’Hara was the abolitionist and suffragist Susan B. Anthony<http://susanbanthonyhouse.org/her-story/biography.php>, who cast a ballot in Rochester in 1872, flagrantly disregarding that she was a woman and therefore not allowed to do so. She was not sentenced to pick up garbage in the parks, but was fined $100. She never paid.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D69767&title=Must%20Read%20Jim%20Dwyer%20NYT%20Piece%20on%20Lone%20Voter%20Fraud%20Prosecution%20in%20NYC&description=>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“5 Years After Citizens United, Secret Money Floods Into U.S. Politics”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69763>
Posted on January 20, 2015 7:56 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69763> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Peter Overby reports<http://www.npr.org/2015/01/20/378525627/5-years-after-citizens-united-ruling-secret-money-floods-into-u-s-politics> for NPR.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D69763&title=%E2%80%9C5%20Years%20After%20Citizens%20United%2C%20Secret%20Money%20Floods%20Into%20U.S.%20Politics%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
Nina Totenberg Previews Williams-Yulee Judicial Campaign Case at #SCOTUS<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69761>
Posted on January 20, 2015 7:54 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69761> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here<http://www.npr.org/2015/01/20/377784225/should-judicial-candidates-be-allowed-to-solicit-campaign-money> at NPR.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D69761&title=Nina%20Totenberg%20Previews%20Williams-Yulee%20Judicial%20Campaign%20Case%20at%20%23SCOTUS&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, judicial elections<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
Common Cause to Rep. Goodlatte: “Discrimination Isn’t a Thing of the Past”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69759>
Posted on January 20, 2015 7:50 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69759> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Blog post.<http://www.commoncause.org/democracy-wire/voting-discrimimation-isnt-a-thing-of-the-past.html>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D69759&title=Common%20Cause%20to%20Rep.%20Goodlatte%3A%20%E2%80%9CDiscrimination%20Isn%E2%80%99t%20a%20Thing%20of%20the%20Past%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>, VRAA<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=81>
“It’s All Happening in Ohio”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69757>
Posted on January 20, 2015 7:48 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69757> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

A ChapinBlog.<http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/electionacademy/2015/01/its_all_happening_in_ohio.php>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D69757&title=%E2%80%9CIt%E2%80%99s%20All%20Happening%20in%20Ohio%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in Election Assistance Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>

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