BREAKING: CA GOP Vote Registration Contractor Arrested for Registration Fraud, Perjury

Now Updated Several Times at Bottom of Article...
This just in as Brad is headed over to the FOXNews studios. Yesterday the Los Angeles Times reported on the Republican voter registration outfit who had allegedly been illegally changing thousands of registrations from Democratic to Republican.

Last night the head of that GOP backed group, Mark Anthony Jacoby of Young Political Majors (YPM), was arrested by the California State Election Fraud Taskforce and Oxnard, CA Police.

According to CA SoS Debra Bowen's press release, Jacoby himself had committed voter registration fraud and perjury by lying on his own voter registration form. (That's similar to what Ann Coulter did, though she not only committed felony voter registration fraud, she also committed actual voter fraud, as well, even though such fraud is exceedingly rare.)

UPDATE FROM BRAD: It was my pleasure to break this story today on Fox "News" of all places! Thanks to John Gideon for getting it posted as I was on the roll towards the studio. I'll have the video up of my appearance on Fox, and the "Fox News Alert" I was able to do, later tonight. Please note, this isn't the first time there have been serious problems with GOP-gathered voter registrations in CA, as outlined recently at Alternet. Looks like the GOP's voter registration record for errors far outpaced ACORN! Whaddaya know? (Our special coverage of the GOP's ACORN "Voter Fraud" Hoax is right here.) More updates now at bottom of article.

Bowen's press release, just out, on Jacoby's arrest is posted in full below, along with a number of additional updates after it...


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 19, 2008
CONTACT: Kate Folmar (916) 208-6521


Secretary of State Debra Bowen Announces Arrest
of Man Charged with Voter Registration Fraud

SACRAMENTO – The owner of a signature-gathering firm that works across California was arrested in Ontario today on suspicion of committing voter registration fraud, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced.

Mark Anthony Jacoby, who owns the firm known as Young Political Majors (YPM), was arrested after allegedly registering himself to vote, once in 2006 and again in 2007, at an address where did not live. An investigation by the Secretary of State’s Election Fraud Investigation Unit revealed that Jacoby twice registered to vote at the address of a childhood home in Los Angeles although he no longer lived there.

The Secretary of State’s fraud unit and the Ontario Police Department arrested Jacoby near an Ontario hotel just before midnight Saturday. An arraignment date has not been scheduled yet.

“Voter registration fraud is a serious issue, which is why I vigorously investigate all allegations of elections fraud,” said Secretary Bowen, California’s chief elections officer. “Where there’s a case to be made, I will forward it to law enforcement for criminal prosecution.”

For his business, Jacoby traveled California and a number of other states collecting petition signatures and registering voters. Under state law, signature-gatherers must sign a declaration stating that they are either registered to vote in California or that they are eligible to do so. Jacoby allegedly registered to vote at his childhood address to meet this legal requirement.

Under California law, it is a felony punishable by up to three years in prison to register yourself when you are not entitled to vote and it is perjury to provide false information on a voter registration card.

On October 3, the Public Integrity Unit of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office charged Jacoby with four felonies: two counts of voter registration fraud and two counts of perjury. A warrant was issued for his arrest and bail was set at $50,000.

“This arrest wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of the Ontario Police Department and Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley’s office,” Secretary Bowen said. “I thank them both.”

The Secretary of State’s Election Fraud Investigation Unit helps maintain the integrity of the electoral process by investigating allegations of election and voter fraud in California. Potential Elections Code violations brought to the unit’s attention are thoroughly investigated and referred to law enforcement officials for prosecution when there is sufficient evidence of wrongdoing. The Secretary of State’s office does not disclose information about the status of ongoing criminal investigations, but the information from a case that results in a criminal complaint filed by a county or state prosecutor is a public record.

Anyone who has witnessed a violation of the California Elections Code is encouraged to contact the Secretary of State’s Election Fraud Investigation Unit at (800) 345-VOTE or http://www.sos.ca.gov/el...ions/elections_fraud.htm.


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UPDATE: Los Angeles Times covers the arrest here, and notes:

Jacoby's arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department comes after dozens of voters said they were duped into registering as Republicans by his firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM. The voters said YPM tricked them by saying they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters. The firm was paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member of the GOP.
The YPM firm has been under investigation for similar unlawful activities in a number of states. Nobody who runs ACORN, despite the nonsense you've heard on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, etc. has ever been arrested, to our knowledge.

UPDATE 10:24 pm I've been able to learn from a source that Jacoby is free on bail tonight, and apparently staying at a La Quinta (instead of his "home", which is actually his mother's home, where he is alleged to have registered illegally to vote).

Also, "Mrs. Panstreppon" at dKos notes:

Mark A Jacoby got into hot water with Florida authorities almost immediately after registering YPM LLC in August 2004, according to a 10/04 St Petersburg Times story about him.

Read the story here

An 8/21/2008 Phoenix New Times covered YPM's nefarious activities in Arizona where charges were made that YPM tossed thousands of voter registration forms in the trash.

Read the story here.

I seem to recall another GOP outfit being accused of filing phony voter registration forms in Nevada in 2006 but I don't have the name at the moment. Anyone recall the case?

She's likely referring to Sproul & Associates, the GOP outfit led by Nathan Sproul, that was charged with shredding Democratic voter registration forms in a number of states. They were paid more than $8 million dollars by the RNC, who tried to hide the expenditures in 2004. Details here.

And here are a number of BRAD BLOG reports on Sproul & Associates.