http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsu...cs/10748035.htm
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Posted on Thu, Jan. 27, 2005
Milwaukee DA says he, U.S. attorney probing possible voter fraud
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE - Local and federal law enforcement officials have launched a joint investigation into possible voter fraud in the Nov. 2 election, Milwaukee County's district attorney says.
E. Michael McCann said Wednesday that he and U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic had agreed to investigate together.
McCann's announcement came after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported finding that more than 1,200 votes Nov. 2 came from invalid addresses, with nearly 75 percent of those coming from people who registered at the polls. The newspaper said a sample of those showed about 20 percent could be explained by data entry errors, such as transposed digits.
The Journal Sentinel also said that 186 votes from invalid addresses were among about 5,600 addresses challenged before the election by the state Republican Party as nonexistent.
The district attorney told the newspaper that a group of prosecutors and investigators, including one with computer expertise, will try to "see if there was voter fraud or not. That's the major thrust."
Biskupic and McCann noted past and existing joint task forces on drugs, guns and other issues.
"It's not unusual to come together when it's merited by the public interest," Biskupic said.
The probe will also include the Milwaukee Police Department and the local office of the FBI, the Journal Sentinel said.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he welcomed the review.
"I remain optimistic they will find we ran a clean election in the city of Milwaukee," he said. "But if somebody broke the law, they should be prosecuted."
Meanwhile, the Journal Sentinel said a separate state audit that is to include a focus on Milwaukee election problems could be put into place as early Thursday.
Those problems ranged from registration cards that were not processed before the election to absentee ballots that were not counted until weeks after the election.
The newspaper also said a new review by it of the city's voting records shows that more than 300 people are listed as voting twice from the same address, even though each apparently was given only one ballot.
Lisa Artison, executive director of the city Election Commission, blamed a computer glitch, in which she said some already-registered voters who reregistered were listed twice, since the new card was not flagged as a duplicate when it was entered into the system.
She said the person received one ballot in these cases, and that ballot was counted once.
"We take voter fraud very seriously," Artison said. "If people are violating the system, we want to do everything we can to work with the district attorney to facilitate prosecution."
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Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com
Milwaukee DA says he, U.S. attorney probing possible voter fraud
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE - Local and federal law enforcement officials have launched a joint investigation into possible voter fraud in the Nov. 2 election, Milwaukee County's district attorney says.
E. Michael McCann said Wednesday that he and U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic had agreed to investigate together.
McCann's announcement came after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported finding that more than 1,200 votes Nov. 2 came from invalid addresses, with nearly 75 percent of those coming from people who registered at the polls. The newspaper said a sample of those showed about 20 percent could be explained by data entry errors, such as transposed digits.
The Journal Sentinel also said that 186 votes from invalid addresses were among about 5,600 addresses challenged before the election by the state Republican Party as nonexistent.
The district attorney told the newspaper that a group of prosecutors and investigators, including one with computer expertise, will try to "see if there was voter fraud or not. That's the major thrust."
Biskupic and McCann noted past and existing joint task forces on drugs, guns and other issues.
"It's not unusual to come together when it's merited by the public interest," Biskupic said.
The probe will also include the Milwaukee Police Department and the local office of the FBI, the Journal Sentinel said.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he welcomed the review.
"I remain optimistic they will find we ran a clean election in the city of Milwaukee," he said. "But if somebody broke the law, they should be prosecuted."
Meanwhile, the Journal Sentinel said a separate state audit that is to include a focus on Milwaukee election problems could be put into place as early Thursday.
Those problems ranged from registration cards that were not processed before the election to absentee ballots that were not counted until weeks after the election.
The newspaper also said a new review by it of the city's voting records shows that more than 300 people are listed as voting twice from the same address, even though each apparently was given only one ballot.
Lisa Artison, executive director of the city Election Commission, blamed a computer glitch, in which she said some already-registered voters who reregistered were listed twice, since the new card was not flagged as a duplicate when it was entered into the system.
She said the person received one ballot in these cases, and that ballot was counted once.
"We take voter fraud very seriously," Artison said. "If people are violating the system, we want to do everything we can to work with the district attorney to facilitate prosecution."
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Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com