Terrance Watts, 40, pleaded guilty Monday to illegally casting absentee ballots in two Canton municipal elections in 2009.
Watts was convicted of forgery, a disenfranchising crime, in 2005 and has not had the right to vote restored by the Mississippi Legislature, but he voted in Canton’s primary and general elections.
“The crime was that Mr. Watts falsely swore to an Affidavit on an absentee ballot that he was a duly and qualified elector of Madison County, when he knew he was not,” Madison/Rankin District Attorney Michael Guest said in a news release.
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Showing posts with label Elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elections. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Two Democrats Charged in Tea Party Election Fraud
PONTIAC, Mich. (WJBK) - Two former leaders of the Oakland County Democratic Party are facing a total of nine felonies for allegedly forging election paperwork to get fake Tea Party candidates on November's ballot.
"It is not a partisan statement, and we need to make that very clear," said Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper.
Former Oakland County Democratic Chair Mike McGuinness and former Democratic Operations Director Jason Bauer face up to 14 years in prison if convicted.
"Some of the people didn't even know they were on the ballot till they began receiving delinquency notices of filings that were required as a candidate," said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.
The sheriff says 23 statewide races had questionable Tea Party candidates on the ballot and the investigation may go beyond Oakland County.
"It is not a partisan statement, and we need to make that very clear," said Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper.
Former Oakland County Democratic Chair Mike McGuinness and former Democratic Operations Director Jason Bauer face up to 14 years in prison if convicted.
"Some of the people didn't even know they were on the ballot till they began receiving delinquency notices of filings that were required as a candidate," said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.
The sheriff says 23 statewide races had questionable Tea Party candidates on the ballot and the investigation may go beyond Oakland County.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Candidate for Madison County Superintendent hasn't lived in the county
Madison County eyes residency of schools candidate
Independent says he's looking for home so he'll meet qualifications
Madison County election officials want the independent candidate for superintendent of education to prove he lives in the county.
"His residency is the question at hand," District 5 Election Commissioner Leroy Lacy said.
The commission, meeting last week, asked its attorney, Spence Flatgard, to write Patrick Henderson and ask him to show proof of Madison County residency no later than June. The commission is charged with determining whether independent candidates meet the qualifications to appear on the ballot.
One of the legal requirements for the post is being a "qualified elector," which means the candidate has to be a registered voter. That requires residing in Madison County for at least 30 days.
The question is whether Henderson is a resident of Madison County and whether he should be registered to vote there, Flatgard said.
Henderson, an assistant principal at Kosciusko High School, filed qualifying papers for the education post Feb. 14 but did not register to vote in Madison County until March 1, the qualifying deadline for candidates.
In his voter registration, he listed his address as Stumpbridge Road in Canton, the same as on his qualifying papers. That address is his father's.
Independent says he's looking for home so he'll meet qualifications
Madison County election officials want the independent candidate for superintendent of education to prove he lives in the county.
"His residency is the question at hand," District 5 Election Commissioner Leroy Lacy said.
The commission, meeting last week, asked its attorney, Spence Flatgard, to write Patrick Henderson and ask him to show proof of Madison County residency no later than June. The commission is charged with determining whether independent candidates meet the qualifications to appear on the ballot.
One of the legal requirements for the post is being a "qualified elector," which means the candidate has to be a registered voter. That requires residing in Madison County for at least 30 days.
The question is whether Henderson is a resident of Madison County and whether he should be registered to vote there, Flatgard said.
Henderson, an assistant principal at Kosciusko High School, filed qualifying papers for the education post Feb. 14 but did not register to vote in Madison County until March 1, the qualifying deadline for candidates.
In his voter registration, he listed his address as Stumpbridge Road in Canton, the same as on his qualifying papers. That address is his father's.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Study Finds 5,000 Non-Citizens Likely Voted in Colorado
Chairman of House Subcommittee on Elections Pledges Review of Voter Registration Processes After a Recent Study by Colorado Secretary of State Revealed 12,000 Non-Citizens Registered to Vote in 2010 Elections and 5,000 Likely Voted
WASHINGTON – Today, Subcommittee on Elections Chairman Gregg Harper, R-Miss., issued the following statement announcing a review of state voter registration processes after a recent Colorado study revealed that as many as 5,000 non-citizens voted in Colorado during the 2010 elections:
“This report is extremely troubling and cause for a thorough review of the current registration processes implemented across the country, which I guarantee will be a priority for this Subcommittee. It also calls into question each state’s ability to enforce current voting laws and whether or not we need to pursue additional measures to better protect the integrity of our electoral process.”
According to the study conducted by the Colorado Secretary of State in conjunction with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, 11,805 non-citizens registered to vote in the 2010 elections and 4,947 voted. The report also finds that without access to federal citizenship data, the state is unable to identify and remove non-citizens from its voter rolls.
WASHINGTON – Today, Subcommittee on Elections Chairman Gregg Harper, R-Miss., issued the following statement announcing a review of state voter registration processes after a recent Colorado study revealed that as many as 5,000 non-citizens voted in Colorado during the 2010 elections:
“This report is extremely troubling and cause for a thorough review of the current registration processes implemented across the country, which I guarantee will be a priority for this Subcommittee. It also calls into question each state’s ability to enforce current voting laws and whether or not we need to pursue additional measures to better protect the integrity of our electoral process.”
According to the study conducted by the Colorado Secretary of State in conjunction with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, 11,805 non-citizens registered to vote in the 2010 elections and 4,947 voted. The report also finds that without access to federal citizenship data, the state is unable to identify and remove non-citizens from its voter rolls.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
KF tackles inconsistencies in the Hatch Act and the Madison County race for Sheriff
The issue of the Hatch Act reared its head when Public Safety Commissioner announced he is running for Attorney General and was mentioned in a newspaper article covering the Madison County Sheriff's race. The Hatch Act prohibits government employees from running for public office. The question that usually arises is whether state or local government employees are covered by the law. The Office of Special Counsel states on its website a covered employee is:
"An officer or employee of a state or local agency is subject to the Hatch Act if, as a normal and foreseeable incident of his principal position or job, he performs duties in connection with an activity financed in whole or in part by federal funds. Coverage is not dependent on whether the employee actually administers the funds or has policy duties with respect to them. However, an employee may have other duties in connection with federally funded programs or activities, and thus may be covered by the Hatch Act, even though he does not apply for or administer federal loans or grants or have any authority or discretion over the federal funding." Special Counsel FAQ's, Federal Law
Considering how many local law enforcement agencies receive federal dollars for communications systems, Homeland Security, anti-drug programs, and supplementing salaries, the Hatch Act probably applies to some or all of those who have filed qualifying papers for the Madison County Sheriff election: Ridgeland Police Chief Jimmy Houston and Madison County Deputies Randall Tucker, Brad D. Harbour and Mark Sandridge.
Read More at Jackson Jambalaya
"An officer or employee of a state or local agency is subject to the Hatch Act if, as a normal and foreseeable incident of his principal position or job, he performs duties in connection with an activity financed in whole or in part by federal funds. Coverage is not dependent on whether the employee actually administers the funds or has policy duties with respect to them. However, an employee may have other duties in connection with federally funded programs or activities, and thus may be covered by the Hatch Act, even though he does not apply for or administer federal loans or grants or have any authority or discretion over the federal funding." Special Counsel FAQ's, Federal Law
Considering how many local law enforcement agencies receive federal dollars for communications systems, Homeland Security, anti-drug programs, and supplementing salaries, the Hatch Act probably applies to some or all of those who have filed qualifying papers for the Madison County Sheriff election: Ridgeland Police Chief Jimmy Houston and Madison County Deputies Randall Tucker, Brad D. Harbour and Mark Sandridge.
Read More at Jackson Jambalaya
Monday, January 10, 2011
Special Elections to go ahead as planned
Special elections for Northern Transportation Commissioner, and to replace the seats left open by Senator Alan Nunelee and Representative Steven Palzzo will reportedly go on as planned tomorrow despite snow and sleet across the state yesterday.
Secretary of State Delbert Hoseman said his office would plan to hold the elections as scheduled unless Governor Barbour decided otherwise. Barbour spokesman Dan Turner said Sunday the governor would make a decision today, based on whether roads are expected to be clear Tuesday.
Secretary of State Delbert Hoseman said his office would plan to hold the elections as scheduled unless Governor Barbour decided otherwise. Barbour spokesman Dan Turner said Sunday the governor would make a decision today, based on whether roads are expected to be clear Tuesday.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
A Society of Beggars? Obama Battles Reagan
Obama or Reagan.
In the end, that's the choice.
As the country enters the final week of what may be the most important election in a lifetime, these two presidents and their starkly differing visions of America are at the center of what has become a political earthquake.
Barack Obama, of course, would seem to have the advantage. He is the flesh-and-blood sitting president of the moment, with actual, real-time command of the White House and all the accompanying assets that includes. Air Force One responds to his beck and call, along with the helicopters, shiny limousines, the staff and the entire executive branch of the United States government. Not to mention the total control his party has had over the House and Senate. The seal may have fallen off his podium the other week, but no matter. As he accurately pointed out, everyone does indeed know exactly who he is.
A bit late, some would say. Amid all the exuberance about electing a man because of his skin color was a deliberate refusal to understand that this particular man was a hard-core radical leftist. For some, the knowledge of just what then-Senator Obama intended to do if elected president was apparently hard to discern. For others, electing a man who had sat in the pews of Jeremiah Wright's church for twenty years and launched his first campaign from the living room of Weatherman terrorist Bill Ayers was an appallingly dangerous mistake.
What else, they now ask, could America possibly have expected?
The unexpected answer?
An infinitely better understanding of both Ronald Reagan and the conservative principles he championed. An understanding borne of new experience for this latest generation as it struggles to grasp the hard reality of what Reagan himself learned the hard way: if socialism, statism, and government planning had the necessary answers to America's problems, those problems would have been resolved long ago.
And Ronald Reagan, passed into death and history six years earlier, vanished from any active public life by Alzheimer's a full decade before that, would not be on the cusp of a mammoth centennial birthday celebration three months and four days from this election.
Obama and Reagan have become the face of each side's arguments in 2010, the personification of the now furious struggle between statism -- the supremacy of the state, as Mark Levin succinctly describes the goal of the left in Liberty and Tyranny -- and individual freedom and liberty.
The New York Times says that "Washington is on the brink of a substantial shift in the balance of power." Poll after poll after poll indicates the GOP is in some fashion on the edge of a tidal wave sweeping the country.
Which is to say Reagan is poised to beat Obama.
But if this turns out to be true -- if Republicans do in fact re-take the House and fire Nancy Pelosi, if they upend Harry Reid and begin flooding the Senate with conservatives -- why? Why will this have happened? And is that the end of this ferocious battle? Can we all just go home now?
The answers are as predictable as they were easy to reject by all manner of self-proclaimed political savants who really did think America had parted ways with both Reagan and conservatives.
Ronald Reagan saw America as a "shining city upon a hill." It was beyond foolish for Obama and Democrats to dismiss this as some sort of old news -- irrelevant, hokey, out of date. To dismiss Reagan and his vision is to totally misread America, its culture, and exactly how Americans see both their country and themselves. And more to the point, how Americans have seen themselves right from the moment the first Pilgrims stepped off the boat at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620.
Read More: AS
In the end, that's the choice.
As the country enters the final week of what may be the most important election in a lifetime, these two presidents and their starkly differing visions of America are at the center of what has become a political earthquake.
Barack Obama, of course, would seem to have the advantage. He is the flesh-and-blood sitting president of the moment, with actual, real-time command of the White House and all the accompanying assets that includes. Air Force One responds to his beck and call, along with the helicopters, shiny limousines, the staff and the entire executive branch of the United States government. Not to mention the total control his party has had over the House and Senate. The seal may have fallen off his podium the other week, but no matter. As he accurately pointed out, everyone does indeed know exactly who he is.
A bit late, some would say. Amid all the exuberance about electing a man because of his skin color was a deliberate refusal to understand that this particular man was a hard-core radical leftist. For some, the knowledge of just what then-Senator Obama intended to do if elected president was apparently hard to discern. For others, electing a man who had sat in the pews of Jeremiah Wright's church for twenty years and launched his first campaign from the living room of Weatherman terrorist Bill Ayers was an appallingly dangerous mistake.
What else, they now ask, could America possibly have expected?
The unexpected answer?
An infinitely better understanding of both Ronald Reagan and the conservative principles he championed. An understanding borne of new experience for this latest generation as it struggles to grasp the hard reality of what Reagan himself learned the hard way: if socialism, statism, and government planning had the necessary answers to America's problems, those problems would have been resolved long ago.
And Ronald Reagan, passed into death and history six years earlier, vanished from any active public life by Alzheimer's a full decade before that, would not be on the cusp of a mammoth centennial birthday celebration three months and four days from this election.
Obama and Reagan have become the face of each side's arguments in 2010, the personification of the now furious struggle between statism -- the supremacy of the state, as Mark Levin succinctly describes the goal of the left in Liberty and Tyranny -- and individual freedom and liberty.
The New York Times says that "Washington is on the brink of a substantial shift in the balance of power." Poll after poll after poll indicates the GOP is in some fashion on the edge of a tidal wave sweeping the country.
Which is to say Reagan is poised to beat Obama.
But if this turns out to be true -- if Republicans do in fact re-take the House and fire Nancy Pelosi, if they upend Harry Reid and begin flooding the Senate with conservatives -- why? Why will this have happened? And is that the end of this ferocious battle? Can we all just go home now?
The answers are as predictable as they were easy to reject by all manner of self-proclaimed political savants who really did think America had parted ways with both Reagan and conservatives.
Ronald Reagan saw America as a "shining city upon a hill." It was beyond foolish for Obama and Democrats to dismiss this as some sort of old news -- irrelevant, hokey, out of date. To dismiss Reagan and his vision is to totally misread America, its culture, and exactly how Americans see both their country and themselves. And more to the point, how Americans have seen themselves right from the moment the first Pilgrims stepped off the boat at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620.
Read More: AS
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