Alabama Investigates Democratic Voter Fraud

Democrats usually claim that voter fraud doesn't exist, or at least that it is not a big problem. After all, everyone knows that Republicans just want to suppress the black vote, right? Well, Alabama is getting national attention today for claims of voter fraud in its June 3 non-presidential primary elections. I'll give you two guesses as to which side likely broke election laws, but you'll only need one:

In May, a local citizens group gathered affidavits detailing several cases in which at least one Democratic county official paid citizens for their votes, or encouraged them to vote multiple times. The affidavits were presented to state officials in Montgomery, the capital, and after the June 3 primary, the Alabama attorney general, Troy King, a Republican, seized voting records from the primary election in Bullock, Lowndes and Perry Counties. [...]

Ms. Chapman also raised questions about the possible abuse of absentee ballots. In the election on June 3, a quarter of the voters here [Perry County?], 1,114, cast absentee ballots, a percentage that is six times the state average and a figure that Ms. Chapman called "astronomical." In Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham and has 60 times Perry County’s population of 10,600, there were 365 absentee ballots. [...]

Some Democrats here say the inquiries are motivated by racism and partisanship.

"The Republican Party has an unscripted mandate to target Democratic counties, and African-Americans particularly," said Albert Turner Jr., a county commissioner here.

Mr. Turner’s father, a local civil rights hero, was tried and acquitted on vote fraud charges 23 years ago. The younger Mr. Turner was photographed talking to voters in a polling place in the National Guard Armory throughout the day on June 3, when he was a candidate for re-election.

How sadly typical. A black man likely breaks the law and his first defense is to yell "Raaaaacists!" I believe this is the same Albert Turner Jr. who punched a woman at a Perry County Commissioners meeting and who has been obsessed with vilifying whites for his entire career. I don't know why anyone would want this man to represent them even on a simple county commission, but that too is sadly typical.

Alabama seems to have hit the voter fraud trifecta: absentee ballot irregularities, candidate misbehavior, and good old fashioned voter intimidation. Wouldn't it be a nice change if someone were actually prosecuted for it?

posted by Gabriel Malor at 12:00 PM

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