Voter Registration Fraud - California
Voters in California claim they were tricked into registering as Republicans by a group called Young Political Majors. According to the LA Times:
Those who were formerly Democrats may stop receiving phone calls and literature from that party, perhaps affecting its get-out-the-vote efforts. They also will be given only a Republican ballot in the next primary election if they do not switch their registration back before then.
Some also report having their registration status changed to absentee without their permission; if they show up at the polls without a ballot they may be unable to vote.
Apparently, registrations were changed during a petition drive outside of grocery stores:
Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed.
“I am not a Republican,” insisted Karen Ashcraft, 47, a pet-clinic manager and former Democrat from Ventura who said she was duped by a signature gatherer into joining the GOP. “I certainly . . . won’t sign anything in front of a grocery store ever again.”
An AP story posted in the Mercury News informs readers that the founder of Young Political Majors was arrested over the weekend on (generally) unrelated charges:
Mark Anthony Jacoby, who owns the firm Young Political Majors, is accused of registering himself to vote twice— in 2006 and in 2007— using the address of a childhood home in Los Angeles where he no longer lived.
The Secretary of State’s Office said Jacoby used the address to meet a state requirement that signature-gatherers sign a declaration stating that they are either registered to vote in California or are eligible to do so.
State investigators and local police arrested Jacoby shortly before midnight Saturday near an Ontario hotel on a warrant issued by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office earlier this month.
Jacoby faces four felony charges: two counts of voter registration fraud and two counts of perjury. Voter registration fraud carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.
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