The Sound of Crickets: Conservative Sites Silent about GOP Voter-Registration Fraud

[babylonsister]

http://prospect.org/article/sound-crickets-conservative-sites-silent-about-gop-voter-registration-fraud

The Sound of Crickets: Conservative Sites Silent about GOP Voter-Registration Fraud
Abby Rapoport
October 5, 2012


ACORN's minor offenses became the right-wing scandal of the century. Nathan Sproul's voter-registration fraud on behalf of the GOP elicits absolute silence from the Breitbarts and Drudges.



What began last week as a trickle—a report from the Palm Beach Post that the Florida Republican Party was cutting ties with a firm that turned in "questionable" voter-registration forms in one county—has now grown into a pretty ugly flood. Turns out the Florida GOP paid the firm, Strategic Allied Consulting, to do voter registration, while the Republican National Committee paid the same firm millions to register voters in four other battleground states: Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada, and Colorado. The group allegedly submitted forms with dead voters' information and fake information—and in some cases, may have changed voters' party affiliations to Republican without alerting the voters. More disturbing, the firm the Republicans were paying, Strategic Allied Consulting, is one of several that GOP consultant Nathan Sproul has run over the last decade. Along the way, Sproul's companies have been accused of everything from refusing to register Democratic voters to shredding the voter-registration forms of Democrats. Yet Sproul continued to get lucrative contracts from the GOP. And the conservative media has had precious little to say about it.

Josh Marshall called the news a "thunderclap of schadenfreude" and it's hard to think of a more apt description. Republicans and their media backers have long criticized mass voter-registration drives, often pushed by progressive—if not necessarily partisan—groups. The 2008 ACORN voter registration non-scandal has been a cultural touchstone for the right. But what's alleged against Sproul and Srategic Allied Consulting is is far more serious.

snip//

The efforts by the Republican Party and Sproul are significantly more disturbing than ACORN's error-prone registration cards, primarily because these incidents could affect election outcomes. The consultant, Nathan Sproul, had already established himself as a shady character in 2004, when one of his previous companies, Voters Outreach of America, was accused of major legal violations, including destroying Democrats' voter-registration forms and refusing to register non-Republicans. By destroying Democratic voter registrations, as Sproul's group allegedly did, people who believe themselves to be registered could be turned away at the polls. Furthermore, the track record of accusations, including the suspicious forms turned in this year, seem to indicate a top-down policy of the Republican Party more than poor decision-making by some low-level canvassers.

When the news broke, the Republican National Committee ended its relationship with Sproul. But that left an obvious question: If Sproul was accused of such suspicious activities in 2004, why was the RNC still doing business with him? After making a total of $8 million in 2004, Sproul had already made $3 million this year from the RNC alone. (He was also getting six-figure checks from several state parties, as Lee Fang reports.)

snip//

Given how loudly these media sites have criticized legitimate and non-partisan voter registration drives for mistakes, in some cases effectively ending the efforts with a barrage of negative press, the silence here speaks volumes. Here is an actual example of the activity so many GOP activists are constantly searching for: evidence of voter- registration drives being used for partisan purposes.

But then again, there's likely no time to write about a genuine case of voter registration manipulation when you're so busy producing new stories about President Obama's relation to ACORN, a group that no longer exists, five years after the fact.

[Tigress DEM]

1. But it ain't ILLEGAL when WE do it.

Our activities only target "thems who shouldn't be voting anyways" sheeeeet. Don't you know nuthin?

[Bigredhunk]

2. A) We Don't Have The Same Strength In Our Media Outlets, &

B) The "mainstream media" doesn't carry our water for us.

[wakemewhenitsover]

3. Such a good point.

Another link in the long chain of double-standards that are a way of life with Republicans.

[ck4829]

4. What happened to the integrity of our elections? I thought voter fraud was the most important issue.

GOP?

[daybranch]

5. A bigger fraud

A false Advertizement on this page is a plea to vote No on Issue 2 and keep Judges out of elections.Issue 2 actually puts accountability to voters in our elections in Ohio for the Federal House of Representatives. This is a very important measure and is to reomve the gerymandering from future elections. If we want fair elections where we can hold our representatives accountable, get rid of the rigging, stop much of the fighting between extremists and others, then we have to vote yes. It is not the role of judges in ensuring thatpeople are of the party they claim to be put on this equally weighted board but rather the loss of the power of the party in control to maintain that control regardless of their performance. Vote yes on issue 2 in Ohio . Tell your friends and neighbors what it is about. A large majority of people of both parties and independents favor it when they learn what it is.It is crucial for future elections.

[chuckstevens]

6. ACRON

ACORN! The Sky is Falling! ACORN! Illegals are Voting in our elections! ACORN! Dead Democrats voting just like the election of 1960!

Nathan Sproul? Never heard of him.

[ibegurpard]

7. you act surprised...

[panzerfaust]

8. That's the Liberal Media for you.

Just like always.

"Remember the Maine!"

Remember too that when the reporter Hearst sent to Cuba in the wake of her sinking wrote him that there was no news, and certainly no war, to cover and that he was heading home - Hearst cabled back "Please remain. You supply the pictures, and I'll supply the war."

"WMD" have long been a tool used by those who actually run this nation, to get the rest of us to do their bidding.

Iran is clearly next.

[Chipper Chat]

9. That aside,

Notice the price of the paper in the top right corner: one cent!

[SCVDem]

10. This manner of voter fraud

Should have the death penalty!

Any arguments?

[Coyotl]

11. There is a verb for this type of voter registration fraud, "Sprouling"

No wonder they keep hiring the guy

[malaise]

12. Yep I've asked about the silence

Sickening. It's a fugging media cover-up.

[JNelson6563]

13. Yes, the silence is deafening.

They are such miserable wretches.