http://www.knowthyneighbor.org/index.htmlFraud alert!
Thousands may have been frauded by out-of-state, buck-a-signature petition circulators.
What happened?
The following scenarios have been reported:
Scenario 1 - Citizens were told they were signing the wine petition when the anti-gay marriage petition was actually presented.
Scenario 2 - Citizens were first asked to sign the wine petition and then asked to sign again on a second page. The second page was actually the anti-gay marriage petition.
Scenario 3 - Citizens were told they were signing a petition to protect gay marriage when it was actually the anti-gay marriage petition.
Who did it?
Petition sponsors VoteOnMarriage.org hired Arno Political Consultants, a California company that has been questioned on using fraudulent tactics across the nation, to collect signatures for the anti-gay marriage petition. Arno bussed and flew in workers from around the country and paid them $1.50 for each signature they collected.
Workers allegedly made up to $1200 per day and would brag about how they were able to fraud gay people into signing a petition to take their own rights away.
What can I do if I am a fraud victim?
Verify that you are listed as a signer of the anti-gay marriage petition and follow the instructions provided with the list for fraud victims.
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John Bonifaz' position (this op-ed was recently published in the Boston Globe. It is posted here in full with his permission).
"...As the state's chief elections officer, the secretary should have denied certification of this antigay measure until he had conducted a thorough investigation into these allegations. The public should be assured that our ballot initiative process is free of manipulation and deceit. At the present time, the evidence suggests it is not..." Dear Friends,
Our campaign for Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is in the news today.
Check out this Boston Globe op-ed in which I argue that the incumbent should not have certified the signatures for the anti-gay marriage ballot measure in light of significant documentation of fraud in the signature gathering process:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/12/22/fraud_taints_antigay_measureWe look forward to keeping you updated! Have a wonderful holiday season!
Keep on,
John
P.S. We need your help to move us forward! If you have not already done so, please contribute today at www.johnbonifaz.com, and please urge your friends and colleagues to join us as well. Massachusetts law allows individuals to contribute up to $500 per calendar year. Your contribution today, within this calendar year limit, is critical to help us demonstrate our early viability!
http://www.johnbonifaz.com/node/171 Fraud taints antigay measure
By John C. Bonifaz | December 22, 2005
ON TUESDAY, the secretary of the Commonwealth certified signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage that will begin a process to place the question on the 2008 ballot. He did this despite significant documentation of fraud in the signature-gathering process.
Within days after the signature-gathering began for this ballot measure, allegations surfaced throughout the state that signature collectors were using bait-and-switch tactics to deceive people into signing the petitions. MassEquality, a coalition defending equal marriage rights for same-sex couples in Massachusetts, fielded numerous complaints of signature collectors who asked people to sign a petition to allow the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores, and instead collected the actual signatures on the antigay marriage form.
In the ballot initiative process, the secretary of the Commonwealth has the responsibility of certifying the validity of those signatures presented to him to ensure legitimate support for the proposed question. The secretary should not merely rubberstamp the signatures presented and pass this issue on to the Legislature, where the amendment only needs 25 percent approval of a constitutional convention in two successive legislation sessions in order to appear on the 2008 ballot.
Rather, the secretary should fight to protect the integrity of the process. The antigay marriage ballot measure should not move forward in the face of these serious allegations of fraud. It is the secretary's responsibility to conduct an investigation that should include a check on a random sampling of the names presented. Individuals should be contacted to determine whether their signatures were valid. If the results of that investigation confirm that signature collectors committed fraud, the measure should not be allowed to proceed to the ballot.
From the ratification of the Massachusetts Constitution to open town meetings, direct democracy -- participation of the people -- has deep roots in the history of this Commonwealth. But, in order to maintain the people's trust, the process must be safeguarded against fraud. If people begin not to trust the fairness and legitimacy of the electoral process, our democracy is threatened.
In response to the multiple complaints about the use of deceptive practices with the antigay marriage ballot measure, state Senator Edward Augustus and state Representative Anthony Petruccelli, the co-chairs of the Legislature's Joint Committee on Election Laws, have put forward a bill (S. 2251) to help rout out fraud in the gathering of signatures for ballot questions. This bill is a necessary first step to protect the process for the future.
In this case, however, we are dealing with a proposed ballot measure -- one that would deny basic equality to a great many couples in Massachusetts -- that remains under a cloud of impropriety.
As the state's chief elections officer, the secretary should have denied certification of this antigay measure until he had conducted a thorough investigation into these allegations. The public should be assured that our ballot initiative process is free of manipulation and deceit. At the present time, the evidence suggests it is not.
John C. Bonifaz is the founder of the National Voting Rights Institute - www.nvri-org - and a Democratic candidate for Massachusetts secretary of state.
Also see www.johnbonifaz.com & www.afterdowningstreet.org
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