By Kenric Ward | Watchdog.org Virginia Bureau

FREDERICKSBURG — While Virginia’s attorney general investigates the activity of a rogue Republican voter-registration worker, Democratic election officials across the border in Maryland are turning a blind eye to thousands of reported cases of potential voter fraud in that state.

Election Integrity Maryland, a nonpartisan group, says it has identified some 11,000 “irregularities” on voting rolls around the state. The cases include hundreds of dead people, as well as voters who have moved decades ago, but remain on the rolls at their vacated addresses.

EIM says the state’s slow-moving bureaucracy leaves Maryland open to wide-scale vote fraud.

Read full story at Watchdog.org

New group is training poll watchers to guard against fraud and irregularities
by Cathy Kelleher, The Baltimore Sun, September 17, 2012

Election fraud strikes at the heart of our political system and threatens our freedom. When fraudulent votes cancel out legal votes, our rights as citizens are diminished. Free and fair elections are our American birthright, and citizen initiatives to safeguard voter integrity are a welcome development, supporting and supplementing the work of boards of elections across the country.

In a state such as Maryland, where voter ID is not required, the administration of polls is critical to the success of an election that is free of irregularities. This is the goal of Election Integrity Maryland (EIM).

What is an irregularity? It can be a clerical or mechanical error. It can also be a misunderstanding or an intentional misrepresentation.

Added to this, the antiquated voter rolls of many states add a layer of uncertainty and leave the door at least partially open for the possibility of voter fraud. In February, The Pew Center on the States issued a report, “Inaccurate, Costly and Inefficient,” stating: “Approximately 24 million voter registrations in the United States — one of every eight — are no longer valid or have significant inaccuracies … Nearly 2 million deceased individuals are listed as voters. Approximately 2.75 million people have registrations in more than one state. About 12 million records have incorrect addresses …”

Poll watchers and challengers are an integral part of the Maryland election system and the laws that govern it and provide an added level of protection against irregularities at the polls.

Election Integrity Maryland created our training strictly following the regulations outlined by the Maryland State Board of Elections. In fact, our training guide was reviewed and approved by the board.

Our poll watchers are trained in a two-hour webinar; there is no pre-screening of registrants. We invite volunteers statewide to undergo the training and receive a “diploma” demonstrating they have completed their training and are prepared to serve in the polls.

EIM is nonpartisan. Once trained, our volunteers are encouraged to contact candidates, central committees or interest groups (e.g., parties on either side of the various referendums that will be present on the upcoming ballot) of their choice to volunteer to represent their interest in polling locations throughout the state. In essence, our trained poll watchers become the eyes and ears of the candidates, central committees or interest groups.

In contrast to what some have asserted, our volunteers are not focusing on largely minority precincts. On the day of the general election, poll watchers will be on hand mostly in their own precincts or districts, whether minority precincts or otherwise.

Volunteer poll watchers have just one item on their job description: observation. Poll watchers are not allowed to interact with voters. They are limited to speaking only with chief judges. They will take notes if they see something that appears out of the ordinary; note zero counts on the voting machines before voting commences; observe the placement of tamper tape at the end of the day; and note if anyone who requires assistance in voting does not receive it (or if a poll worker provides “too much” assistance).

No one in Maryland is prevented from voting. If someone is mistakenly omitted from the voter rolls, the voter is offered a provisional ballot and the Board of Elections will straighten out the confusion at the close of the election. If someone shows up at the wrong location, he or she will be instructed where their correct voting location is.

The goal of Election Integrity Maryland is to be a “help mate” of the election process in Maryland. We are not adversaries. While EIM is modeled after the True the Vote initiative begun in Houston in 2010, EIM has no official relationship with True the Vote. EIM is a nonprofit, 501(c) 4 corporation.

The Board of Elections, Election Integrity Maryland, True the Vote and the American people all want the same thing: an election where the outcome is not suspected of being manipulated by any person, party or special-interest group.

Cathy Kelleher is president of Election Integrity Maryland. c.kelleher@electionintegritymaryland.com.

by Marta Hummel Mossburg | The Maryland Public Policy Institute

Voter fraud is not funny. But it was almost comic to watch earlier this week Maryland Democrats sanctimoniously drop Wendy Rosen, the candidate running against Republican Rep. Andy Harris in the 1st Congressional District.

From Yvette Lewis, Maryland Democratic Party Chair:

“Today, the Maryland Democratic Party took immediate and decisive action and demanded the withdrawal of Wendy Rosen as nominee for US Representative in the 1st Congressional District after allegations of electoral law violations were brought to our attention. In addition, at my direction, the Maryland Democratic Party submitted a letter to the Attorney General and State Prosecutor outlining all information regarding the alleged violations. Any effort to corrupt or misuse the electoral process is reprehensible, wrong and must not be tolerated.

I guess that is why Ms. Lewis and fellow Democrats are such strong supporters of voter identification laws.

Ooops! That’s right, they call those “voter suppression” laws because voting is so important only a person’s word is necessary to protect it.  Read full article at mdpolicy.org

By Michael Swartz | Examiner.com

The good-government advocate group Election Integrity Maryland took another step forward in their effort to cull out errors in the Maryland voter registration database, announcing a challenge to over 1,000 more registrations in Montgomery County. Generally the group has found fault with duplicate names at the same address, but has also found voters registered at addresses which are vacant lots and a lack of attention to removing deceased voters from the rolls.

“We have asked all of the Boards to keep us apprised of the progress they make to ensure that Maryland’s voter rolls are up-to-date prior to the next election,” said EIM president Cathy Kelleher. Read full article at Examiner.com

By Bryan P. Sears | Reisterstown Patch

The voter rolls of Baltimore County contain the registrations of deceased voters as well as voters registered to duplicate and invalid addresses, according to a Maryland voter fraud watchdog organization.

Election Integrity Maryland Friday submitted a challenge to 828 voter registrations because of alleged irregularities.

“We’re bringing these to [the county Board of Elections] in the hopes it will make it easier for them to remove these registrations,” said Cathy Kelleher, president of the non-profit, non-partisan organization. “We’re trying to help the system,” she said.

Kelleher said that the irregularities, in some cases, could allow a voter to cast ballots in two different locations.
Read full article at Reisterstown Patch

By Doug Mainwaring | American Thinker

The loud Tea Party summer of 2009 was the visible, audible manifestation of a seismic event: the birth pangs of a huge network of grassroots activists from coast to coast.

It was the sound of unconscionable government growth and spending careening out of control, crashing against the consciences of stalwart citizens. It was the sound of a multitude of Americans suddenly and unexpectedly experiencing in unison an “Aha!” moment, as they finally began to grasp in a very real and experiential way what Thomas Jefferson meant when he said, “No government can continue good, but under the control of the people.”

The reason you don’t hear much about Tea Partiers on the nightly news nowadays is because they are hard at work, focused like laser beams on a broad spectrum of causes and tasks. The thirteen percent of voters who self-identify as members of the Tea Party movement (Rasmussen), together with a host of other fiscal and social conservatives, have rolled up their sleeves and have gone to work.

The very blue State of Maryland is a great case in point, demonstrating the gamut of Tea Party-inspired activism. For years, Maryland conservatives have been pushed to the margins and had pretty much adopted the white flag as their banner. They are now fighting their way back to relevance with renewed vigor and are making a difference on many fronts. This story of Tea Party success is being repeated in state after state. Continue reading →

Election Integrity Maryland (EIM) founders Cathy Kelleher and Cathy Trauernicht were interviewed on National Public Radio’s (NPR) All Things Considered program. Additionally, NPR has posted an article about EIM’s efforts to uncover voter fraud on their website. The audio of the interview and excerpt from the article follow.
Full article at NPR.

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by Pam Fessler | NPR

As part of a new campaign, dozens of citizen groups around the country are searching voter registration lists, looking for problems.

They’re also training poll watchers to monitor this fall’s elections.

Leaders of the effort — spawned by the Tea Party movement — say they want to make sure that elections are free from voter fraud. But critics say it’s part of a campaign to suppress the votes of minorities, students and others who tend to vote Democratic.

Cathy Kelleher and Cathy Trauernicht say that’s not true. They’re founders of Election Integrity Maryland, one of the groups involved. They call themselves concerned citizens. Read full story at NPR