Presentation On Voter Registration Fraud To The House Committee On Elections
Presented by: Paul Bettencourt Tax Assessor-Collector Harris County, Texas January 25, 2008
Problems In The News
Texas Relies On The Honor System
381 Voter Fraud Cases Found in Harris County
2000 General Election, 61 Fraudulent VR Application Cards Received Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrar – Plead Guilty to Felony Charges 2004 Primary Election, 175 Fraudulent VR Application Cards Requested Amadi Campaign for State Rep. District 137 2007 May Election, 121 Fraudulent VR Application Cards Requested 121 VR application cards listing a Dashwood Street address postmarked from El Paso with the same hand writing – Under Investigation 1994 to 2000, Various Elections 24 Examples of deceased registered voters with voter history after death (2 voted twice)
Citizenship Open Record Requests in Harris County
Houston Chronicle: January 2005 35 Non-Citizens Voting in 2004 Presidential Election Conservative Coalition: March 2007 3,742 Voter Registrations Cancelled for Citizenship Reasons from 1992 to March 2007 Rep. Anchia: December 2007 315 Voters Cancelled for Citizenship Reasons (22 voted, 4 errors)
Note: 6,158 VR Applications from 2004 to present rejected for checking the citizenship “No” box
Previous Testimony Of Harris County Tax Office on VR Issues
Paul Bettencourt: June 2006 Harris County TAC testifies for citizenship list at Federal level to be used as verification for voter registrars Harris County Tax Office Personnel: Spring 2007 Presenting various voter records cancelled with voting history to State Legislature
Current Public Policy Issues for Voter Registration
Lack of Citizenship List for Automatic Verifications Continuing TEAM (Statewide VR System) problems, especially with the effective date of registrations and street guide addresses could potentially affect thousands of voters in November Data entry error rates high due to required use of temporary employees authorized by Chapter 19, and Secretary of State’s Office Note: 2,186,378 Documents Imaged in HCTO from 2004 to Present
Why is all this important in November?
1. The Harris County Tax Office alone, will this year add approximately 200,000 new voters and make an equal number of changes to existing voter registrations. Voter registration fraud can easily go undetected during a period of high work load application processing, such as in advance of the Presidential Election. Voter fraud can impact the outcome of elections, for example, a Pasadena City Council Member was elected by one vote in 2005 after the first election was tied! It is essential to the public that integrity of the voter roll must be maintained.
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Closing Remarks
Fact: Voter fraud has occurred in Harris County, Texas. The 381 voter fraud cases prove it. The opportunity for voter fraud is significant. In recent oral arguments in the Indiana case, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Roberts posed the question: “Well, don’t you think if you have voter rolls with a significant number of bad registrants, either dead or duplicates, that that presents a significant potential for fraud?” After plaintiff’s counsel responded “It’s certainly possible…, Justice Scalia commented, “I’d say likely.” The Texas Legislature should make stopping voter fraud a priority in the upcoming 81st Legislative Session.