Friday, Oct. 29, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.
A state investigation found no evidence of organized voter fraud, although there have been some cases where individuals faked voter registration forms in an attempt to earn more money, Secretary of State Dean Heller announced Thursday.
However, Heller said in a news release Thursday, some voter registration groups were paying people "based upon their performance in collecting voter registrations on a quota basis. At this time it appears that many of these organizations have become victims of their own employees obtaining money under false pretense."
The release -- which is an update of work performed by the Investigations Division of the Nevada Department of Public Safety -- does not name any groups or individuals.
"When the investigations division undertakes an investigation they don't usually give us bits and pieces. They usually give us the final conclusion," said Steve George, spokesman for the secretary of state's office. "In this case we asked specifically for an update on where things were because of the interest in this."
According to information on the Clark County Registrar's Web site, it is a state felony to "provide compensation for registering voters based upon the total number of voters a person registers or the total number of voters a person registers in a particular political party."
Heller said today as soon as he gets the complete report from the state Division of Investigations he will turn it over to the attorney general's office for possible criminal action.
"It will be in the hands of the attorney general and they will make the decision," he said.
He said he had no idea when the investigation division would complete its work.
Chris Carr, executive of the Nevada Republican Party, said he thinks the state should prosecute any group or individuals suspected of breaking the law.
"I hope they get to the bottom of this. Obviously bounties are illegal in this state," Carr said.
He said that Republicans collecting registration forms, and the groups paid by his organization, were told just that.
"We were very clear we do not pay by the form," Carr said.
Jon Summers, spokesman for the Democratic Party in Nevada, said "the whole voter registration issue is one we take very seriously. We're glad to see that Mr. Heller has also taken a serious approach to the issue."
In the news release, Heller also refers to a specific case regarding allegations in Nevada and other states against Voters Outreach of America, a group funded by the Republican National Committee. Those allegations were forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Nevada advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights also has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the allegations against Voters Outreach.
Eric Russell, a former employee of the group, alleges that he caught supervisors tearing up Democratic voter registration forms. Russell also said employees were paid by the number of Republican registration forms they turned in, and that they were instructed in ways to avoid registering Democrats.
In turn, Nathan Sproul, the Arizona Republican operative behind Voters Outreach, has sued Russell for slander.
Sproul has denied paying people by the form, tearing up registration applications or instructing his workers not to accept Democratic registration forms. He has said that workers used techniques such as asking someone for whom they planned to vote before asking them if they wanted to register, a tactic that does not appear to be illegal.
Russell's charges led to a Democratic lawsuit seeking to force the Clark County elections department to open registration briefly to allow those who claimed to be registered by Voters Outreach but never entered into the voter rolls to register.
That lawsuit was rejected, and Democrats have not said whether they would appeal.
Coverage of that story led to another lawsuit, which was rejected Thursday, in which an eligible voter tried to force his way onto the voter rolls.
Dwight Brandon, 44, claimed that his voter registration application was taken by a Republican field worker, but apparently never turned in. He is not registered to vote in Clark County.
Judge Sally Loehrer cited a lack of evidence and responsibility in making her decision to reject Brandon's request.
Brandon said he first became aware of the potential problem when he saw a television report on allegations of voter fraud. He said although his parents registered when he did, they showed up on the rolls and he did not.
She said affidavits filed by Brandon and a friend attesting to his version of events were not enough proof, and she noted that he did not even have a receipt from the voter registration form. In addition, she said, the affidavits put the date of registration on or about Aug. 20, but Brandon's parents registered Aug. 16.
Loehrer also pointed out that voter registration applications warn people that it's their responsibility to follow up by calling the elections department to make sure they've been registered.
A distraught Brandon said after the hearing that he thought the judge was unfair.
He said that he had nothing to gain in his attempt to get on the rolls, other than the right to vote, and he questioned why anyone would think he'd hold himself up for public ridicule by lying.
Andres Ramirez, with the group Voices for Working Families, which is helping Brandon's case, said that the judge unfairly expected Brandon to be sophisticated enough to realize that he could not trust voter registrars unless they were working for the elections department, and to know he had to check to make sure he was registered.
"Literacy is not a requirement for registration," he said. "They're essentially reinstituting a literacy requirement."
In the pre-Civil Rights era, many states would keep blacks from voting through poll taxes or literacy requirements.
Ramirez said he has other cases that he may bring to a court by Monday.
Brad Blakeslee, who said he is a part of the Republican National Committee and is in Las Vegas to serve as an election observer, said the judge's ruling was correct.
"The court correctly found that those facts that were alleged were without merit," Blakeslee said. "The Republicans consistently have held to (the statement) that we want to win at the ballot box, not at the courtroom."
Republicans are charging that the lawsuits are part of a Democratic tactic to lay the groundwork for challenging election results. Similar issues with voter registration rolls are alleged in Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and other swing states.
The stories about voter fraud have been a media topic for weeks, particularly in Nevada, where KLAS Channel 8 first reported Russell's claims Oct. 12.
Heller said voters' complaints this year are no different than in the past, he said. The major complaint at every election in his 10 years in office comes from people who thought they were registered to vote and were not.
The numbers during this election are no different than in the past, he said. For instance, he said, there was a voter registration drive at the Western Nevada Community College in Carson City and somebody forgot to turn in the names before the deadline.
"This is unfortunate but it is not fraud," he said. But what have been mishaps and unfortunate situations in the past turned into fraud allegations this year, he said.
Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said people who think they are registered but are not on the rolls can vote provisionally, a procedure allowed only in federal elections and used for the first time this year.
Also, people who did not bring identification can vote, as long as they show their ID to voting officials before 5 p.m. the Friday after voting.
Lomax said those votes will be reviewed after the election, and only people whose names are found on voter rolls will be counted.
Also on Thursday a Sparks couple petitioned the Nevada Supreme Court Thursday for the right to vote next Tuesday.
Eric and Traci Amberson said they registered as Democrats on Oct. 22 but they never got a sample ballot and discovered they weren't registered.
Asked whether Nevada was prepared to handle this election, given the intense interest, Heller replied, "Nevada is prepared, if not better prepared, than any other state."
Heller also said he intends to file criminal charges against anyone who interferes with a person's right to vote.
The law requires people who plan to ask an individual to vote for a candidate or those who want to interview voters after casting their ballots, must stay 100 feet away from the polling place entrance.
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