State probes voter registration drive
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Secretary of State Jay Dardenne said Tuesday he will meet today with a Democrat-affiliated group responsible for a voter registration effort that is inundating East Baton Rouge and other parish registrars with bogus and incomplete applications.
Dardenne said his investigators are trying to determine if any state election laws have been violated as thousands of voter registration cards have been dumped on registrars offices through the efforts of VIP.
“We have some very real concerns about the data we are getting from them,” Dardenne said.
VIP is a Washington, D.C., group hired by national Democrats to register some 70,000 new voters in advance of the presidential and other federal elections this fall.
“With an effort this big there’s always going to be glitches and problems along these lines,” said Brian Welsh, communications director for the Democrats’ Louisiana Victory 2008.
“Obviously, we are ready to work with the registrars of each parish to make sure it’s going as efficiently as possible.”
State Republican Party chairman Roger Villere on Tuesday called for Dardenne to investigate. Dardenne said he already had a probe well under way.
Dardenne met Tuesday with East Baton Rouge Registrar of Voters Elaine Lamb and registrars from Jefferson, Orleans and Caddo, where the effort has largely been targeted.
The registration cards must be checked out and that’s putting a major burden on the office staffs, Dardenne said.
Dardenne said cards are being submitted for people already on the voter rolls and “a significant percentage are being submitted without necessary information to register someone and “blatantly false information.
Two cards received in Caddo Parish had George W. Bush as the voter applicant with a 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. address in Shreveport, Dardenne said. Other cards have been filed for prisoners who cannot vote and dead people. In Jefferson Parish, a voter registration card was filed for the registrar of voters.
“We want to safeguard the integrity of the process by making sure any group seeking to register Louisiana voters provide specific information and it’s not bogging down registrars offices with work premised on false information,” Dardenne said.
He said staff assistance and training will be forthcoming from his office “to deal with what we believe are going to be increases in voter registration leading up to the fall presidential election.”
Dardenne said his investigators are trying to determine if any state election laws have been violated as thousands of voter registration cards have been dumped on registrars offices through the efforts of VIP.
“We have some very real concerns about the data we are getting from them,” Dardenne said.
VIP is a Washington, D.C., group hired by national Democrats to register some 70,000 new voters in advance of the presidential and other federal elections this fall.
“With an effort this big there’s always going to be glitches and problems along these lines,” said Brian Welsh, communications director for the Democrats’ Louisiana Victory 2008.
“Obviously, we are ready to work with the registrars of each parish to make sure it’s going as efficiently as possible.”
State Republican Party chairman Roger Villere on Tuesday called for Dardenne to investigate. Dardenne said he already had a probe well under way.
Dardenne met Tuesday with East Baton Rouge Registrar of Voters Elaine Lamb and registrars from Jefferson, Orleans and Caddo, where the effort has largely been targeted.
The registration cards must be checked out and that’s putting a major burden on the office staffs, Dardenne said.
Dardenne said cards are being submitted for people already on the voter rolls and “a significant percentage are being submitted without necessary information to register someone and “blatantly false information.
Two cards received in Caddo Parish had George W. Bush as the voter applicant with a 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. address in Shreveport, Dardenne said. Other cards have been filed for prisoners who cannot vote and dead people. In Jefferson Parish, a voter registration card was filed for the registrar of voters.
“We want to safeguard the integrity of the process by making sure any group seeking to register Louisiana voters provide specific information and it’s not bogging down registrars offices with work premised on false information,” Dardenne said.
He said staff assistance and training will be forthcoming from his office “to deal with what we believe are going to be increases in voter registration leading up to the fall presidential election.”
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