E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSThe Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd talks to NBC's Michael Isikoff about Florida voting fraud and what's being done about it now
Updated: 8:46p.m. ET: Election officials in six Florida counties are investigating what appears to be "hundreds” of cases of suspected voter fraud by a GOP consulting firm that has been paid nearly $3 million by the Republican National Committee to register Republican voters in five key battleground states, state officials tell NBC.
But the veteran GOP consultant, Nathan Sproul, who runs the firm, strongly defended his company's conduct, saying it has rigorous "quality controls" and blamed the alleged fraud on the actions of a few "bad apples," workers who were hired to register Republican voters for $12 an hour and then tried to "cheat the system."
The allegations of suspected voter fraud committed by Strategic Allied Consulting of Tempe, Arizona spread Thursday to counties throughout Florida. At the same time, the Republican National Committee said it had severed its ties to the firm altogether.
"We have heard from supervisors in six counties that they have irregularities in voter registration," said Chris Cate, spokesman for the Florida Department of State, which oversees the state's division of elections. Although local prosecutors are already investigating the firm's conduct, Cate said state officials were also considering turning the matter over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to determine if there was a pattern of misconduct.
The suspected fraud included apparent cases of dead people being registered as Republican voters, said Paul Lux, the supervisor of elections in Okaloosa County and a Republican. He compared the suspected fraud to the alleged acts of ACORN, the liberal activist group that became the center of a national controversy several years ago.
"It's kind of ironic that the dead people they accused Acorn of registering are now being done by the RPOF" [Republican Party of Florida], Lux said in an interview with NBC News.
While Republican groups as a whole are still outspending Democratic groups, the gap is narrowing, in part to the individual donors finally stepping up on the Democrats' behalf. NBC News' Michael Isikoff discusses.
In addition to Palm Beach County, where election officials initially reported 106 instances of suspected fraudulent registration forms, officials in Okaloosa, Pasco, Santa Rosa, Lee and Clay counties have also reported instances of possible fraudulent forms submitted by the firm, officials said.
In a statement on Strategic Allied's website, the firm's lawyer said:
"Strategic has a zero tolerance policy for breaking the law. Accordingly, once we learned of the irregularities in Palm Beach County, we were able to trace all questionable cards to one individual and immediately terminated our working relationship with the individual in question. Strategic is committed to following the letter of the law and will continue to cooperate with the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections to ensure that this issue is resolved."
Sproul said in a telephone interview that his company has employed between 4,000 and 5,000 people to register Republican voters under its contract with the RNC, including over 2,000 in Florida. The employees are given training on how to register voters, including being required to watch a video instructing them not to register felons. The video also instructs recruiters not to "modify or falsify voter registration forms."
"No matter what quality controls you have there are always going to be bad actors in any large scale operation," Sproul said.
Sproul, who has long worked for the GOP, also criticized Florida and national Republican officials for dumping him.
"They're trying to get the distraction behind them," he said about the RNC's action.
Sean Spicer, communications director for the RNC, said Strategic Allied Consulting had been retained by the RNC and state Republican parties to register new Republican voters in five key battleground states.
But Spicer said that the party's relationship with the firm-- which has been paid $2.9 million by the RNC so far this year, according to federal elections records -- has now been terminated in light of alleged voter fraud linked to one of the firm's employees that was reported this week to Florida prosecutors by election officials in Palm Beach County.
"We've made it clear we're not doing business with these guys anymore," said Spicer. "We've come out pretty strong against this kind of stuff -- and we have zero tolerance for this."
Strategic Allied’s parent firm, Lincoln Strategy Group, also headed by Sproul, has been paid about $80,000 by the Romney campaign to conduct "field consulting," according to election records. Asked for comment, Sarah Pompei, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, said by email: "We used this vendor for signature gathering services during the primary but have not used them since 2011."
Besides Florida, Strategic Allied Consulting was hired to register GOP voters in Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia. Spicer said it was the only firm hired by the RNC to conduct voter registration. In the case of Nevada, he said, the RNC was paying the firm directly. In the other four states, the firm was being paid by state parties with the funds reimbursed by the RNC.
The allegations involving voter fraud by the GOP consulting firm are a new twist in the national controversy over the threat posed by voter fraud and the impact of new state laws passed by Republican controlled legislatures to combat it. While Republican officials have repeatedly accused Democratic groups such as ACORN of fraudulently registering voters in the past, the new dispute over what happened in Palm Beach-- involving the registration of Republican voters -- appears to be one of the first to have led to a criminal inquiry in this year's election.
Christine Weiss, a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office, told NBC News Thursday that the alleged voter fraud by a Strategic Allied Consulting employee is "currently being investigated" by prosecutors in her office after it was brought to the attention of prosecutors on Monday by Palm Beach election supervisor Susan Bucher.
Out of 304 Republican voter registration forms recently dropped off by a Strategic Allied employee at a small "satellite office" of the Palm Beach elections office, 106 were flagged as potentially fraudulent-- including "a lot" with "similar looking" signatures and others with apparently phony addresses, Susan Bucher, the Palm Beach elections supervisor, said in an interview.
Among the suspect home addresses were those that matched a gas station in Miami, a medical building in Boca Raton and a Land Rover automotive dealership in Palm Beach County, she told NBC News.
Bucher said she called in the political director for the Palm Beach Republican Party and the GOP official agreed that the registration forms were a problem. She then took the forms to the Palm Beach County State's Attorney's office on Monday and requested the investigation.
In a statement issued Tuesday night, Mike Grissom, executive director of the Florida Republican Party, said: "When we learned today about the instances of potential voter registration fraud that occurred in Palm Beach County, we immediately informed the Republican National Committee that we were terminating the contract with the voter registration vendor we hired at their request because there is no place for voter registration fraud in Florida."
Sproul has been previously accused of suppressing Democratic voter turnout, throwing away registration forms, and manipulating ballot initiatives. His firms -- formerly Sproul & Associates, Lincoln Strategy, and Strategic Allied Consultants -- had previously worked for RNC voter registration efforts during the campaigns of George W. Bush and John McCain. In 2004, Democratic Senators Leahy and Kennedy sent a letter to then Attorney General John Ashcroft requesting that he "launch an immediate investigation into the activities of Mr. Sproul and his firm." But the request did not lead to any criminal charges against Sproul.
Leave a Comment:
Oh did the big bad GOP cheat ya liberal trolls :)
Here is another Republican motto:
Obama sucks d**k 2012
Big bad GOP always f***g the liberals in the a**!
pathetic, aren't they?
Yes the libs are pathetic.
Pathetic is resorting to teenage rants when people have nothing intelligent to say.
It's exciting to see how few Republitards are commenting on this issue:) Except for pathetic Rightwing...
Now he's accusing Republitards of being rapists too. Yes pathetic.
Voter fraud suspected in florida when bush was re-elected and his brother bush was in government
You are the brite on arent you? :) Villiage idiot.
You trolls do realize that msnbc only reports news in favor of bobo obama. The rest of the world is reading on how much of a coward he is. I think you should remove your head from rectum, the liberal glass stomache syndrome.
True, haven't seen the story on Fox.
I dont get my news from fox...sorry.
Barrak Back Mountain :)
You might want to call the cops on yourself RightWing..
You might want to stop sucking c**k
*F* *U* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol
Obama is nothing more than a wrist flapping coward.
Obama is bad a$$
Huh. Guess the GOP was right to go after voter fraud.
Doubt this was what they had in mind, lol
Wonder why Fox News isnt reporting on this. Maybe its filed under entertainment/comedy acts.
Yep - NOW that the GOP got caught, LIKE the IMF of the mission impossible series, they ''disavow any knowledge" of this action. Like Sgt Schultz on Hogans Heroes "they know nothing....NOTHING"
God you libtards on this site are freakin morons. MSNBC is made of of LIARS ! !!
Sean,
Your posts are like droppings. Are you being paid by the dropping?
I miss the days when conservatives actually had something intelligent to say. Now it's libtard this, libtard that. Instead of debating, they name call. Has the Republican party really become this dumbed down?
Fine The apparently caught someone on Colorado from Spoul organization
P.S. this was reported by FOX31 news in Denver. I suppose they are full of liars too.
So, the voter suppression needs to end. Those 10 million Hispanic Voters should exercise their rights and vote on November 6th, 2012.
Early voting start in 30 States on Monday. Be there.
@Adler
So tell me how I can go to my bank & get 2 or 3 billion that I can add to the deficit. I see this POSPOTUS has no problem. You are hilarious
@ Fisted in IL said:
Why is it the only ones getting busted in regards to voter fraud are the GNOP?
I will say this, FL has perfected the art of how to cheat in elections...
Where in the article does it say that the GNOP (whoever that is) or maybe you meant GOP were busted? Where does it say that Fisted in IL?
On tv it said they were busted and the rnc admitted it. Of course they didn't mean to do it and didn't know it was going on. Like all the videos with block the vote and winning for Romney. Keep in mind pseudo Christians - when you lie and cheat the person you lie and cheat about reaps double. When you so disgustingly and completing lie about Obama and then pretend innocence, remember you can't hide from or fool God. I just hope that reaping double is in votes. You guys deserve to get absolutely skunked in the presidency, the house and the senate and that is on your behavior only. Across the board. I am ashamed to have been a member of aparty with members that act in such a disgusting manner. Morals? They have none.
Day by day it seems the only true voter fraud is that which comes from the right.
Fraud, deception, and hypocracy pretty much sums up what the republican party is all about.
With the power of change.....
With President Obama being America's first African-American president in the history of the United States he has unleashed a power across the planet that has not been felt in a very long time.
That power is called EQUALITY!
People who always thought that America was commanded by white men can feel the power of knowing that ANYONE can be the leader of the United States of America. That ANYONE can stand up for a cause and win. That ANYONE can be a leader.
President Obama's Presidency might seem to be inciting strife and war in places around the world....but that is a good thing.
Those who before that had been oppressed and looked to America to bring them out of their oppression once only saw white men.
Now when they look to the WhiteHouse they see EQUALITY has finally been brought to America.
Equality and mutuality of being where anyone....ANYONE....an Asian, Latino, Black Man.....and oh yes even a Middle Easterner can become the president of the United States.
President Obama is leading the way to a world that is no longer lead by oppression and racism but to world where regardless of your religious belief or skin color you can become president.
This power alone will kill those who have in the past attacked us as a world and continue to attack and kill for their greedy and self serving devotion to theirself.
One day the world will look back.
And the world will ask.
"Who brought our world out of blackness of the dungeon of hopelessness and hate."
And they turned the page and saw all of the names that had voted for Obama and those names that had voted for the first Mexican President, they saw the pages filled with the names of those who had voted for the Latino president.
They turned the pages some more names who had voted for the first Asian president.....and then they saw the names who had voted for the first American Muslim President.
And in the future when war had ceased and humanity had become one they saw the names of those who had voted for the first African American President Barack Obama.
No other names were remembered or written down because they were not important.
Be remembered by the future of the world and not just a number without a soul or a face.
Make your soul remembered for all times and pass your legacy onto your next generation of being a soldier for the human race.
Vote Obama/Biden 2012.
unfortunately some are not ready for this kind of change. & unfortunately racism will exist until those people die off &/or stop teaching racism & hate.
"to determine if there was a pattern of misconduct. " Who does the RNC think that they are fooling? They hired Sproal's firm to do exactly what his workers are accused of doing. This goes with the GOP philosophy: Do or say whatever it takes to win. It does not matter if it is lawful or not.
I am really getting sick and tired of the republicans in general. They lie, cheat, mislead, take out of context, fake stuff. I get tired of hearing Romney make up all that stuff. And at one time I heard where Mormons go to hell for lying. That doesn't seem to be phasing Romney at all. So he is planning on going to hell and thinks his money will buy a seat in heaven. I don't think so. He is the worst person I have ever seen concerned about making every single penny he can. I like money and I appreciate success but he has an obsession and does not care who he has to ruin or step on for bucks. I am a former republican and am embarrassed and ashamed of all the despicable behavior they engage in. And of course then they accuse the other side. I appreciate Chris Wallace on Fox News who is not quite so involved. But most of the others on the channel have totally lost their minds or focus or something. Yes Bill OReilly half of the country are misinformed by the likes of you Hannity and Limbaugh. And I wish Romney AndRyan would at least be consistent with their lies. They have a different one nearly every day. It is dispicable and I am channeling Ann Romney when I say stop it! This is not doing conservatives or the republicans any favor at all. and most of all it is horrid and disgusting for our country. I don't know how anyone can be voting for Romney right now. And if so I would like to know why. And I hope it isn't some longgone dream of what republicans used to stand for because they clearly don't or I have always been clearly wrong. I would have never voted for that for 30 years! If that was how they behaved. Never. They have left not only the country but the entire planet. Obama 2012 or anyone but Romney!!
mormons are a cult. the god they pray to is not the real God other's know.
ryan claims he's catholic yet idolizes an atheist, past her books out as x-mas gifts & made her books required reading for his office, just last year credited her for who he is & helping to shape his career, & wrote a budget plan he claims his faith guided him in but catholic bishops call IMMORAL.
after being chosen etcha sketch's partner in crime, lyin ryan said he did not know she was an atheist despite the video on youtube where he says he grew up reading her books. there's also video where he criticizes mitt & others for stashing money in the cayman islands where investors will be meeting with bush w giving a speech days before the elections.
chick fil a ceo quickly apologized after realizing you cant be christian while openly judging those who put money in your pockets. its not wise to judge anyone putting money in your pockets. being christian makes you look worse.
these people are phonies bottom line. reality wont hit them until they find themselves needing some air conditioning.
And notice how innocent they all act when they get caught. Just like the guy who got caught rigging a Democrats phone. Wouldn't be surprised if he werent involved. And I hope anyone caught rigging the vote can NEVER VOTE AGAIN. So far only republicans have been caught and found guilty.
including thaddeus mccotter who was made to resign months ago because of voting fraud leaving his staff to be charged with 13 felonies & 23 misdemeanors.
It took 12 years and trillions to show what we all suspected? That the RNC has fixed the elections forever. A common denominator to all this is Karl Rove. He was running GW campaigns in 2000 and 2004. He stepped back in 2008, and is now in it in 2012. Is it coincidence? It may be irrelevant for the past. but it sure gives me pause for thought. The man is the king of propaganda and he is just pure evil. It might be interesting to check out if he has any ties to this group. \
How long has this been going on....but barely makes a news cycle
This story was published on July 5, 2005.
RNC VOTE FRAUD?
Team Bush Paid Millions to Nathan Sproul—and Tried to Hide It
by Mark Crispin Miller and Jared Irmas
In the months before the 2004 presidential election, a firm called Sproul & Associates launched voter registration drives in at least eight states, most of them swing states. The group--run by Nathan Sproul, former head of the Arizona Christian Coalition and the Arizona Republican Party--had been hired by the Republican National Committee.
Sproul got into a bit of trouble last fall when, in certain states, it came out that the firm was playing dirty tricks in order to suppress the Democratic vote: concealing their partisan agenda, tricking Democrats into registering as Republicans, surreptitiously re-registering Democrats and Independents as Republicans, and shredding Democratic registration forms.
The scandal got a moderate amount of local coverage in some states--and then the election was over. Now anyone who brought up Nathan Sproul, or any of the other massive crimes and improprieties committed on or prior to Election Day, was shrugged off as a dealer in "conspiracy theory."
It seems that Sproul did quite a lot of work for the Republicans. Exactly how much did he do? More specifically, how much did the RNC pay Sproul & Associates?
http://baltimorechronicle.com/070505Miller-Irmus.shtml
This is not the first time in Florida the GOP has done this, those who did regester this yr need to check to see if they are on the list to vote do it now before the election. I hope this time they get some jail time to think about this practice.