By Brad Friedman on 10/6/2006, 2:04pm PT  

Some good reporting from The Tennessean today on what appears to be some voter registration fraud, possibly tied to the Republican National Committee.

You'll note that Tennessee, a state which had previously been represented by outgoing Bill Frist and thought to have been a shoe-in for Republicans, is now an exceedingly tight race, with the Democratic candidate for that Senate seat, Rep. Harold Ford, beginning to pull ahead...but just barely...A few votes in a single state, at this point, could make the difference in control of the Senate this year.

With that in mind, and what we know about GOP willingness to game elections every which way possible --- extra-legal or otherwise --- please note the following tea leaf from today's Tennessean today...

Voter registrations faked in GOP drive

At least five apparently bogus voter registration forms were submitted to the Metro Nashville election commission by a worker with ties to the Republican National Committee, and up to 150 other registrations have been called into question, The Tennessean has learned.
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The five Metro forms contain the names, addresses and phone numbers of bona fide citizens, but the birth dates, Social Security numbers, signatures and some other details are wrong. Four of the citizens told The Tennessean that they did not submit the forms.
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Metro staff said the registration forms bearing that signature were submitted in the name of Tennessee Victory 2006, a booster group advocating for GOP candidates in the state.
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Tennessee Victory 2006 is a joint effort between the state Republican Party and the Republican National Committee.

State Republican Party Executive Director Chris Devaney said that the RNC was running the show at Tennessee Victory in August, when the registrations were apparently collected.
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Contacted by telephone Thursday evening, RNC spokesman Danny Diaz declined to answer questions about whether RNC officials worked in Tennessee at all.

                 

Article Categories: Tennessee, Election 2006, Election Fraud