THINKSTOCK
Posted: Thursday, September 29, 2016 10:30 pm
By GRAHAM MOOMAW
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Harrisonburg
officials and the FBI are investigating allegations of voter
registration fraud after officials say almost 20 voter applications were
turned in under the names of dead people.
Harrisonburg
Registrar Debbie Logan said Thursday that investigators have found from
18 to 20 potentially fraudulent registrations. The Rockingham County
Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office confirmed Thursday that an
investigation is underway, but offered no additional details on the
case.
The applications were turned in
by a voter registration group called HarrisonburgVOTES, officials said.
The group’s representatives could not be reached for comment Thursday.
No charges have been filed.
The Breeze, the student newspaper of James Madison University,
reported that the applications were submitted by a student
working for the group. The problem came to light when an employee in
the registrar’s office noticed a new registration had come in from
Richard Claybrook Sr., the late father of a well-known local judge.
“When they used a distinguished
resident of Harrisonburg’s name and address, it came to the attention of
an employee who has worked in the city for many years,” Logan said.
“We were pretty disgusted that
they would use his name,” Richard Claybrook Jr. said of his father, who
died in 2014. “He was a retired educator and had served in World War II.
He was always a law-abiding citizen.”
Logan said applications using a
deceased person’s real name and address but a false social security
number would not be flagged in the voter system.
The fraudulent voters are still
technically registered as the investigation continues, Logan said, but
if her office receives an absentee ballot from one of the dead voters,
it would react appropriately. Logan said she expects the State Board of
Elections and her local electoral board will allow her to cancel the
registrations before the Nov. 8 election.
Republican lawmakers held a news
conference call Thursday to call attention to the investigation, which
they said proves voter fraud is real and validates their push for strong
voter ID laws.
“Often times we hear our Democrat
colleagues suggest that voter fraud doesn’t exist in Virginia or is a
myth,” said House Speaker William H. Howell, R-Stafford. “Well it does
indisputably exist.”
“If it hadn’t been for the
vigilance of a citizen, this fraud effort may never have been uncovered
until it was too late,” said Del. Mark L. Cole, R-Spotsylvania, who
chairs the House Privileges and Elections Committee.
Others weren’t convinced that the case represents a close brush with election fraud.
Del. Marcus B. Simon, D-Fairfax,
said it’s “very disingenuous” to suggest the applications were part of a
large-scale fraud, because votes would have to be cast either in person
by elderly impostors or through absentee ballots sent to real home
addresses.
“There’s no way any reasonable
person could conclude that this was part of an effort to actually cast
votes for people that aren’t able to cast votes,” Simon said.
