By Guest Column Jim Campbell——Bio and Archives--November 14, 2010
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Sharon Angle's attorney, Cleta Mitchell has filed a complaint with the Justice Department alleging voter intimidation on behalf of the Reid campaign. She noted in a letter to the Las Vagas Sun, that the Democrats and their cronies are up to their same old tricks, of trying to manipulate the election in hopes of skewing the results in their favor. "Harry Reid has been offering free food and, according to other reports, some Democratic allies such as teachers' unions are offering gift cards in return for a vote for Reid." Attorney Mitchell said that "what Harry Reid was doing is clearly illegal." Nevada law (NRS 293.700) provides that, “A person who bribes, offers to bribe, or use other corrupt means, directly or indirectly, to influence any elector in giving his or her vote or to deter the elector from giving it is guilty of a category D felony and shall be punished as provided in NRS 193.130.” In a telling piece written by Carl Horowitz at the National Legal and Policy Center, Howowitz has documented that the Service Employees also may be supplying labor for Democrats in a rather insidious way. A collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between Clark County and SEIU Local 1107 puts the union in charge of servicing all voting machines. The agreement reads as follows: Page 75 of this agreement indicates “Voting Machine Technician” to be a classified SEIU position in Exhibit A. Although the CBA expired on June 30, 2010, it remains in force because of language in Article 43 that grants an indefinite year-to-year extension until one party deems it unworkable. Given that SEIU Local 1107 technicians run Clark County voting machines, any glitches in the end must be the responsibility of these workers. And these glitches appear to have been more than an accident. In late October, during early balloting, for example, a number of voters in Boulder City complained Reid’s name already was checked. Isn’t this about the same as giving Bonnie and Clyde the keys to the bank and asking them to guard it? According to one eyewitness, Joyce Ferrara, the problem was rampant. “Something’s not right,” she said. “One person, that’s a fluke. Two, that’s strange, several within a five-minute period of time – that’s wrong.” Votes without voters, the notion seems like something from “The Twilight Zone.” Yet this outcome, the result of a mysterious computer glitch, may have helped re-elect Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over his Republican challenger, Sharron Angle, by a 50.2%-44.6% margin. Actually, the “mystery” is very likely the doing of a local of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which nationwide provides votes, money and muscle for the Democratic Party. Critics are charging that voting machines throughout Clark County (Las Vegas), where about three-fourths of the state’s population resides, were rigged to place check marks next to Reid’s name before a person even had voted. County officials insist that no tampering has occurred. But the possibility can’t be dismissed out of hand, especially given that one of Reid’s sons is county commission chairman. Will voters in Nevada, as well as, the United States voters ever know that Harry Reid was elected legitimately? Doubtfully, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it, I’m J.C. Jim Campbell runs Charging Elephants.
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Items of notes and interest from the web.