A trial has been underway for a week in an upstate New York vote fraud case that has brought to light criminal actions committed by Democrats in city government in Troy, New York, that seems to go back decades. Some of the first witnesses are also claiming that they were paid by Democrat officials to commit vote fraud.
The case centers around fraudulent voter registrations and absentee ballots for the Working Families Party, a thinly disguised Democrat Party entity originally created by the disgraced community activist group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now).
Up to eight Troy Democrats are being charged with various offenses such as falsifying business records and forgery.
Jermaine Joseph, the first witness called to the stand in the case, testified that in 2009 he was paid $10 to sign a voter registration card. Joseph, a former Hudson Valley Community College football player, testified that after he signed his form he was paid $10 by someone from City Hall.
Joseph went on to testify that he did not recognize the signature on the paperwork that prosecutors showed him that enrolled him in the Working Families Party. He also testified that he never filled out the ballot that bears his name voting a straight Democrat ticket.
As New York Court Watcher Rusty Weiss says, “In essence, the victims here were unwittingly signing over their civil right to cast votes in the elections, at a price of $10.”
A second witness, Omaira Rodriguez, testified that the signature on paperwork filed in her name was fraudulent. She never requested the absentee ballot despite her name on the paperwork.
Later in the proceedings, New York State Police Investigator John Ogden testified that he found a witness that said she had been given “30 ballot envelopes wrapped up in a newspaper” by former Councilman Michael LoPorto.
Ogden also said that political operative Tony DeFiglio revealed to him that such fraud had been going on for at least 25 years that he knew.
This trial will go on for many more months, but it does tend to show the vote fraud endemic in the area. These sorts of things are going on all across the country, unfortunately.
Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as Breitbart.com, among many, many others. He has also written for several history magazines, has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows.
