Letter: Allegations of voter registration fraud alarming

Friday, Oct. 15, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

I didn't think that there were any more voting issues that could shock me, but this week's news of alleged voter registration fraud charges did just that.

As one who used to volunteer in Hawaii, helping to register voters, I'm guessing the laws governing this activity are uniform from state to state. We signed an oath stating that we would, in a timely fashion, turn over to the state all registrations we collected.

I was working to gather registered voters' signatures for a petition. If the people we talked to weren't registered, we registered them then and there. But if someone wanted to register and not sign, we did that, too. I'm not sure if selective registration is illegal, but I know selectively destroying already accepted forms is.

I hope that this will be treated by applicable law with the seriousness it deserves. If I were one of the newly registered people expecting to be able to vote on Nov. 2, only to find out I'd been denied that right because of a partisan whim, I'd be furious.

I think as well that these disenfranchised voters should pursue a civil class action suit.

STEPHANIE FROST

archive