TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Comic Store Owner Flags Voter Card In Tampa

ADVERTISEMENT

By STEVE ANDREWS

sandrews@wfla.com

Published: November 3, 2008

At the Green Shift Music and Comics store in Tampa, they sell guitars and funny books. But something not so amusing happened there recently.

While going through the mail last week, owner Don Taylor noticed a voter registration card sent to a Bob Smith at Green Shift's 5226 N. Nebraska Ave. address. The card sent by the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office states Smith lives in apartment No. 2 and is a member of the Florida Democratic Party.

"Bob Smith does not exist at this address," Taylor said. Bob Smith is a character Taylor made up to get rid of sales calls. "The salesman would say who do we need to talk to and we'll say, well, Bob Smith."

Apartment No. 2 doesn't exist, either.

"There's somebody out there registering phony people who's going to commit voter fraud," Taylor said.

"I would call this a crime," Michael Steinberg, chairman of the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee said. "Whoever did this, it's obvious they committed perjury, that there was identity theft and that they need to be prosecuted."

Steinberg thinks it is likely that someone hired to register voters made up phony names and addresses.

"I'm more concerned with the negative publicity against the Democratic Party than the number of people who are actually voting who shouldn't be," Steinberg said.

Mia McCormick, a spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office, says Florida's Department of State approved the voter registration form for this Bob Smith.

"The state checks either the Social Security number or the driver's license ID that's provided on the application," McCormick said. "If that name matches the last four digits of the Social Security number, then it's sent back to us as approved and they get a voter registration card."

McCormick acknowledged tracking down the person responsible for filling out a phony voter registration form is difficult.

University of South Florida political analyst Susan MacManus says authorities have detected voter registration fraud in 18 states, including Florida, so far this election cycle.

"Most of the fraud that's based upon fraudulent registration takes place using the absentee voting process," MacManus said. "It's very hard to catch and that is why crooks use that avenue."

At the polls, voters must produce a valid picture ID to vote. There is no such procedure for absentee ballots. For an absentee ballot to be valid, the signature on it must match the signature on the corresponding voter registration form.

"If the signature is fraudulent to begin with, then obviously using that fraudulent signature to cast a ballot is fraudulent again and is very hard to detect," MacManus said.

MacManus likens absentee ballot fraud to identity theft.

"We don't tolerate it in the banking world, credit cards, any other place and it should not be tolerated in the electoral world either," MacManus said.

Like MacManus, Taylor is concerned enough voter fraud could sway the election in Florida.

"The problem is, how many Bob Smiths are there floating around right now?" Taylor asked. "Is this going to have an effect on the current election?"

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT