Reply #24: CA: Governor signs bill for voter-registration fraud investigations [View All]

[rumpel]

OC Register
Thursday, September 21, 2006

Legislation makes it easier to track down signature gatherers.
By BRIAN JOSEPH
The Orange County Register
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed legislation to make investigating voter-registration fraud easier.
The bill, by state Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert, was passed partly in response to claims of voter-registration fraud in Orange County.
Early this year, dozens of local voters complained to election officials that they had been switched to the Republican Party without their consent. An Orange County Register investigation independently confirmed that more than 100 voters were duped into changing their party affiliations by signature gatherers.
Battin's bill makes it easier for investigators to track down the signature gatherers behind fraudulent registration cards.
Current law says that paid signature gatherers collecting registration cards are required to sign attached affidavits with their name, address and phone number. Oftentimes, however, the affidavits are not actually signed by the signature gatherer themselves – they're signed by contractors or subcontractors paying the signature gatherers.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1283250.php