Hat tip to Cal Skinner (again).
From the Frank Beckman's Detroit News column of last week:
The question has been gnawing at me throughout the latest imbroglio involving City Clerk Jackie Currie over the questionable dispensing and counting of absentee ballots for the Detroit mayoral election, and the cloud of potential abuse that already hangs over Tuesday's election.
The question involves the announcement by state Republican party Chairman Saul Anuzis that he will place monitors at various locations in Detroit to "watch the election process and to make sure that the people who are voting are legitimate voters."
That plan would make clear sense if we were talking about an election that involved a partisan divide of Republicans vs. Democrats. But Detroit votes overwhelmingly Democratic, and the two mayoral candidates, Kwame Kilpatrick and Freman Hendrix, are both Democrats.
So why the interest by Republicans? They're already looking ahead to 2006 and the midterm elections when Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow will seek re-election.
"Sure," replied Anuzis when I asked if that is his true motivation in monitoring Detroit. "This isn't the first time there's been a problem with the election process in Detroit. It's an institutional problem."
Currie has already ignored several court rulings involving the dispensing of absentee ballots, and she's had a posse of orange-shirted "ambassadors" offering their assistance to voters throughout the city.
The problem is, according to a Detroit News investigation, Currie and her underlings have managed to collect ballots from people registered to vote at abandoned and long-demolished buildings, and they've amassed a voter list that contains almost 400,000 incorrect names and addresses, including people who have died or moved out of the city.
One need not be very cynical to recognize the threat of voter fraud, and that's what has Anuzis concerned about next year. His GOP monitors filed approximately 400 affidavits alleging infractions in Detroit during the presidential election in 2004.
"When you have votes from people living in houses that don't exist any more, that's cheating," alleges Anuzis. "That's why we need a photo ID system for voters. You can't drive without a photo ID, so why should you be able to vote without one? Only people who are legally registered to vote, should vote."
Generation Why has post-election commentary, found via Michelle Malkin's blog.
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Michigan
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