08062003 - News Article - EDITORIALS: Clean up this voting process - The issue: Election fraud - ROBERT CANTRELL

EDITORIALS: Clean up this voting process
The issue: Election fraud
NWI Times
Aug 6, 2003
nwitimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/clean-up-this-voting-process/article_bac0d3a5-994d-5c3f-ab21-43ac0c2c9e10.html
Our opinion: Do the political powers that be want to perpetuate this system the way it is? After all, voter fraud can keep them in cushy jobs at taxpayer expense.

Is this illegal travesty ever going to end? People who don't live here anymore still vote. People who are in their graves still vote. People who are in jail still vote. By some estimates, that represents 30 percent of the people on voter registration lists.

The abuse of absentee ballots is so rampant here that each election cycle sees complaints of voter fraud. This time, those allegations were serious enough to end up in court. Long-time East Chicago mayor and Democratic czar Robert Pastrick and Schererville Town Judge Deborah Riga are on the judicial hot seat over allegations of voter fraud involving absentee ballots.

Well, that's Lake County, many say with a perverse sense of pride that justifies the political shenanigans that define life in the region.

Well, this is wrong and it has to stop. Right, but there are excuses galore for why it has not stopped.

The excuse that crops up most frequently is lack of resources to check voting registration records. County election officials say they do not have enough staff or time to handle the workload of verifying registrations, let alone oversee the elections printing ballots and filing campaign records.

So, add to the cadre of temporary workers to handle the crunch.

We're tired of the excuses and blatant disregard for laws and decency that allow voter fraud to continue here. Or do the political powers that be want to perpetuate this system the way it is?

After all, voter fraud - whether at the polls or through absentee ballots - can work to their advantage, keeping them in cushy jobs at taxpayer expense. And the political IOUs they collect throughout their political careers ensure they stay in office.

Hopefully, recent federal election law changes will eliminate the loopholes that schemers use to get their candidate in office. Unfortunately, that federal law won't be in effect until 2006.

It is frightening to think what new schemes some shady political party workers can come up with before then to continue to thwart the voting process.