Reply #2: OH: Cincinnati Stopping Gay Equality Petition w/Fraud Change

[autorank]

OK, Cincy. You obsessed on Robert Mapplethorpe’s exhibit years ago but when the Warren County elections division claimed that they had to block public viewing of the vote counting due to a terrorist alert, you did nothing. A couple of articles, that’s it. Claiming that must be some sort of federal crime but noooo, nothing form you. Now you’re all up in arms because 19 out of 7500 signatures are wrong for a gay petition. Maybe this is the new election fraud. Any large drive will have incorrect signatures. Does that mean that they just find them and then bust people they don’t like?

Cincinnatti Euquirer: 08.19.06
Prosecutor looking into petition fraud
Allegations arise after failed gay rights referendum attempt
http://tinyurl.com/rlcov
BY DAN KLEPAL | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITE
The Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office is investigating alleged election fraud in the failed attempt of a group called Equal Rights Not Special Rights to force a ballot referendum on whether over gay people should be protected by Cincinnati's anti-discrimination law.

Equal Rights Not Special Rights officially withdrew its petitions Thursday, saying it discovered one paid signature gatherer had fraudulently signed 18 names in the more than 7,600 signatures that were validated by the Hamilton County Board of Elections last June.

Thousands of those validated signatures were to be challenged Thursday by a pro-ordinance group called Citizens To Restore Fairness, which said the referendum sponsor was systematic in its use of fraud and tampering of petitions to push the issue onto ballots this fall. A protest hearing at the Board of Elections, scheduled for Thursday, was canceled when Prosecutor Joe Deters started his investigation.

Deters wouldn't say Friday if his investigation is focusing on one signature collector, or alleged "systematic" fraud by the petition sponsors.

"We will go where the evidence leads us," Deters said. "There could be a wide variety of offenses that go well beyond election-law violations. We're in a very preliminary phase, but the investigation is actively looking at all the materials now."

Enquirer staff, what did you do when his
civil rights and artistic freedoms were violated: