"Let The People Vote" by whatever means possible, fraud, forgery, mis-
information and turning a political "blind eye." PART ONE
It seems that Massachusetts isn't the only state that experienced massive petition fraud to get a controversial question on the ballot. A Federal Lawsuit was filed in Detroit in an effort to get the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative off this November's ballot. The lawsuit represented 125,000 African-American Michigan voters who claimed that they were deceived into signing a petiton to place an anti-affirmative action constitutional amendment on the ballot.
Last Tuesday, Federal Judge Arthur Tarnow ruled against the lawsuit in which its proponents argued that the signature collection and alleged deception and fraud which targeted African-Americans violated the Voting Rights Act. But here is where the Federal Judge's ruling gets interesting... Judge Tarnow stated that there was no violation of the Voting Rights Act because initiative sponsors had "targeted all Michigan voters for deception without regard to race." Based on this statement, it is likely that this case will now go befroe the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
So what is the connection to Massachusetts and the VoteOnMarriage.org Initiative Petition to end same-sex marriage? National Petition Management, the company which has been accused of fraud and deception in Michigan was one of the companies which collected signatures in Massachusetts last Fall. NPM allegedly used the same tactics that were used to "dupe" Massachusetts voters. Profiling people in supermarkets, targeting the harried shoppers who would not have time to read the text and, of course, telling people that the petition was "for" the issue when it was in fact "against" it. Sound familiar? And in case you forgot, National Petition Management was the company which was collecting signatures to put beer and wine in supermarkets in Massachusetts and whose bait-and-switch tactics prompted its employer, the Massachusetts Food Association to throw out hundreds of petitions early in the collection process. KnowThyNeighbor.org still is receiving an affidavit every other day from voters who were duped or lied to about the VoteOnMarriage petition to end same sex marriage AND MassEquality found 2000 fraud victims out of a phone sampling of 10,000 whose names appeared on the petition.
No matter what side you are on in the debate on Affirmative Action (btw in Michigan the Ballot Question would end quotas in public colleges), is it right to lie to voters, especially African-American voters when their lives would be affected in such a direct way? The name "The Civil Rights Initiative" which is stopping Affirmative Action should have been proof enough of what the voters would be expecting regarding this nasty Conservative-based tactic of getting the question on the ballot by any means possible and letting its political machine do the rest.
Massachusetts...Don't Forget the Fraud, Forgery and Deception that surrounded the VoteOnMarriage volunteers and hired con-artists which happened here at the expense of the rights and protections of GLBT individuals, their families and their children. The Attorney General launched a Civil Investigation during the process, however, state laws put the blame on the signer for not reading the petition wording. But there is still a Criminal Investigation on-going which is addressing the alleged forgery by the VoteOnMarriage workers. Like in Michigan, the fraud associated with and the raping of a valuable Democratic Process existed. Make No Mistake About It.
***Check Out This Important Link To National Petition Management Projects ***