Florida GOP Official Threatens Ron Paul Straw Poll Voter with Violence
Submitted by MikeK on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 07:00http://www.nolanchart.com/article355.html
The Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee planned to hold a straw poll on the night of the CNN-sponsored Youtube Republican debate in St. Petersburg. In October the REC Board announced the straw poll and advised its members that only 1,200 tickets would be available and sold for the straw poll. Anyone would be allowed to vote in the straw poll as long as they were over 18 years of age and held a Florida driver's license. They were also told that they should snap up the tickets quickly if they were interested in participating in the poll since the committee anticipated a large voter turnout.
Ron Paul supporter and Pinellas County REC member Sophie (last name withheld for privacy) of Clearwater, Florida was concerned about the limited number of tickets available and was considering purchasing a block of tickets that she could then individually resell to other Paul supporters. She telephoned the local REC office and spoke with a Marilyn. She asked about the possibility of buying tickets in bulk. The woman advised her that she could purchase a block of 50 tickets. Later Marilyn contacted Sophie and informed her that she would be able to purchase as many tickets as she would like. Sophie then purchased several hundred tickets and resold the prepaid tickets to fellow Paul supporters. In the end she managed to resell about 2/3 of the tickets she had bought.
Once at the straw poll, Sophie and others noticed that Mitt Romney supporters were voting for their candidate dozens of times each. The St. Petersburg Times would later document this in an article. Sophie was upset that the rules she had been told were not the rules after all. On Thursday, the day after the debate, she called chairman of the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee, Tonoy DiMatteo to inform him of the misdeeds that had occurred at the straw poll. She was shocked when he answered: "It's too bad for you, and if you start any trouble you will be hurt." (Watch Sophie's account of the incident here.)
Obviously upset by the incident, Sophie called her local Meetup group organizer, Paul Bourgeois, who said that Romney even had 5-year-old kids voting in the straw poll. Paul had, at an earlier time, discussed the rule changes with Tony. Mr. DiMatteo made it very clear to Paul that he and Sophie had not better take this any further or else.
If you would like to call or write Tony DiMatteo (who is, perhaps not surprisingly, a Giuliani supporter) and let him know that you will not stand for this criminal activity, have at it:
Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee
Tony DiMatteo (Chairman)
727.539.6009
File a complaint with the fec
http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/complain.shtml#anchor460355
I. Filing a Complaint
Any person may file a complaint if he or she believes a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Laws or Commission regulations has occurred or is about to occur. The complaint must be made in writing, and sent to the Office of General Counsel, Federal Election Commission, 999 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20463. The original must be submitted along with three copies, if possible. Facsimile transmissions are not acceptable.
A complaint must comply with certain requirements. It must:
* Provide the full name and address of the person filing the complaint (called the complainant); and
* Be signed, sworn to and notarized. This means that the notary public's certificate must say "...signed and sworn to before me..."
Furthermore, in order for a complaint to be considered complete and proper, it should:
* Clearly recite the facts that show specific violations under the Commission's jurisdiction (citations to the law and regulations are not necessary);
* Clearly identify each person, committee or group that is alleged to have committed a violation (called the respondent);
* Include any documentation supporting the allegations, if available; and
* Differentiate between statements based on the complainant's (the person who files the complaint) personal knowledge and those based on information and belief. Statements not based on personal knowledge should identify the source of the information.
If this is any indication..
...of what will be happening in the REAL primaries, then we should be very, very concerned.
How many of these primary states have open vote counts for paper ballots where they can be monitored? (not sure the proper term).
How many of these primary states will be using the electronic voting machines?
.
.
www.vaclib.org
How many of these primary
Probably most or all. In Palm Beach County we will be using the Sequoia/ AVC Edge Systems. I have proposed a system to help us independently detect fraud and which could be easily duplicated in other counties but I have had a difficult time finding the time and getting the support to make it work. Too many fronts in this battle.