True the vote

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True the Vote is a Houston based vote-monitoring initiative committed to stopping voter fraud. True the Vote trains volunteers to monitor elections and report incidents of voter fraud. They also hold local rallies to promote voter ID laws, which they staunchly support. [1] True the Vote has been accused of voter intimidation [2] and advancing hysterical claims about the pervasiveness of voter fraud. [3] True the Vote is based out of Houston Texas, their current president is Catherine Englebrecht. [4]

History

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True the Vote claims to be nonpartisan, but began as an outgrowth of the King Street Patriots a nonprofit tea party organization mostly active in Texas. Several members of the King Street Patriots, including their president Catherine Englebrecht, were dissatisfied with the voting process in Harris County Texas during the 2008 election, especially the shortage of poll workers, which they believed "invited fraud and other problems at the polls." [5] During the 2010 election season, True the Vote trained over a thousand volunteers to monitor elections in Texas.











2010 Election Cycle

True the Vote's activities during the 2010 election cycle were largely confined to Harris County, the largest and poorest county in Texas. True the Vote claims that it uncovered numerous examples of voter fraud including claims like: "Vacant lots had several voters registered on them. An eight-bed halfway house had more than 40 voters registered at its address." [6] During the election, the Texas Democratic Party accused True the Vote of voter intimidation in largely Hispanic and African-American polling areas. [7]True the Vote considers their operations in Harris County a success, and claims to have recruited almost 1,000 volunteers to supervise polling places in Texas. [8]

Voter Fraud and Voter I.D. Laws

True the Vote's website portrays voter fraud as largely a Democractic party problem. It routinely runs stories on election fraud being perpetrated by "liberals,"[9] or "Democrats" [10] but has, to date, never run a story on Republican or Conservative instances of voter fraud.

Like many groups pushing for strict Voter ID Laws, True the Vote claims that Voter Fraud is widespread and deliberate, and largely substantiates these claims through individual testimony. [11] Most serious studies conducted on voter fraud suggest that it is rare and when it does occur it is accidental. [12] [13] Englebrecht herself has testified before congress on behalf of the king street patriots, similar claims of mass voter fraud. [14]

True the Vote argues for stronger Voter ID Laws in every State, and resists attempts to relax or remove Voter ID laws. On December 13th, 2011, they held a rally in Austen Texas to support a stricter ID law passed earlier that year. [15] On January 20th, 2011 they held a similar rally to protest the invalidation of a South Carolina law requiring picture ID's at the polls (The Justice Department is empowered to invalidate voting laws in South Carolina due to a provision in the 1965 Voting Rights Act.) Both Rallies strongly criticized Attorney General Eric Holder.

In 2011, True the Vote posted an article on its website claiming that US attorney General Eric Holder supported a plan by the NAACP "to involve the United Nations in U.S. elections." referencing a protest the NAACP held across the street from the UN in December of 2011, and a related petition filed with the UN. Holder gave the protest and the petition no formal support, but True the Vote's press release made it seem like Holder was advocating direct UN involvement in American elections, asking ""Are you ready to have U.N. blue helmets outside your polling place?" This article earned True the Vote a "pants on fire" rating from Politifact.com. [16] Blue Helmets resembling those worn by the UN Peacekeeping forces are now commonly worn at True the Vote rallies.

True the Vote's 2012 national summit in Houston largely centered on claims of voter fraud. Speakers included ACORN "whistleblower" Anita Moncrief, Hans Von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation, who insisted that "United States has a long history of voter fraud that has been documented by historians and journalists," and Fox News contributor Pat Caddell, who called opposition to voter ID Laws "the demise of our democracy" and "Slow motion suicide.” [17]

2011-2012 Wisconsin Recall Effort

In 2012, True the Vote joined several other Tea Party groups in "Verify the Recall", an effort that opposes the 2012 recall of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. True the Vote provided software which it had previously applied to check signatures in petitions in Texas. [18] In order to electronically check over 1 million petition signatures, which had previously been posted online by Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board [19] True the Vote recruited thousands of volunteers (mostly out of state) to manually enter signatures into True the Vote's electronic database. True the Vote claims to have recruited over 13,000 volunteers. [20] True the Vote has stated that this effort is both "nonpartisan" [21] and "not about politics" [22] but their website has run at least two stories suggesting that fraud is "rampant" in the recall effort, and frame the effort as decidedly political. In their own words "we should not believe the claims of union-supporters and anti-Walker operatives who say that they collected more than one million signatures on petitions to recall Governor Scott Walker." [23].

On February 28th, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker called for the data gathered by the "Verify the Recall" effort to be used as an official challenge of the recall.[24] This data was gathered and compiled entirely by True the Vote. True the Vote's executive summary claimed that only 534,865 signatures gathered during the recall effort were valid. [25]. There is evidence that True the Vote used a flawed process to discount signatures on the ballot, and that most of the signatures they discounted are, in fact, accurate.[26]

In the days before the June 5th, 2012 recall election between Tom Barrett and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, True the Vote announced that they would be training volunteers to monitor polling places throughout Wisconsin, both online [27] and at a small number of locations throughout the state [28] True the Vote claimed that hundreds of people showed up for training and later monitored the polls in Wisconsin, [29] and that these monitors were necessary due to "discrepancies" in the recall petition process as well as "Wisconsin’s long history of election fraud." True the Vote pledged to man every polling place in Wisconsin on the day of the recall election, which drew sharp criticism from the Barret Campaign [30]

Throughout the Wisconsin recall, True the Vote has worked in concert with a group of local Tea Party groups including the "Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty" and "We the People of the Republic", which helped True the Vote launch its recall signature verification efforts. [31]. True the Vote's efforts during the recall election itself were conducted with an unnamed group of tea party organizations throughout Wisconsin.

References

  1. ↑ True the Vote: about true the vote Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  2. ↑ Rachel Slajda:DOJ Probes TX Voter Intimidation Complaints Talking Points Mudraker, Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  3. ↑ Ryan J. Reily: True the Vote says Eric Holder supports NAACP request for United Nations' involvement in U.S. elections Talking Points Mudraker, Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  4. ↑ True the Vote: about true the vote Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  5. ↑ True the Vote: history Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  6. ↑ Ryan J. Reily: In Texas' Biggest County, a Minority Registration Drive is Crippled by Fraud Allegations Talking Points Muckraker, accessed February 22nd, 2012
  7. ↑ Ryan J. Reily: In Texas' Biggest County, a Minority Registration Drive is Crippled by Fraud Allegations Talking Points Muckraker, accessed February 22nd, 2012
  8. ↑ True the Vote: history Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  9. ↑ True the Vote: new yorkers were paid to commit voter fraud Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  10. ↑ True the Vote: True the Vote Joins Effort to True Wisconsin Recall Election Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  11. ↑ True the Vote: Stories of Voter Fraud Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  12. ↑ Brennan Center for Justice: Policy brief on voter fraud Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  13. ↑ Debbie Hines: Republican Lawyers Group's Own Study Undercuts Vote Fraud Claims Alternet, Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  14. ↑ Youtube: Englebrecht testifies before congress
  15. ↑ Your News Now: AG Holder In Austin vows to enforce Civil rights protections Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  16. ↑ Politifact: True the Vote says Eric Holder Supports NAACP requests Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  17. ↑ Katie Pavlich: Restoring Integrity in America's Elections, the 2012 True the Vote Summit. Townhall.com, posted April 27th, 2012. Accessed June 6th, 2012.
  18. ↑ Carl Engleking: Tea Party Ready to do Battle in Court over Recall Signatures Menomonee Falls: Patch Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  19. ↑ Clay Barbour: GAB Posts Walker Recall Petitions Online Despite Privacy Concerns Wisconsin State Journal, Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  20. ↑ True the Vote: Volunteer Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  21. ↑ True the Vote: Volunteer Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  22. ↑ True the Vote: Main page Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  23. ↑ True the Vote: Wisc voter's name fraudulently signed four times Accessed February 22nd, 2012
  24. ↑ Walker Challenge Sworn Written Challenge of Governor Scott K. Walker
  25. ↑ True the Vote: Walker Recall Executive Summary
  26. ↑ Brenden Fischer and William Dooling: True the Vote or Skew the Vote PRWatch, Accessed March 2nd, 2012
  27. ↑ PRNewswire: True the Vote Provides Online Training For Wisconsin for Wisconsin. Published May 26th, 2012. Accessed June 6th, 2012
  28. ↑ PR Newswire: True the Vote & Wisconsin Coalition to Provide election ovserver training published May 16th, 2012. Accessed June 6th, 2012.
  29. ↑ truethevote.org, front page announcement, accessed June 6th, 2012.
  30. ↑ Allison Bauter: Barrett campaign criticizes recall election observers backed by Texas group. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Published June 4th, 2012. Accessed June 6th, 2012.
  31. ↑ Press Release: Verify the Recall Undaunted by the GAB, Accessed June 6th, 2012.
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