Four US officials plead guilty in voter fraud case

US Democrats found themselves at the centre of an election fraud scandal as four democratic officials and political operatives pleaded guilty to getting involved in an alleged scheme to “steal” the New York elections. As the Fox News – a mouthpiece for American conservatives - gladly reports, four Troy City officials have pleaded guilty to one count of various charges which range from forgery to falsification of business records. The critics are already linking the incident to the infamous ACORN voter fraud scandal of 2008, which had significant chances to ruin Obama’s election plans. However, the experts argue that while no Republicans were implicated in the conspiracy, voter fraud occurs “on both sides of the aisle”.

Troy City Council President Clement Campana became the key figure of the scandal linked with the 2009 Working Families Party primary. Campana was indicted on five felonies and one misdemeanor for allegedly defrauding voters during the elections. Three other officials pleaded guilty to felony charges for their involvement in the scandal, including Councilman John Brown, who now has a significant chance to spend six months in jail.

According to the indictment, Campana and his companions attempted to conspire to help candidates with the primary. The fraud scheme wasn’t complicated. The conspirators were trying to persuade voters to accept and sign absentee ballot applications. Then the officials were filled in the remaining parts of the applications with fraudulent information and filed them with the Board of Elections.

"I can't believe they thought they would get away with this," one of the voters said to Fox News. "I didn't get to cast my vote on my own. ... …They're corrupt. I am sure this goes on a lot in politics, but it's very rare that they do get caught."

The investigation lasted for two years and the Special Prosecutor Trey Smith even had to obtain court orders to be able to take DNA samples from five of the seven Democratic members of the Troy City Council to compare them with the DNA evidence found on the absentee ballot bulletins.

The incident, which casts a shadow on the whole Democratic Party, became a perfect gift for the conservatives who have already linked it to the infamous ACORN scandal of 2008. Unfortunately for the Democrats, they have little chances of being able to deny the allegations since the Working Families Party was closely associated with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now – the now-defunct organization, involved in a massive fraud scandal which almost cost Barack Obama his victory.

“Given the extensive relationship between Barack Obama and ACORN, our campaign also feels that Senator Obama has a responsibility to rein in ACORN’s efforts and to work aggressively against wide-scale voter fraud.”, McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis said in 2008. However, even his close connection with an organization whose crimes included registering Mickey Mouse to vote in Florida wasn’t enough to ruin Obama’s success. Today, when America feels more skeptical about Obama and his supporters, such allegations may bring much worse consequences.

However, the Democrats keep insisting that faking absentee ballots is a commonplace practice in the political game. And, considering the usual political tricks of the Conservative party, it is hard to deny this claim.

"This is an on-going scheme and it occurs on both sides of the aisle," Democratic operative Anthony DeFiglio told New York State police investigators.

"The people who are targeted live in low-income housing and there is a sense that they are a lot less likely to ask any questions." "It was common knowledge that these people were never going to receive an absentee ballot. This is a political strategy to get control of a third party line," added DeFiglio.