Obama supporters convicted of voter fraud in Ohio – an update

The New Paltz, NY Times Herald-Record has a story this morning on the conviction of Amy Little, Tate Hausman and Yolanda Hippensteele.

Political organizer from New Paltz guilty of illegal voting
By Alexa James
Times Herald-Record
Posted: April 30, 2009 – 2:00 AM
NEW PALTZ — Conspicuous political mobilizer Amy Little of New Paltz pleaded guilty Tuesday to voting illegally in Ohio during the presidential election campaign.
During the race, Little worked for an independent get-out-the-vote group called Vote Today Ohio. While touting Democratic candidate Barack Obama in the battleground state, she also registered to vote there.
Little, 50, claimed she’d moved from her home in New Paltz to a place in Columbus, near Ohio State University. Her new address doubled as headquarters for Vote Today Ohio. Other transplants in the group also used that location to register to vote in Ohio.
According to Ohio election laws, voters must reside in the state at least 30 days prior to the election and must intend to stay there after November.
“From my perspective, I was within the law,” Little said Wednesday, suggesting she was “targeted by Republicans.”
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Charles Schneider saw things differently. In court, he said Little and her compatriots chose to vote in Ohio, instead of their home states, in an attempt to sway its electoral college toward Obama.
He sentenced Little, along with Daniel “Tate” Hausman, 32, of New York, and Yolanda Hippensteele, 30, of California, either to spend 60 days in jail or pay a $1,000 fine. Little said she’ll pay the fine.
The controversy also cost Little her role as a paid adviser for Rep. John Hall, D-Dover Plains. He cut ties with her when the investigation surfaced.
Little plans to continue her political work in New Paltz. The misdemeanor conviction “is such a footnote,” she said. “Obama won by a landslide (in Ohio) and that’s what I was working for.”
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said his office is investigating dozens of voter fraud cases.

Little is probably correct that the numbers of voter fraud cases would not have tipped the election. However, her public quotes portray her as taking it all very lightly. The Ohio law is pretty clear that residency was required to vote in the state. These three people never planned to stay there. It is an open question how prevalent this practice was. I think the conduct of the leaders raises questions about the integrity of the entire Vote Today Ohio operation. Many people came from out of state to work for VTO and get out the Obama vote during Ohio’s “golden week” of early voting. Organizers were asking for places to stay for these out-of-state organizers all over the state. How many of them followed the lead of the VTO leaders?
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien told me yesterday that more indictments are on the way. Court documents relating to the case are here and here.

6 thoughts on “Obama supporters convicted of voter fraud in Ohio – an update”

  1. Romney campaign is releasing Mitt and Ann Romney’s 2011 tax return today. The campaign previews a few of the highlights here:
    In 2011, the Romneys paid $1,935,708 in taxes on $13,696,951 in mostly investment income.
    The Romneys’ effective tax rate for 2011 was 14.1%.
    The Romneys donated $4,020,772 to charity in 2011, amounting to nearly 30% of their income.
    The Romneys claimed a deduction for $2.25 million of those charitable contributions.
    The Romneys’ generous charitable donations in 2011 would have significantly reduced their tax obligation for the year. The Romney’ ‘thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the Governor’s statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13% in income taxes in each of the last 10 years.
    Additionally, the Romney campaign is releasing a summary of 20 years of taxes, between 1990-2009, detailing their tax expenditures during those years:
    BO only gave 1% to charity until he became president then when he did donate more to charity it was to his “GOD DAMN AMERICA” shouting Rev Jeremiah Wrights church.
    Biden donate a whopping $360.00 a year to Charity. I am on SS and give more to charity then that.

  2. I noted with some amusement some of the reaction to Tuesday’s debate: viz. the concern expressed by some over the ‘aggression’ shown by both participants.
    It looked to me very much like the ‘vigorous politics’ that is our daily fare on this side of the Atlantic!
    On the matter of ‘concerns’ over Romney: I think it would be fair to say that it is not Romney himself that worries a lot of us over here (the odd ‘awkward’ comment in the field of foreign affairs notwithstanding); rather it is ‘what would come with him’ – i.e. his party … the worry amongst many being that, although he himself fairly moderate in many ways, a Romney victory could in practice mean a destabilizing ‘lurch to the Right’ of the US body politic.

  3. Robert says:
    October 15, 2012 at 2:58 pm
    “Have you taken note of the obvious felonies committed by Mitt Romney in making false statements on his financial filings?”
    where is the evidence of these felonies you claim Romney made? why do you think he hasn’t been arrest for these crimes you believe he has committed?

  4. Has Romney made statements that could reasonably be alleged to be false? I thought he had merely chosen not to put some of his recent tax returns in the public domain.
    On the election generally: it really does seem neck-and-neck on the popular vote front, with the President having a slender advantage when it comes to the EC maths. Could this be 2000 all over again, perhaps with roles reversed (Bush Jnr lost the popular vote but won the EC … could Obama do the same)? I’m mesmorized over here in London …

  5. Hey, Professor, you sure nailed that chick who committed a serious crime in moving her vote from New York to Ohio. Nailed her! The law is for everyone!
    Have you taken note of the obvious felonies committed by Mitt Romney in making false statements on his financial filings? The law is “pretty clear”. Surely you will endeavor to alert the masses on that too.
    Unless you feel the law is just for the little people.

    1. Robert – I have not done much with the election this year. If Romney has done that I assume there will be others who on that trail and I wish them well to hold him to the law. I also just had triple bypass surgery and have to limit my activities.

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