Can an Election Be Stolen? Here Are a Few Local & National Claims of Voter Fraud

Cianci in 2014

As GoLocal reported, there were questions about mail ballots being collected by what turned out to be two off-duty Providence Police Officers at Crossroads. 

Independent candidate for Mayor Vincent Cianci has released a statement in response to accusations of mail ballot tampering. 

“We are nearing the end of of an intense election and, with just over a week to go, a fast and furious onslaught of misconduct allegations is to be fully expected," Cianci said.

Cianci continued, “As far as the Crossroads allegations are concerned, we have hundreds of volunteers, many of whom perform the perfectly legal task of collecting mail ballots.  We would certainly never tolerate any impropriety in this effort and would swiftly remove anyone from our outreach team whose conduct violated the highest ethical standards."

“We have no knowledge of any volunteer acting outside of these standards, other than what has been reported in the press.  We will cooperate fully and freely with any official inquiries made on this subject," said Cianci.

Photo: Richard McCaffrey

Cicilline in 2002

2012 Was the Year of Voter Fraud in RI

Anthony Gemma looked like a viable opponent to beat David Cicilline in the Democratic primary in 2012. Cicilline had recorded some of the lowest approval ratings for anyone ever to run for Congress. Gemma railed about Cicilline, including in this story.

As GoLocal reported in 2012:

Woman Claims She Was Part of Voter Fraud Scheme in 2002

A woman claiming she was paid under the table to work for Congressman David Cicilline during his 2002 Mayoral campaign accused Cicilline of committing voter.

The woman, Enerolisa Escobar, said she was paid $250 per week in cash (occasionally by Cicilline) for a six-month period leading up to the Democratic primary. She claims to have been responsible for creating a “not coming list” so the Cicilline campaign knew who would not be voting that year.

Cicilline won a four-way primary with just over 50 percent of the vote.

Cicilline campaign manager Eric Hyers said the claims are “part of an ongoing and desperate smear campaign” by Congressional candidate Anthony Gemma.

“After 2 weeks of witnessing a string of unsubstantiated claims, absolutely nothing that comes out of the Gemma campaign is remotely credible,” Hyers said. “In five hours, the Republicans will nominate Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, both of whom Brendan Doherty enthusiastically supports, to lead the most radical and extreme agenda in recent memory, and this circus is distracting from the harm this agenda will do to Rhode Island's middle class, women, and seniors. Voters deserve a substantive discussion of the issues.”

Photo: Richard McCaffrey

LBJ in 1948

''Means of Ascent,'' by Robert A. Caro, on the life of one of America's bigger-than-life Presidents Lyndon Baines Johnson, outlines how LBJ stole the 1948 race -- his first run for the U.S. Senate.

''Mr. Caro maintains that although ballot fraud was common in the late 1940's in some parts of Texas, the Johnson campaign of 1948 raised it to a new level. Mr. Caro supports his charge with an interview with Luis Salas, an election judge in Jim Wells County who said he acknowledged his role only after all others involved in the theft had died," as the New York Times reported.

Elorza Had His Issues Too

The battle between Cianci and now Mayor Jorge Elorza had charges on both sides. GoLocal unveiled a video that raised questions during the campaign.

VIDEO: Elorza Supporter Rep. Slater Caught with Mail Ballot

A new video shows State Representative Scott Slater with what appears to be an unsealed mail ballot in Providence.

The fifty second video, which was shot at the Kilmartin Plaza highrise on Benedict Street at around 6:30 P.M. on Saturday, October 25, was taken by Juan Noboa.   

GoLocal has exclusively learned that the Rhode Island State Police is now in possession of the video.  

Noboa said that he saw the ballot in Slater's back pocket, and when it fell out, and he said he saw it was unsealed, he began to ask questions -- and shoot the video.  

"I knew he was caught red-handed," said Noboa of Slater, a supporter of former Speaker of the House Gordon Foxwho has endorsed Democrat Jorge Elorza in the Providence Mayoral race. "The began to threaten us, and that's when we called the police."

The incident is the latest in mail ballot tampering allegations in the race for Mayor of Providence.  

The State Police are now investigating an alleged incident at Crossroads facility. 

Last week the Elorza campaign asked the state Board of Elections to investigate possible ballot tampering by Vincent Cianci’s campaign and to increase monitoring of voter fraud in the Providence mayoral race.

Elorza spokesman David Ortiz asked the Cianci campaign: “Given your previous campaign history of mail ballot tampering and voter fraud, can you assure Providence voters that there are no unlawful activities occurring from people associated with your campaign this time? If so, what is the oversight involved?”

JFK's Election in '60

According to most historic and journalistic accounts — the Texas and Illinois results in the Presidential election in 1960 may have been tainted and the election may have very well been stolen.

In a feature in Slate in 2000 by David Greenberg outlines the fraud and Nixon’s reaction:

Even before Election Day, rumors circulated about fraud, especially in Chicago, where Mayor Richard Daley's machine was known for delivering whopping Democratic tallies by fair means and foul. When it became clear how narrowly Nixon lost, outraged Republicans grew convinced that cheating had tipped the election and lobbied for an investigation.

Nixon always insisted that others, including President Eisenhower, encouraged him to dispute the outcome but that he refused. A challenge, he told others, would cause a "constitutional crisis," hurt America in the eyes of the world, and "tear the country apart." Besides, he added, pursuing the claims would mean "charges of 'sore loser' would follow me through history and remove any possibility of a further political career."

Cianci/Griffin in '82

Cianci’s Election and Mail Ballots

Buddy Cianci thought he lost his first election for Mayor in 1982 until a South Side Councilman came through. According to Mike Stanton’s book, “Prince of Providence” Cianci was saved by Lloyd Griffin - and his paper ballots.

“When Cianci realized that the race would come down to the nearly six thousand outstanding mail ballots, he was elated — because he had in his corner the maestro of mail ballots, Lloyd “Satchel” Griffin. His scheme to collect mail ballots by promising senior citizens a free bus ride to Atlantic City in 1974 helped lift Cianci to Victory over Joe Doorley. In 1978, he had delivered again.

At the start of the 1982 race, Griifin had professed neutrality. But then, eleven days before the election, state police troopers armed with shot-guns raided Griffin’s campaign headquarters in search of stolen mail ballots….Griffin brought in more than eight hundred mail ballots, assuring Cianci of victory," according to Stanton.

Cianci’s total margin of victory in 1982 was just 1,074 votes.

Photo: Richard McCaffrey

More Claims

Cicilline Accusers Tied to Mail Ballot Misdeeds in 2008

According to a 2008 Providence Journal article, State Senate candidate Maryelyn Alba-Acevedo and State Rep. candidate Wilbur Jennings, both Democrats, were accused of turning in an extraordinarily high number of mail ballots during their campaigns that year.

(Editor’s Note: A link to the Providence Journal story was not available)

The article states that Alba-Acevedo turned in over 100 applications for mail ballots, with 36 applicants filing for a religious exemption. At the time, state police Major Steven O'Donnell (now the Superintendent of the State Police) investigated the matter and said that some voters may have not known what the mail ballots were for.

"The people who signed it were unsure what they were signing," O’Donnell told to the Journal.

Jennings, who would go on to become a Providence Councilman in 2010, was accused of turning in more than 30 mail ballot applications from voters who said they could not vote because of a disability. Six of his family members were included in that group.

Alba-Acevedo and Jennings are among several residents who came forward after Cicilline’s opponent in this September’s Democratic primary, Anthony Gemma, hired a private investigation firm to look into voter fraud. Following a Wednesday press conference, Gemma released sworn statements from individuals making claims about Cicilline and his allies.

One was from Alba-Acevedo, who claimed that in 2006, she was told by Cicilline’s Deputy Chief of Staff Chris Bizzacco that she had to resign from her position in the Providence Tax Assessor’s office because of her husband was running for City Council.

Jennings was not among those who provided sworn statements, but he did claim Cicilline had a hand in his 2006 loss in a City Council race.

“My election was torn apart by the Cicilline people,” Jennings told GoLocalProv. “I was a victim of the Cicilline administration.”

Congressman Cicilline has denied the accusations leveled against him.