IOWA: RNC Asks Sec. of State to Investigate Dems for Absentee Ballot Fraud

After voters accused Democratic operatives in Iowa of encouraging voters to sign absentee ballots for family members and to fill out absentee ballots for voters without their permission, the Republican National Committee (RNC) on Sunday asked Iowa’s Secretary of State Matt Schultz to do all he could to monitor the situation. 

In a letter to Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz, John Phillippe, the RNC’s Chief Counsel wrote he was expressing his “concern with what appears to be illegal activity involving Democratic and Obama campaign operatives engaged in absentee ballot canvassing.”

“We understand that the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations is investigating this matter,” Phillippe said. “We request the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office do all it can to further that investigation and to ensure that any illegal activity conducted by Democratic operatives does not taint the fairness of the 2012 general election.”

As the RNC noted, “Democratic operatives allegedly encouraged people to falsely sign absentee ballot requests for other family members” and “may have even falsely filled out and submitted absentee ballot requests without the permission of the Iowa voters on whose behalf the requests were submitted.”

According to the Des Moines Register, “Muscatine resident Craig White says a Democratic campaign worker somehow gave his 75-year-old mother the impression that it was OK for her to sign his name on an absentee ballot request form when he wasn’t home.” 

In addition:

“Elsewhere, reports of unauthorized absentee ballot paperwork have led to an investigation by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.  Floyd County Attorney Normand Klemesrud, a Democrat, said the DCI is checking into cases in his county in which someone allegedly filled out the request paperwork for an absentee ballot without the voter’s consent or knowledge…”

The Register noted Norm Sterzenbach, the executive director of Iowa’s Democratic Party, confirmed a DCI agent “spoke briefly to three workers at the Organizing for America office in Charles City.”