By Matt Hurley for the TIB Network:
From Akron Beacon Journal (Registration required):Hilary Labbe has been a registered Democrat for as long as he can remember.
Aside from the 2000 primary when he jumped ship for one ballot to vote for John McCain, the Cuyahoga Falls man said he's always been faithful to the Democratic Party.
So when the retired B.F. Goodrich worker walked to the mailbox last week and found a letter from the Summit County Republican Party thanking him for signing a petition seeking to amend the Ohio Constitution to ban gay marriages -- he said he was stunned.
Labbe, 78, said he never signed the petition and wants to know how a signature purported to be his made its way onto one filed recently with the Summit County Board of Elections.
Pointing to a copy of the suspect petition -- now being scrutinized by Summit County election officials -- Labbe said it is clear that this is a forgery.
Labbe said whoever did sign the petition added an extra "L" to his first name, botched his address and listed the wrong ward for where he resides in the Falls.
"I am flabbergasted," he said. "And damned angry."
Summit County elections officials say Labbe might not be the only one.
John Schmidt, deputy director of the county elections board, said about 100 of the 3,883 signatures filed in a second round of petitions appear "suspect."
The petitions were filed in a statewide bid to ban gay marriages.
Aside from other instances of apparent forged names of registered voters, Schmidt said, workers found the signature of one voter who is deceased.
"It appears the problems are numerous," he said.
Phil Buress, president of Cincinnati-based Citizens for Community Values that has organized the drive, said he too has heard of instances where suspect signatures have been filed.
But Buress claims his group has 67,096 more than the needed 322,899 signatures of valid voters to get the issue on the ballot.
"I guess the issue is moot," he said.
Buress said he's not sure if the bogus signatures came from workers of a California firm hired to canvass Ohio's voters or from those opposed to his group's effort.
Either way, Buress said, he supports the effort of county elections officials to pursue criminal action against anyone who may have forged a signature on one of the petitions.
"We went to great lengths to make sure this petition effort was done correctly," he said.
Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for the Ohio Secretary of State's Office, said no official determination has been made yet whether the issue has enough signatures to make the ballot.
Matt's Chat
This sounds to me like more problems with "outside firms" getting involved in efforts best left to the grassroots effort. When labor unions get involved in voter registrations we get similar results of dead people wanting to vote Democrat and entire neighborhoods choosing to go on vacation at the same time and needing absentee ballots.Issues like this one are too serious for dumb stuff like this to happen. Somebody screwed up and somebody should be charged with the crime. I feel exactly the same way about this that I do about the AFL-CIO case. Do the crime, do the time.
It is important to note that this isn't about voting on the issue, but rather getting the issue on the ballot. Not an excuse, but a distinction to be pointed out to the folks who can't wrap their minds around such things.
Mark's Remarks
Wow, this story is SO MUCH more sinister than, like, you know, forging registrations in a national Presidential election, eh? I don't think so. Look, there may be a few suspect names, but this is nowhere near the issue of what the AFL-CIO is doing, of what the Left is doing with that entire neighborhood mysteriously going on vacation. It is shameful for people to equate this petition issue with the national forgeries going on in Ohio, Michigan, Florida and elsewhere by the Left.
