While we wait with bated breath to see if North Miami Beach councilwoman Phyllis Smith will introduce her third piece of “legislation” in the over four years she’s been taking up space and airtime on the dais, let me direct your attention to an infinitely more pressing issue:  Absentee ballot voter fraud!

Yes, fraud.  It’s real, it’s happening here in NMB, and I aim to root it out at any cost!

On Saturday, the Miami Herald published an article, Absentee ballots: Everyone’s doing it (http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/23/2284840/absentee-ballots-everyones-doing.html), detailing the many ways that absentee ballots can be used fraudulently to win elections.  It seems as though this is a well known and now well publicized problem, yet resolving it is pretty much impossible.  The article states, “For more and more people in Greater Miami, voting is very different. It doesn’t take place in a polling booth, and it’s not done in private. In fact, the votes may be cast in the presence of campaign field workers armed with lists of names, who arrive on doorsteps to urge voters to fill out ballots for specific candidates, and who may even insist on mailing the ballots themselves to the Elections Department.”

The article goes on further to cite a 2008 case of alleged absentee ballot fraud during a congressional race between ‘former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez and incumbent U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart. Martinez alleged that supporters of Diaz-Balart posed as Martinez backers and collected absentee ballots from his supporters and threw them out or altered them. Among those investigated was Sasha Tirador, who was coordinating Diaz-Balart’s absentee-ballot operation. Again, no charges were filed. According to a close-out memo from the prosecutor’s office, witnesses confirmed that absentee ballots were bundled — a violation of county ordinance — but the state attorney said the provision carries no criminal penalties “and is, therefore, unenforceable as a criminal offense.” The prosecutor concluded that despite evidence of ballot tampering, “any chance of proving a crime is remote.”’

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?  Campaign workers “insist on mailing the ballots themselves?”  Bundled absentee ballots is a “violation of county ordinance” but NOT A CRIME?  Excuse my French, but WTF is going on here?

The Herald article goes on to give tips to voters from the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, to-wit:

• Do not allow anyone to assist you in voting unless it is a family member or a trusted family friend.
• Do not allow anyone else to fill out your ballot.
• Do not give your ballot to a stranger. You should mail it yourself.
• Report any suspicious calls or circumstances to the State Attorney’s Office: (305) 547-3300. It is anonymous and answerable 24/7.

That’s all very well and good, but it seems to me that the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office is naively assuming that all voters (a) are reading the newspaper, and (b) give a crap.

I am not alone when I tell you that I have heard many stories of absentee ballot voter fraud in this past North Miami Beach council election.  I’m also not alone when I tell you that not one person who was involved, either by being approached to sell their vote or by witnessing votes being sold, will come forward and file a formal complaint.  Why is that?  I only WISH someone had come to me and offered to buy my vote!  I’d be the first person in line at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office to press charges and testify.  Heck, I would offer to put the handcuffs on the perpetrator if they’d let me!

Then again, I’m pretty sure that’s why I was never approached.

Before you think any of the tales are outlandish, let me assure you I’ve heard them from so many people from every area of our city, none of whom probably even know each other.  Yet, all the stories sound shockingly similar.

Several different people have stated that when they went to the polls they were turned away because they were told they already voted absentee.  They claim they did no such thing.

I’ve heard stories of campaign workers walking around with bundled absentee ballots sticking out of their pockets!

Just the other day someone told me when they went to a house to see if the resident had mailed in her absentee ballot, the resident asked for her payment!  The person who told me this was in complete shock and asked the woman why she thought she would be paid to vote.  The woman just shrugged and said she’d been given money for her ballot before.

I don’t know about any of you, but this sickens me to the core.  One of the most basic rights we have as United States citizens is to be able to cast our vote for the candidate or candidates of our choice.  Aside from the fact that stealing or buying votes is a CRIME, I find it personally appalling and utterly disgraceful.  Selling your vote to the highest bidder is like spitting on the graves of the hundreds of thousands of men and women who have sacrificed their lives in combat while fighting for our right to vote.  If I had my way, anyone who is involved in vote stealing or buying should be sentenced to life in prison.  And anyone who sells their vote should be stripped of their citizenship.  And then jailed for life.  Good thing I’m not in charge, huh?

In reality, though, something absolutely must be done about this crime.  The problem lies mainly in the absentee ballot law itself, rather than the enforcement, which is practically impossible to do as the law is now written.  Therefore, as citizens it is incumbent upon us to do what we can to fix the problem.  The time to do this is right now before the next North Miami Beach election in 2013.  I wrote to the State Attorney about this issue and his response to me was:

“I am well aware of this problem, and have felt somewhat frustrated by it over the years.  The two most important things that could happen, in my opinion, would be an amendment to the county ordinance making it a misdemeanor crime to handle more than two absentee ballots or any absentee ballot that you have not been authorized in writing to handle, and a reinstatement of the state law that used to require two witnesses to each absentee ballot (in fact, I would go further and require each absentee ballot to be notarized, but that may not be realistic to get passed).  The county ordinance should be the easier of the two, especially for local activists such as yourself.  The way to begin would be to speak with your County Commissioner.  I appreciate your concern over this issue.”

My dear Friends of the Blog, I now ask if you are willing to help me with this cause.  I plan to launch an all out campaign to get the County to amend its ordinance immediately.  I will be writing to each of the County Commissioners, starting with our own representative, Sally Heyman, and asking them to take this problem seriously and to get the ball rolling.

I the meantime, I would love to ask each and every citizen of North Miami Beach the following questions:

1.  What is your vote worth?
2.  Is it not worth at least the life of one soldier who died for your freedom?
3.  Do you think so little of yourself that you don’t believe your vote counts?
4.  Do you think so little of America that you’d sell your vote for little more than the cost of a six pack of beer?

No, these are not rhetorical questions.  I’m dead serious.  In the long run, one of the few freedoms that we still have in America is the right to voice our opinion at the ballot box.  Are you willing to throw that away like so much garbage?  If so, you might as well live in a Communist country where the people don’t have a voice or a choice.

To those who would take advantage of the poor, the uneducated, the naive, or the just plain stupid, who would sell their vote for ten dollars and a box lunch, I say this:  There is a prison cell with your name on it just waiting for its occupant.  And, believe me, I will not rest until its cot is occupied!

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreadimg the Wealth”