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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVoter Fraud? - Found - RIGHT HERE - & Wait, It's Mitt Romney!
................ Given the GOP's ongoing use of the "voter fraud" fable to justify modern Jim Crow laws and its highly-publicized persecution of the voter registration group Acorn, an actual case of felony voter fraud committed by the Republican nominee could have been a big story but Romney was able to tamp down the flames by claiming, not very credibly but also not disprovably, that he and Ann actually were living in their son Tagg's Belmont, Massachusetts basement in 2010. Without proof that Romney lied about where he lived, there's no felony and no big national story.
In April 2009, Romney sold his longtime Massachusetts home at 171 Marsh Street and appeared to move to La Jolla, California. He did not own a home in Massachusetts again until July 2010. (All of the Massachusetts addresses discussed here end with "Belmont, MA 02478", though one might amuse oneself surmising which address is underneath the Sharpie by the length of the redaction.)
Sometime in 2009, probably late in the year, Romney filed his 2008 tax return, identifying the address where he lived at the time of filing. He has refused to disclose a copy of that return.
Sometime in or shortly before January 2010 that is, not long after he filed his 2008 return Romney registered to vote in Massachusetts, stating on his voter registration form that he lived in his son Tagg's basement at 18 Greensbrook Way. In January 2010, Romney voted in Massachusetts' special election, which would be a felony if he was not a Massachusetts resident at the time.
MORE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/17/mitt-romney-tax-returns-voter-fraud-theory
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)I am open minded but at first glance this appears to be the same scam they pulled with W.'s National Guard service.
Create false documents with the correct information so that when it comes out that the documents are false everyone thinks the information on them is also false.
Leaking them out through a media outlet in the UK is a new wrinkle but not a very surprising one.
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)The linked article is fairly careful about distinguishing what's known from what's speculated. There is solid public information about Romney's house purchases and voting behavior. That information, combined with what tax papers he has released, support (but don't compel) an inference that the sensitive matter in his 2009 return is the address, because it shows Romney to have committed a felony.
Of course, regardless of what's in the tax returns, we definitely have the spectacle of the wealthy Romney claiming to live in his son's basement -- a claim that was to his political advantage but that defies common sense.
jeffsainio
(5 posts)Romney said he'd be unqualified for president if he didn't take every possible tax exemption. OK.
Tagg's basement gave him no homestead tax credit. For him to skip a tax credit is un-Romney.
Therefore, he claimed his California home as his primary residence to get the $7000 tax credit. This makes him
a non-Massachusetts resident, and he committed voter fraud.
Of course, we have him and his VP on video being a felon. He and Ryan handed out Cousins Subs to customers, telling them to "go vote;" giving a voter an item worth more than a dollar here in WI, is a violation of:
12.11? Election bribery.
(1)?In this section, "anything of value" includes any amount of money, or any object which has utility independent of any political message it contains and the value of which exceeds $1. The prohibitions of this section apply to the distribution of material printed at public expense and available for free distribution if such materials are accompanied by a political message.
(1m)?Any person who does any of the following violates this chapter:
(a) Offers, gives, lends or promises to give or lend, or endeavors to procure, anything of value, or any office or employment or any privilege or immunity to, or for, any elector, or to or for any other person, in order to induce any elector to:
1. Go to or refrain from going to the polls.
2. Vote or refrain from voting.
3. Vote or refrain from voting for or against a particular person.
4. Vote or refrain from voting for or against a particular referendum; or on account of any elector having done any of the above.