Warehouse Fire Destroyed Houston Ballot Machines, Raising the Possibility of Voter Fraud

Pajama Media's Bryan Preston is reporting that there are fears that a campaign of voter fraud, coupled with the lost of ten thousand voting machines in a warehouse fire, may be threatening the integrity of the 2010 elections in Houston.

First, there seems to be some ACORN-like voter registration fraud going on, according to Harris County's Tax Assessor-Collector Leo Vasquez.

"On Tuesday, August 24, Harris County's tax assessor-collector, Leo Vasquez, held a press conference in which he detailed what he called systematic and organized voter registration fraud across the county. Texas Watchdog reported on Vasquez's presser that day. Vasquez accused two nominally nonpartisan groups, the Texans Together Education Fund and its elections arm, Houston Votes, of engaging in massive voter registration fraud that put as many as 25,000 fraudulent registrations on the county's roll. Vasquez offered substantial evidence to back up his claim, and likened the groups to ACORN."

Next, a mysterious warehouse fire destroyed ten thousand voting machines on August 28^th, causing Harris County and Texas officials to have to scramble to rebuild Houston's voting infrastructure from the ground up. According to the Houston Chronicle:

"The fire destroyed 10,000 pieces of equipment, including voting machines and devices called judge's booth controllers that dispense four-digit access codes to voters and serve as mobile ballot boxes to tabulate the count at the end of Election Day."The three-alarm fire started about 4:15 a.m. at the 27,800-square-foot warehouse in the 600 block of Canino in north Houston that houses the county's voting equipment.

"Houston Fire Department spokesman Patrick Trahan said arson investigators have not yet determined the cause of the blaze. No injuries were reported.'

Harris County used 4300 voting machines in the last gubernatorial election. If enough voting machines cannot be borrowed or bought, the prospect of fewer polling stations being opened on election day in November is a real possibility. The potential for confusion as people try to find new places to vote cannot be underestimated.

Harris County officials are planning to supplement voting machines with paper ballots. Republicans charge that this measure may make voter fraud easier to accomplish and harder to detect.

This situation has caused local Democrats to react, expressing concern for the integrity of the November election in Houston, but at the same time seeking ways to undermine it. Democrats have urged the Justice Department to directly monitor the election in Houston.

The problem is that the Obama Justice Department hasn't the credibility to monitor an election. It was the Justice Department that dropped Black Panther voter intimidation case that took place during the 2008 election. According to Pajamas Media, the Justice Department is not enforcing the voter integrity provisions of the Motor Voter law that allows people to register to vote while renewing their drivers license. President Obama's ties to ACORN are already well documented.

The stakes in Texas could not be more serious. Currently the gubernatorial election is neck and neck, with Governor Rick Perry running just a point or two ahead of his Democratic challenger former Houston Mayor Bill White.

If the election remains close and an ACORN-like voter fraud campaign as noted by Leo Vasquez is allowed to happen under the nose of partisan Justice Department monitors, the Democrats might enjoy one of their few victories in November, by hook or by crook.

Source: It's Time to Worry About Houston, Bryan Preston, Pajamas Media, September 7th, 2010

Officials scramble after fire destroys vote machines, Chris Moran, Houston Chronicle, August 28th, 2010

Voters will be able to choose: Paper or eSlate, Chris Moran, Houston Chronicle, September 4th, 2010