NEWS
Board charges DePere man with voter fraud
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Also by Kira Sparks:
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by Kira Sparks
Monday, February 14, 2005
A former College Republican from DePere, Wis., has been charged with election fraud and faces a jail sentence of up to three-and-a-half years.
Marc P. Lacher, a St. Norbert’s alumnus, was charged Jan. 14 with voting illegally in the state of Wisconsin. Lacher used an old address to vote in Green Bay, although he currently resides in Illinois. Lacher said he believed he could vote using the previous address he resided at when attending college, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
The State Elections Board’s policy requires proof that an individual intended to commit the crime before sentencing someone for fraud. The evidence of the case is currently being reviewed before sentencing. Lacher’s next court date is set for March 29.
Chris Lato, spokesperson for the Republican Party, said in no way does the incident represent Republican Party policies.
“If that person is found to be guilty, that person should be prosecuted and punished,” Lato said. “Democrat or Republican, we don’t support voter fraud in Wisconsin.”
However, Josh Morby, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said Democrats do see the incident as typical of the GOP.
“Throughout the last election, Republicans were the ones who were out there talking about voter fraud,” Morby said. “The only documented case of actual fraud came from this person, who was a former member of College Republicans.”
Republican candidate for State School Superintendent Gregg Underheim faced similar heat in January, when Democrats accused him of using felons to gather signatures for his nomination papers. Though it was later proved two felons had been hired, Underheim denied he had any knowledge of their employment for his campaign.
“We did not knowingly involve felons in the process,” Lato said. “The Democrats don’t want to have a debate about the issues on this race. They know they are on the wrong side of the issues.”
Republicans stand firmly behind a new bill, which would require voter identification at the polls. Lato says this will greatly reduce the fraud exhibited during elections.
Democrats believe the voter-identification bill masks real problems and will only serve to disenfranchise people and decrease voter turnout.
“[Requiring an ID] makes it difficult for a number of constituencies to actually go and vote,” Morby said. “A lot of people don’t have IDs. We shouldn’t be discouraging people from participating in the electoral process. We should be finding ways to increase the number of people that vote.”
Lato contends it is not difficult for someone to show ID. All that is required is an ID with the voter’s name, and the bill will not require the voter’s address on the ID.
The voter ID bill is similar to one passed by the Legislature and vetoed by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle in 2003.
The new version is expected to pass through the Republican-dominated legislature soon and once again receive a negative reception from Doyle.
Anonymous (February 14, 2005 @ 8:53am):
Ha! Hypocrites! I bet we find a concerted effort by College Republicans to get former WI residents to vote in WI...you'll see.
Anonymous (February 14, 2005 @ 9:47am):
The Journal Sentinel must be pleased. They now have a story they can blow out of proportion and take the spotlight off the 8,000 inexplicable extra votes in Milwaukee. Meanwhile Lisa Artisan the election commissioner has been "out sick" for 2 weeks, no doubt in hiding waiting for this to blow over.
Anonymous (February 14, 2005 @ 11:07am):
My god the republicans never let up do they. They get busted for actual voter fraud and the republican who just posted is still complaining about "liberal media" and how the liberals are trying to abuse the system. If there's any lesson in this it's that any moron, no matter what your political ideology, is capable of stupid things. There's nothing partisan about questing voter irregularity, so republicans like this guy should stop making it a partisan issue.
Anonymous (February 14, 2005 @ 11:11am):
COMMENT DELETED: Inappropriate language, off-topic.
Anonymous (February 14, 2005 @ 11:34am):
Oh come on, you think this one nutjob in DePere is as serious as the massive fraud in Milwaukee? How many of you UW students voted absentee at home and in person in Madison?
The only reason this story is being printed is so that Democrats can now honestly argue that fraud happens on both sides, when its not even close to the same level of fraud. Just watch, every editorial against the Photo ID bill is going to mention the DePere guy.
