Election 2000 Democrats Attempted Vote Fraud - Missouri Sen. Kit Bond forwards accusations to U.S. attorney's office

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Democrats attempted vote fraud, report says By Jo Mannies And Mark Schlinkmann Post-Dispatch Political Correspondents

Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., has forwarded to the U.S. attorney's office here a report -- compiled by a group of local lawyers -- that accuses Democrats of "an organized effort to commit vote fraud" in the city of St. Louis last Nov. 7.

A spokesman for the state Democratic Party in turn accuses Bond of instigating "a Joe McCarthy witch hunt" aimed at intimidating city voters. McCarthy was a senator who accused various people in the 1950s of being communists.

A spokeswoman for Audrey Fleissig, the U.S. attorney for Eastern Missouri, confirmed Thursday that she had received the report. Sources gave the Post-Dispatch a copy, but the names of the lawyers are blacked out -- as were several passages and pages. Sources say the lawyers fear reprisals if their identities become public, and that many of the excised portions raise questions about what judges did.

The 250-page report cites various incidents but zeroes in on the Election Day lawsuit filed by the state Democratic Party and the Gore-Lieberman campaign, among others, to keep city polls open for three hours beyond the 7 p.m. closing time. Judge Evelyn Baker granted the request; a state appeals court overturned it and shut down the polls at 7:45.

The report contends that the lawsuit contained false statements identifying specific people as being denied the right to vote, when they really had voted.

Among them was the lead plaintiff, identified in the suit as Robert D. Odom, although Democratic officials say the middle initial was in error. That plaintiff, Democrats say, actually was Robert M. Odom, known as Mark Odom, an aide to former Rep. William L. Clay Sr. and now an aide to Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr.

Odom had been listed as a plaintiff in the suit, which stated that he "has not been able to vote and fears he will not be able to vote" because of long lines and "machine breakdowns" at polling places "that have lasted for several hours."

The lawyer handling the case, Douglas Dowd, said Thursday that Lacy Clay had given him the wrong initial and that he didn't know that Odom was Clay's aide. Dowd said he gave the judge wrong information about Odom's voting status because he had gotten incorrect information from Democratic officials.

During the Election Day hearing, Dowd said another lawyer alerted him in a note that Odom already had voted. Odom told Dowd that he thought he was to testify about what he'd witnessed at polls, Dowd said.

Because of the confusion about his voting status, Odom didn't testify. Instead, Dowd added Mahina Nightsage as a plaintiff. She testified that she had been blocked from voting because she had been improperly purged from the rolls.

Dowd said he failed to correct the suit or tell the judge that Odom had in fact voted. Legally, "I didn't have to," Dowd said.

"My job is to prove my case," he said Thursday. "My allegation was that people were being denied a right to vote. I didn't prove Mr. Odom was being denied the right to vote (but that Mahina Nightsage) was denied the right to vote. That's the key."

He said he left Odom as a plaintiff in the case because at that point he was in the same category as one of the other plaintiffs, Lacy Clay. Both had voted, Dowd said, but had seen other voters experiencing problems.

Dowd called those who assembled the report "a bunch of cowards" for not identifying themselves. State Democratic Party spokesman Jim Grebing, who made the McCarthy barb, accused Bond of "overblowing the Odom thing" while overlooking legitimate issues.

Grebing had been the spokesman for former Secretary of State Bekki Cook, who issued a report last month on the Election Day troubles in St. Louis. State and city election officials said in the report that at least 143 people were improperly allowed to vote, and an undetermined number of legitimate voters were improperly barred from voting.

Meanwhile, several prominent African-Americans are seeking a meeting with the city Election Board to prevent a replay in the March 6 Democratic mayoral primary.

"We want to find out what mechanisms have been put in place so we don't have a fiasco (like the one) we had on election night in November," said the Rev. Earl Nance Jr., a member of the group. Other members include James Buford, chief executive of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis; the Rev. Sammie Jones; and insurance executive Richard Gaines.

Election 2000 Democrats Attempted Vote Fraud - Missouri Sen. Kit Bond forwards accusations to U.S. attorney's office

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), February 12, 2001


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