More on Election Fraud Indictment During Virginia Senate Primary Race

Last week I linked to this Richmond Times Dispatch report, which begins: "Mark D. Tate, a Middleburg businessman seeking the Republican nomination to run for the 27th District state Senate seat, has been indicted on 11 counts of election fraud and perjury.The indictment, handed up by a Loudoun County grand jury Monday and made public yesterday, lists two counts of election fraud and nine perjury counts. The felony charges relate to state-required campaign-finance reports filed this year and during a campaign in 2003, said Loudoun Commonwealth's Attorney James E. Plowman. Tate faces Jill Holtzman Vogel of Warrenton in a primary nominating contest. The indictments come three weeks before the June 12 primary."

Now, TPMmuckraker offers this must read followup:

...Tate's lawyer, Edward MacMahon Jr., is crying foul. "I find it outrageous that charges like this would be brought in the middle of a primary campaign, which has the effect of subverting the democratic process." MacMahon is pointing fingers at Tate's Republican opponent Jill Holtzman Vogel, a former chief counsel for the RNC with strong ties to the Virginia Conservative Action PAC. After all, reason Tate supporters, the woman who brought the complaint to the attention of the Virginia State Board of Elections is a campaign volunteer for Vogel; the local Leesburg Today even reports that the whistleblower occasionally babysat Vogel's children. And the local prosecutor who initially handled the complaint supported Vogel last year, although the prosecutor recused himself from the investigation in February.

The coincidences don't stop there. Remember Jason Torchinsky from the American Center for Voting Rights? He shares an office with Jill Holtzman Vogel at the boutique Republican law firm Holztman Vogel. So the woman accused of trumping up cases of voter fraud works with a man whose think tank worked to spread misinformation about voter fraud. Coincidence? Maybe.

The article links to this earlier piece on Jason Torchinsky as well. My recent Slate commentary on the American Center for Voting Rights is here.

Posted by Rick Hasen at May 29, 2007 08:54 AM