modarnis
Purple Belt
For those who think only Republicans play dirty....
Originally published in The Hartford Courant 7/27/05
www.courant.com
Prenzina Holloway, a veteran Hartford campaigner whose support is often critical in vaulting candidates to office, committed absentee ballot fraud in last summer's primary election, the state Elections Enforcement Commission has found.
The commission fined Holloway $10,000, a rarely imposed penalty.
After a nearly yearlong investigation, the commission found that Holloway, a Democratic party activist and a paid employee for two campaigns in 2004, voted on behalf of, and forged the signature of, at least one voter. That voter told investigators he had never asked for an absentee ballot, let alone completed and signed one.
The voter, James Osborne, was a former tenant of Holloway's at 345 Sigourney St. Investigators concluded that he had not lived at that address for several years.
Forensic analysis of Holloway's own signature indicated that she signed Osborne's name, according to the commission's written findings.
"The commission has evidence to suggest that she did cast his ballot for him," said Jeffrey B. Garfield, the commission's executive director.
The commission also found evidence that Holloway, 68, was in the same room with at least two other voters as they filled out absentee ballots, a violation of state election law. Though Holloway contended she was there as a neutral poll worker, investigators say she showed those voters campaign materials for the candidates she was supporting.
Holloway, the mother of Hartford city Councilwoman Jo Winch, also handled absentee ballots after they had been completed, the commission found.
Holloway signed an agreement with the state acknowledging that it has enough evidence to find she committed absentee ballot fraud. She declined comment Tuesday. Her lawyer, Michael Harrington, is on vacation this week.
Absentee ballot abuse has been a persistent problem in Hartford politics for years and has resulted in the arrest of at least eight city politicians, including two state representatives, in the past decade.
The accusations against Holloway arose in part from a Courant investigation in which elderly and disabled residents in a nursing home and two apartment complexes described being assisted with their ballots in ways that appeared to violate election laws.
The charges against Holloway come one year after former state legislator Barnaby Horton paid a similar $10,000 civil penalty for findings of absentee ballot improprieties during his 2002 re-election campaign. Though Holloway's ballot transgressions are as serious, if not more serious, than Horton's, Holloway's case was not referred to the state's attorney's office for criminal prosecution, as Horton's was.
The difference between the two, Garfield said, is that Holloway may not have been as well-versed in elections law as Horton, whom she helped elect in 1998.
Horton, Garfield said, "was a legislator and lawyer, and an individual who had been a member of the legislative commission that wrote the election laws.
"Ms. Holloway is a campaign worker. The level of knowledge that she has is less than Barnaby had," he said.
Horton, charged with being in the room with an absentee voter who was considering a ballot with Horton's name on it, lied to the Elections Enforcement Commission at first, Garfield said. Holloway, with legal representation, cooperated with the probe by providing samples of her handwriting, he added.
Horton did not return calls for comment Tuesday.
Though she was a paid employee on the winning campaigns of state Sen. Eric Coleman and state Rep. Douglas McCrory, the findings of wrongdoing by Holloway do not raise questions about their victories. Nor do they raise questions about the primary victory of Hartford Democratic Registrar of Voters Shirley Surgeon, whom Holloway also supported in 2004.
"The pluralities were pretty significant in those campaigns," Garfield said.
"What it does say," he added, "is that absentee voting abuse continues to be a significant problem in Hartford."
The $10,000 fines to Holloway and Horton are the largest penalties the Elections Enforcement Commission has ever imposed for absentee ballot fraud.
Because she demonstrated financial hardship, Holloway will have to pay only $2,000 of the fine, the commission decided. The first $1,000 is due by August 1.
In its report, the commission warned Holloway that future transgressions would be referred for criminal prosecution.
The commission also banned Holloway from distributing absentee ballot applications and assisting with absentee ballots for two years. Horton is banned from those tasks for life.
Holloway's ban from absentee ballot work has practical effects for the Democratic party in Hartford. She is celebrated as an indefatigable workhorse when it comes to harvesting absentee ballot votes - a time-honored and legal strategy for winning elections.
"She's a very hard and diligent worker, and she gets out the vote," said Noel F. McGregor Jr. chairman of Hartford's Democratic party. Without her, "we have to pick up the slack," he said.
McGregor, who had not seen the commission's report on Holloway, said he was still dismayed to learn of its conclusions.
"We don't want to keep having these things happen," he said. "The voters lose confidence in us."
In part because of the prominence of Hartford's absentee ballot transgressions, the state legislature this year passed a law to reform the absentee balloting process.
The new law requires anyone assisting with an absentee ballot application to file a list with the town clerk detailing the names of all the people whom they assisted. Ballot applications that are sent to voters who did not ask for them must include a disclaimer that anyone who votes absentee despite being able to go to the polls in person will be subject to civil and criminal penalties.
Originally published in The Hartford Courant 7/27/05
www.courant.com
Prenzina Holloway, a veteran Hartford campaigner whose support is often critical in vaulting candidates to office, committed absentee ballot fraud in last summer's primary election, the state Elections Enforcement Commission has found.
The commission fined Holloway $10,000, a rarely imposed penalty.
After a nearly yearlong investigation, the commission found that Holloway, a Democratic party activist and a paid employee for two campaigns in 2004, voted on behalf of, and forged the signature of, at least one voter. That voter told investigators he had never asked for an absentee ballot, let alone completed and signed one.
The voter, James Osborne, was a former tenant of Holloway's at 345 Sigourney St. Investigators concluded that he had not lived at that address for several years.
Forensic analysis of Holloway's own signature indicated that she signed Osborne's name, according to the commission's written findings.
"The commission has evidence to suggest that she did cast his ballot for him," said Jeffrey B. Garfield, the commission's executive director.
The commission also found evidence that Holloway, 68, was in the same room with at least two other voters as they filled out absentee ballots, a violation of state election law. Though Holloway contended she was there as a neutral poll worker, investigators say she showed those voters campaign materials for the candidates she was supporting.
Holloway, the mother of Hartford city Councilwoman Jo Winch, also handled absentee ballots after they had been completed, the commission found.
Holloway signed an agreement with the state acknowledging that it has enough evidence to find she committed absentee ballot fraud. She declined comment Tuesday. Her lawyer, Michael Harrington, is on vacation this week.
Absentee ballot abuse has been a persistent problem in Hartford politics for years and has resulted in the arrest of at least eight city politicians, including two state representatives, in the past decade.
The accusations against Holloway arose in part from a Courant investigation in which elderly and disabled residents in a nursing home and two apartment complexes described being assisted with their ballots in ways that appeared to violate election laws.
The charges against Holloway come one year after former state legislator Barnaby Horton paid a similar $10,000 civil penalty for findings of absentee ballot improprieties during his 2002 re-election campaign. Though Holloway's ballot transgressions are as serious, if not more serious, than Horton's, Holloway's case was not referred to the state's attorney's office for criminal prosecution, as Horton's was.
The difference between the two, Garfield said, is that Holloway may not have been as well-versed in elections law as Horton, whom she helped elect in 1998.
Horton, Garfield said, "was a legislator and lawyer, and an individual who had been a member of the legislative commission that wrote the election laws.
"Ms. Holloway is a campaign worker. The level of knowledge that she has is less than Barnaby had," he said.
Horton, charged with being in the room with an absentee voter who was considering a ballot with Horton's name on it, lied to the Elections Enforcement Commission at first, Garfield said. Holloway, with legal representation, cooperated with the probe by providing samples of her handwriting, he added.
Horton did not return calls for comment Tuesday.
Though she was a paid employee on the winning campaigns of state Sen. Eric Coleman and state Rep. Douglas McCrory, the findings of wrongdoing by Holloway do not raise questions about their victories. Nor do they raise questions about the primary victory of Hartford Democratic Registrar of Voters Shirley Surgeon, whom Holloway also supported in 2004.
"The pluralities were pretty significant in those campaigns," Garfield said.
"What it does say," he added, "is that absentee voting abuse continues to be a significant problem in Hartford."
The $10,000 fines to Holloway and Horton are the largest penalties the Elections Enforcement Commission has ever imposed for absentee ballot fraud.
Because she demonstrated financial hardship, Holloway will have to pay only $2,000 of the fine, the commission decided. The first $1,000 is due by August 1.
In its report, the commission warned Holloway that future transgressions would be referred for criminal prosecution.
The commission also banned Holloway from distributing absentee ballot applications and assisting with absentee ballots for two years. Horton is banned from those tasks for life.
Holloway's ban from absentee ballot work has practical effects for the Democratic party in Hartford. She is celebrated as an indefatigable workhorse when it comes to harvesting absentee ballot votes - a time-honored and legal strategy for winning elections.
"She's a very hard and diligent worker, and she gets out the vote," said Noel F. McGregor Jr. chairman of Hartford's Democratic party. Without her, "we have to pick up the slack," he said.
McGregor, who had not seen the commission's report on Holloway, said he was still dismayed to learn of its conclusions.
"We don't want to keep having these things happen," he said. "The voters lose confidence in us."
In part because of the prominence of Hartford's absentee ballot transgressions, the state legislature this year passed a law to reform the absentee balloting process.
The new law requires anyone assisting with an absentee ballot application to file a list with the town clerk detailing the names of all the people whom they assisted. Ballot applications that are sent to voters who did not ask for them must include a disclaimer that anyone who votes absentee despite being able to go to the polls in person will be subject to civil and criminal penalties.
