Man who forged voter registrations pleads guilty

Howard Brewer is a member of a shadowy group called "Choose to Vote" who was busted forging voter registrations here in South Dakota earlier this spring. Almost half of the registrations he sent in were forged. Local television stations are reporting that he has now pled guilty to voter registration fraud. KSFY has a story headlined "Registration Fraud":

An Arizona man pleaded guilty in Codington County Thursday for voter registration fraud. Officials say Howard L. Brewer forged information on voter registration forms and turned them into to the Codington County Auditor's Office. "We did not have any idea where these voter registration forms came from. They came in a white envelope with no return address," says Codington County Auditor Cindy Brugman. This was the first red flag for Brugman. The second came when voter registration forms didn't seem right. "The phone number was changed by one digit," says Brugman.

9 of the 22 voter registration forms didn't check out, leading authorities to 44-year-old Brewer. Since the investigation is still ongoing, Codington County officials aren't saying how they linked Brewer to the registrations. But Thursday, Brewer pleaded guilty to 3 counts of forgery.

Officials say Brewer was holding voter registration drives for an organization called Choose to Vote, when he forged information onto forms. And now authorities are looking for other people linked to the case in Codington County.

And it doesn't stop there, Brewer was also in Brown County. "I just went to visit with them while they were at Wal-Mart and asked that they please bring the forms up as soon as they were finished to get them processed," says Brown County Auditor Maxine Taylor. Taylor says Brewer dropped off a pack of registrations. They all checked out, but some other forms that came in later did not, and tracing where those forms came from is almost impossible...expect for one thing. "The ones that came directly from the group...none had a return address," said Taylor. Just like the ones that came from Brewer in Codington County.

So far there is no investigation underway in Brown County. Brewer is scheduled for sentencing on July 28th. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

KDLT has a story headlined "Voter Fraud: A Phoenix man accused of forging voter registration forms pled guilty in Codington County.":

Howard Brewer sent an envelope with 22-voter registration forms to the county auditor's office in Watertown.

Nine of the 22 did not check out.

Brewer will be sentenced July 28th for forgery.

He could get up to 15-years.

Brewer says he was working for an organization called "choose to vote"

The AP has this report.

Intriguingly, an April 30, 2004 story in the Argus Leader, written by Terry Woster and headlined "Attempts to sign up new voters scrutinized" included the following passage:

Some other counties report only sporadic activity.

"We got one batch of about 300 that came in all at once, in an envelope that just said, 'Choose to Vote,' " Fall River County Auditor Sherrill Dryden said. Her office oversees the process in Fall River and nearby Shannon County on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

"We aren't finding many problems at all right now," she said.

Um, given the track record of "Choose to Vote" members like Howard Brewer, it might be wise to double check those 300 registrations. Why the hell aren't local media (or national media for that matter) tracking down this shadowy "Choose To Vote" group?

So far, I'm unable to find the group's website, which makes it likely that they don't have a website. Needless to say, my suspicions are heightened.