Wisconsin

Another case of voter fraud:

MILWAUKEE (AP) - Four Democratic presidential campaign workers pleaded no contest Friday to charges that they punctured the tires of 25 vehicles Republicans had intended to use to get out the vote on Election Day 2004. A fifth defendant was acquitted.

Jurors were deliberating for a second day in the felony property damage case when the four agreed to enter the pleas on misdemeanor charges of criminal damage to property.

Those agreeing to the plea were Sowande A. Omokunde, the son of Democratic U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore; Michael Pratt, the son of former acting Milwaukee Mayor Marvin Pratt; and Lewis Caldwell and Lavelle Mohammad, both from Milwaukee.

The fifth defendant, Justin Howell, was acquitted soon after the others entered the pleas.

The four pleaded no contest to charges that carry a maximum nine-month jail term. The original counts carry a maximum 3 1/2-year prison sentence.

The state Republican Party had rented more than 100 vehicles that were parked in a lot next to a Bush-Cheney campaign office to give rides to voters and poll monitors on Nov. 2, 2004. The vandalism caused some delays in the GOP's Election Day work as party workers rounded up different vehicles.

Democrat John Kerry won Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes in a close race.

John Fund provides an excellent overview of voter fraud in his book Stealing Elections, which devotes a chapter to the case in South Dakota during the 2002 contest.