Oct 19, 2008 11:02 pm US/Pacific
Man Arrested In Voter Registration Fraud
LOS ANGELES
The owner of a signature-gathering firm hired by the California Republican Party to sign up Southland voters was arrested today in Ontario on suspicion of committing voter registration fraud in Los Angeles, according to the California Secretary of State.
Mark Anthony Jacoby, owner of Young Political Majors, is accused of
registering himself to vote in 2006 and 2007 at a Los Angeles address where he grew up but no longer lives, said Secretary of State Debra Bowen.
The Secretary of State's fraud unit and Ontario police took Jacoby into
custody just before midnight near an Ontario motel, Bowen said.
Some Southland Democrats have complained that YPM "slammed," or
reregistered them as Republicans without their knowledge after they signed a petition against sex offenders.
State Republican Party spokesman Hector Barajas denied that YPM slammed voters. "It does the state party no good to register people to a party they don't want to be in," Barajas said.
But Democratic party officials said changing party affiliation hurts their get-out-the-vote efforts because they won't be reminding Republicans to vote.
None of the legal charges are related to slamming.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's public integrity unit charged Jacoby with four felonies -- two counts of voter registration fraud and two counts of perjury -- on Oct. 3.
The California Republican Party issued a statement calling the arrest
"partisan activity undertaken by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen." The statement said Bowen was trying to deflect attention from ACORN, a liberal voter registration group that has come under fire from Republicans. "It's clear that Bowen, herself the recipient of an ACORN endorsement, has elevated these issues to achieve maximum political benefit and deflect attention from the Democratic presidential nominee's high-profiled problems and associations with the radical community activist group ACORN," according to the statement. "While we condemn voter fraud in all forms, it is evident that Debra Bowen is using her office to play politics with the public's perception of political parties. This is inappropriate at least, and an abuse of her office and a willing suspension of her duties at worst," the statement said.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has denied any connection to ACORN's voter registration efforts.
Jacoby was released on $50,000 bail early today, according to Bowen and jail officials.
Jacoby's firm had generated controversy all across Southern California
for its tactics. Police had to be called to a Walmart in Oxnard last month when Democratic party activists demanded that YPM cease registration efforts they believed to be illegal.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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