Ranking Democrats Call for Answers from Republican Chairman Amid Allegations of Voter Registration Fraud by RNC Contractor

Oct 2, 2012
Press Release

Washington – Today, the top Democratic Members on committees responsible for Elections, the Judiciary, and Oversight sent a letter to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus calling for answers surrounding the unfolding scandal of voter registration fraud in Florida and across the country.

In light of reports that the Republican National Committee’s “only vendor signing up new voters” has submitted hundreds of fraudulent voter registration forms in Florida, North Carolina, Nevada and Colorado, Elections Subcommittee Ranking Member Charles A. Gonzalez (TX-20), Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (MI-14), and Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (MD-7) asked Priebus why the RNC hired Strategic Allied Consulting, a company run by Nathan Sproul, a man with “a long history of improper behavior” surrounding voter registration.

Sproul told the Los Angeles Times that he had created the company at the RNC’s request to disguise any connections to past allegations of voter registration fraud by his companies dating back to 2004.

“Every time Republican governors have claimed to have found, at last, proof of fraud – whether in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, or South Carolina – their claims have crumbled under even the most cursory examination,” the Members wrote, noting the hypocrisy of the Republican Party, after years of hyping unfounded claims of voter fraud, hiring a man with a reputation for committing voter registration fraud. “We want to know what you plan to do now and where the RNC stands on such behavior.”

The letter pointed out that the RNC is bound by a federal consent decree to “refrain from undertaking any ballot security activities” or anything else that might “deter qualified voters from voting”, especially for “racial or ethnic populations”, and asks whether the revelations out of Florida, North Carolina, and elsewhere might be a violation of that federal order. The consent decree, first issued in 1982 and reaffirmed most recently in 2010, stems from a history of specific practices of voter suppression committed by the RNC, including the notorious the practice of voter caging.

“We need answers that can assure the American people that our election will not be tainted by fraud,” wrote the three Members of Congress, calling on Priebus to provide them answers within two weeks, a date a mere three weeks before Election Day.

The letter was hand-delivered to the headquarters of the Republican National Committee at approximately 2:45EDT by staff of the Committee on House Administration.

The letter may be found here (PDF). The full text may be found below.

The Brennan Center’s history of the Consent Decree is available here.

112th Congress