>> what is at stake for america? >> do you think there was voter fraud in the 2008 senate race. >> i know there was voter fraud. >> you can't run to system that is going to be hundred percent error free. >> if the fix is in. >> it's oddly ironic that we have an election coming up and that they are stopping us. >> fox news reports, stealing your vote. reporting from new york city, here is eric shawn. >> former governor used to tell a joke, after a die, bury me in louisiana so i can stay active in politics. a clever line at times you have to chuckle the lengths some politicians will go to win an

election. but when it happened it may be you who is being robbed. your vote cancelled out. fox news has traveled across the country to investigate charges of voter fraud and asked the question, how easy is it even in this day and age to steal your vote. >> eric: in connecticut. >> i was a little surprised because they said it's not possible. >> eric: it wasn't possible to jane was that her deceased mother voted in 2007, but apparently she did. the town clerk's record clearly showing she voted more than 7 years after she died. >> it was an impossible situation. >> eric: it was what most americans would think of as potential voter fraud, a living person voting in the name of dead. they blamed clerical errors. across the country other forms of fraud have led to stolen votes and prosecutions. this is what happened in oakland county, michigan.

the local head of the democratic party, they tried to get several tea party candidates during the 200 local elections. problem was, some candidates had no idea their names were being used. it turns out bower had notarized fake filings for them. >> this was designed from the beginning to confuse voters to siphon votes from legitimate candidates. >> eric: bower received probation and fines and mcginness received a similar sentence. >> did you try to steal an election? >> yes. >> politicians say they stole an election by faking absentee ballots. >> four operatives have pled guilty to the scheme. the idea is to get democratic candidates also on the ballot of the working family's party line in the 2009 primary. the more ballot lines they would

have to run on the more votes the candidate will get. it is charged they did this by fulfilling and submitting fraudulent ballots like this one. >> did you vote? >> no. >> they have your vote? >> they do. >> she was attending a work conference in boston. his vote was stolen, too. >> did you fill out an absentee ballot? >> his claim brian was home recovering from a medical procedure. >> so your vote was a fraud? >> it was. >> eric: in january, two officials faced the first trial. democratic commissioner and former democratic city councilman? >> did you nothing wrong. >> absolutely nothing, not a thing. >> on march 13th a mistrial was declared but they will be re-tried. two others including former city council president also faced trial. >> no one tried to steal an

election, even though the voters say they didn't vote. they said the stuff was phony. >> i did nothing wrong. >> eric: one operative admitted that the faking of absentee ballots is routine a normal political tactic, not just in new york. this law enforcement report caused absentee ballots a tool of choice for those trying to commit voter fraud. the court threw out the results of miami's mayoral election when it was determined that more than 5,000 fraudulent absentee ballots had been cast. >> we're going to have a nice orderly hearing. >> an appeals court named a mayor after one other seemed to have one. they say voter fraud is still rare and an issue is overblown

but you may get a different case from those that run for office. >> how is easy is it? >> it's a relatively easy thing to do. >> eric: former alabama congressman said while campaigning he would estimate the number of clean votes he would need to overcome the dirty ones cast again him. he says there a variety of ways to try to steal an election? >> you can fake absentee ballots. >> you can vote in the name of dead? >> you can do that. >> it sounds like it's easy to do if you know how to do it? >> if you have an intent to do it. if you are willing to do it. it's a fairly easy thing to do. >> eric: case in point, brooks county, georgia, an unusually high number of absentee ballots were submitted in the democratic primary for the local school board. after they were counted, two candidates that were losing by a sizable margin to the incumbent had a reversal fortune.

lynde tra truckman and one other went on to win the general election. later they were arrested and charged with stuffing the ballot box. ten others were arrested in the alleged scream. their trial is pending. >> to mississippi, naacp official was convicted on ten counts on fraudulently casting absentee ballots. her dna was found on the inner seal containing those ballots. she is currently serving a five-year prison term. >> daytona beach, during the 2010 primary, derek henry and his campaign manager illegally obtained absentee ballots during reelection campaign. they were caught because a large group of requests were sent online dues ago single e-mail address. after the arrests henry's lawyer was saying he was trying to help african-americans who didn't

have internet access to vote. >> instead of being accused of a crime, derek henry should be applaud today help them to vote. >> eric: but he agreed to a pretrial intervention program. he agreed to pay about $23,000 and gave up the 4-year term he had won. robinson pled to a similar deal. henry didn't need those extra votes. it's 799 votes beat his two opponents which only received 200. >> probated probate judge and local powers. >> that is where voter fraud? >> where it has more impact. who your sheriff is probably matters more who the governor of the state is and many of these other people. >> eric: lincoln county, west virginia. >> sheriff, why did you try to steal the election? >> jerry boman was term limited an running for another public office, circuit court clerk.

he was looking to unseat incumbent democratic zblm they said we found some absentee ballots. when the final tally came we lost. >> he admitted to falsifying 100 absentee applications. in february he pled guilty to a federal conspiracy charge. it is not always local offices at state. election fraud charges touch a race for the highest office in the land. >> did you sign this petition for barack obama? >> no. >> st. joseph county indiana, prosecutors charge democratic operatives faked petitions to put candidates barack obama and hillary clinton on the 2008 democratic primary ballot for president. >> i did not vote for barack obama. >> somebody forged this? >> that's correct. >> so president obama may not have legally qualified for the ballot.

long time chairman butch morgan who ordered scream and three party officials have been indicted including dustin blythe who worked in the county's board of voter registration and accused of faking petitions. >> i don't have anything to say. >> all four have pled not guilty. >> here is another story from indiana. the top election official, republican secretary of state charlie white was himself convicted of voter fraud, not for trying steal the elections but registering to vote at his ex-wife's office. coming up, allegations of fraud in the wisconsin recall. [ mujahid ] there was a little bit of trepidation,

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>> eric: november 2011 , >> eric: wisconsin's first hurdle get 540,000 voters to sign a petition saying they wanted to a reelection on walker in 2012. as soon as they started collecting signatures... walker supporters begin raising charges of possible fraud. >> i imagine they will get a lot of signatures. >> the specter of fraud was raised by governor walker himself. >> we had one of local affiliates do a story about proudly saying they signed 80 different recall petitions. >> they say they cheated with bush and i'm going cheat too to get scott walker out of here.

>> this person seemed serious. >> i have signed several times. >> so you are saying you signed more petition? >> yes. >> that is not illegal unless they are trying to defraud the system. but signing multiple petitions can have consequences. >> if anti-walker forces succeed it would be the third recall of a governor in u.s. history. but what if anti-walker forces reached their goal with phony or duplicate signatures. that would be stealing stealing an election. here is brian of media trackers a conservative watchdog group in wisconsin. >> the legitimacy hinges on whether they have a fraudulent recall process. >> they have hundreds of thousands of signatures but are they legit. election officials who have never seen a recall over the this scale have no way to root

out ineligible signatures. it's the board's job to check the names but it says it will not actually strike duplicate names or even obviously fake ones. >> we may certainly noted suspicious names if we note them to the petition and we will flag them but we will not strike them. >> eric: it will be up to walker and his volunteers to prove which ones are bogus. >> january 17th, the democrats deliver boxes, 900,000 signatures almost twice as many as needed to trigger recall. >> today we are making history. thank you, we did it! [ cheers and applause ] >> eric: the state board was granted 60 days to examine more than 150,000 pages. board director kevin kennedy reiterates that his office won't be cross outing fraudulent

signatures. >> the fraud issue, that rests with the office holders. >> another the walker camp. the vice chair. >> there is reason for concern. we have seen an uptick in voter fraud in wisconsin in the last several years. >> eric: they only have 30 days to try to strike more than 400,000 signatures. >> someone signed for someone else in the form. >> we want to make sure that wisconsin voters are not people are being disenfranchised by signing their names. >> eric: that is a serious concern but unproven allegations of fraud also undermine the credibility of elections? >> new mexico, 2011, republican secretary of state wants an investigation voting by non-citizens. they checked 1.6 million voters

registrations against motor vehicle and social security databases. findings less than shocking. over several election cycles only 19 votes appeared to be cast by non-citizens. not the culture of corruption she had alleged. she had a hard time explaining that to state lawmakers. >> do you have actual any evidence of voter fraud? >> the answer to that question -- its difficult one to answer. it's hard to say yes or no to this sort of stuff. >> eric: back in wisconsin, they are having a hard time uncovering fraud, too. >> any reasonable person looking into the understands there is going to be a recall election. >> eric: by they relented. they don't have enough time to go through all the petitions but they don't back off the fraud claims. democrats scoffed on the party website, saying the real fraud here has been scott walker. whatever the case, republicans and democrats have redirected

their energies away from gathering signatures to drumming up votes for the recall election. still, the distrust felt on both sides shurlt will not bolster confidence in the final outcome. >> when we return, he could not tell a lie. but did george washington, election chicanery older the u.s.a. after the break. [ horse neighing ] ♪ ♪ liquid gooooooooooooooooooooooooold ♪ ♪ liquid gooooooooooooooooooooooooold ♪ of single mile credirds. battle speech right? may i?

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>> eric: new allegations of election fraud are popping up almost every week but there is nothing new about shenanigans at the polls. it's an american tradition older than the nation itself. >> george washington the father of our country the man who could not tell a lie, a politician who bribed voters with booze.

yes, washington himself was not above trying to steal an election back in 1758 when he ran for a seat in the virginia house. >> he was too busy being a colonel in the army and not busy enough getting out vote. >> the vice president of policy at the center for competitive politics and historian. >> it's kind of shocking to realize he went out and treated voters, compensated them with ale and meat and beer for voting. >> no wonder when you look at his receipts. he bought 158 gallons of booze which amounts to a quarter and a half per voter. as our nation grew so did the political machines. one machine that was synonymous was taminy hall that dominated new york city politics. >> they would pay people to vote. pay people not to vote.

pay people who counted the votes. you name it. >> they were william ross tweed i don't think there was ever a fairer election in the city of new york. but it wasn't limited to local elections, it was found at the highest elections. it was perhaps the most hotly presidential election, it came down to the state of florida and cries of fraud. a small panel decided one vote to award the presidency to a republican. bush versus gore in 2000? rutherford (b) hayes. >> this was done by all the tools of trade. throwing out ballots until you have enough ballots. >> with a number of contested votes in the south. congress set up a commission to decide the presidency. it named hayes the winner. >> you are saying the

republicans stole the presidential election? >> ra negs is known as ruther fraud. >> in atlantic city, johnson engaged in hanky-panky. one of his proteges was hair harry s.truman who ho was known as the senator from pe7b gergags. >> richard is a noted historian. >> he is the clean guy, they want to keep him clean and over there. then they'll be performing that their black stuff on the side. >> another political had closer ties to stolen election claims. >> lyndon johnson had a nickname landslide lyndon. his first run was a win by a tiny margin. the question has as been, how many votes were stolen. >> he rose to senate majority

leader and became kennedy's running mate. >> another election tainted by questionable voting. it started in the west virginia primary where kennedy was running against hubert humphrey. >> kennedy was a younger, more energetic candidate. kennedy's father, joe kennedy didn't want to count on that. so money was spread around in west virginia. >> kennedy joked that his father advised him, don't buy a single vote more than is necessary. in a close general election, kennedy defeated richard nixon who democrats had long nicknamed tricky dick but it seemed that j.f.k. had something up his sleeve. >> the word went out that illinois had to go to kennedy so ballots were manufactured. >> do you think he stole the election? >> many people have looked at the evidence have said yes.

>> many people nixon should challenge the result. but they believed it would divide a damaged nation. >> my congratulations to senator kennedy. >> 40 years later, a vice president didn't go away so quietly. it was bush are versus gore. which looked like a narrow win for bush, a month of recounts and hundreds of lawyers descending on florida and counter charges of bad ballots, voter fraud, intimidation and suppression. multiple legal cases in state and federal courts and supreme court ruling that effectively ended the election. >> people are still grumbling about that election and about the george w. bush presidency off on the wrong foot. in a way, it never recovered from that. nobody ever likes to lose but if you feel you've been cheated,

that is much worse. >> eric: coming up the acorn that grew into a massive scandal. no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. of single mile credirds. battle speech right? may i? [ horse neighs ] or too long, people have settled for single miles. with the capital one venture card, you'll earn doubleiles on every purchase, every day! [ visigoths cheer ] hawaii, here we come. [ alec ] so sign up day for a venture card at capitalone.com. and start earning double. [ all ] double miles! [ brays ]

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live from america news headquarters, i'm gregg jarrett. iranians are claiming that learned all the secrets inside an american spy drone enough to reverse engineer and begin building their own copy. the sophisticated aircraft and iran says it shot it down last december but americans say the aircraft malfunctioned. >> afghanistan and the u.s. finally reaching a leadership agreement ahead of u.s. troop drawdown. it promises support after the withdrawal of u.s. troops at the end of 2014. that includes both military and financial assistance. all that is needed is the signature of president obama and

hamid karzai. i'm gregg jarrett. we'll see you back at the top of the hour. now back to fox reporting, stealing your vote. >> eric: voter registration fraud. you know, few groups were associated with that than acorn. it's voter registration drives were the stuff of legend in more ways than one. >> it's again and again. >> in 2008 the acorn made national headlines for allegations of filing countless voter registrations with fraudulent names. >> how many times did you sign up? >> like 73 times. >> how many? >> 73 times. >> freddy johnson signed up by acorn. >> i could help other people. >> eric: mickey mouse appeared on application on florida. tony romo on one in nevada. hundreds of thousands of registrations were rejected by

election officials. criminal cases were filed in 15 states. 50 people were arrested in connection with acorn related voter registration fraud. in las vegas, acorn itself pled guilty to felony compensation for registration of voters. >> the scandals help kill the organization. >> voter registration officials hated acorn. they hated acorn they felt the group was conducting illegal activities with all these fake names. too bad they weren't able to prove that. >> eric: the founder of acorn, rathke founded the organization in 1970 and claims it got a bad rap. >> you are talking to me about things i left after 2008. by law we were required to turn in everything. eric you gave me your voter registration form, you said

mickey mouse by obligation we have to turn that in. >> eric: do you think corn was unfairly blamed? >> totally. >> eric: what do we do about the fake voter registration forms that were handed in by acorn? >> the only are a huge problem unless somebody tried to vote with them. >> eric: we don't know that somebody did? >> we're pretty sure. >> eric: they claim they have a different agenda, to keep eligible voters away from the polls. barack obama voiced that concern during the week the 2008 campaign. >> what i want to make sure of, this is not used as an excuse for the kind of voter suppression strategies and tactics that we've seen in the past. >> when it got to the white house, president obama's justice department turned into a crusade, a crusade against voter i.d.. >> eric: next voter i.d. laws the push for them and push back and later... they are all felons

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that favor voter i.d. >> let everybody here we are here. >> on may 8th. nikki haley put her signature on a bill laden with history and symbolism. she was the first any mi are not elected governor of south carolina a state with sad history of keeping blacks from voting and whites in power. it would require them to show a picture i.d. before entering the voting booth. it has sparked ugly charges that there is a bigotry to steal elections in her state. haley wlos parents are from india, think that votes of law abiding citizens are being cancelled out by illegally cast ballots. >> this protects the elderly, this protects everybody. we wanted to make sure they are who they say they are.

>> without voter i.d., what is going to happen? >> without voter i.d. i don't want dead people voting in the state of south carolina. >> there is evidence that dead people voting is a real problem. according to a statewide investigation by south carolina's department of motor vehicles. in january, it found that 953 votes were cast by people that were deceased but they dispute the findings. the report came out after she signed the voter i.d. law. >> were you surprised at the reaction you got from this? >> very surprised. protecting the integrity of the voting process is most important things we can do as a governor and state. >> eric: 13 other states have passed laws like south carolina's including indiana's whose voter i.d. law was ruled constitutional. she was stunned when president obama's attorney general eric holder quickly blocked her from enforcing the law.

he accounted under the voting rights act of 196135 which gives a the department of justice -- 1965. >> it demands that we move any demands from problems with voting. >> he made his views clear elsewhere. to stop texas's voter i.d. laws, the justice department claims there is significant evidence that the texas stated legislature actually intended to suppress minority jeots. the naacp senior vice president says holder is right. >> jim crow is dead and buried but alaska james. jim crow was the era of segregation. from reconstruction to the mid 1960s in which many southern states prevented blacks from voting using everything from taxes and literacy taxes to

murders. of course, 50 years later, america now has a black president. shelton charges that supporters of voter i.d. laws want to turn back the clock. >> the only way they win elections is suppress votes altogether. that is unamerican. >> and voter i.d. laws are not the only tactic he points to. >> take the 2010 maryland governor's race in which he faced off a democratic challenge martin o'malley. they sent out a robo call to 1,000,000 voters predominantly african-americans. >> we're calling that the governor has been successful. our goals have been met. >> prosecutors say the goal was to convince that there was no need to go to the polls which were still open. >> we're okay. everything is fine. only thing is left is to watch it on tv tonight.

>> the republican lost and campaign aide was later arrested. they found him guilty of four counts of voter fraud. >> niosh violation of law and more importantly to me, a profound personal failure. >> i have paid a price for that failure. >> new wave of voter i.d. laws are voter suppression. in fact the organization filed a complaint in geneva with the united nations human rights council a body that includes china, cuba and saudi arabia calling the laws, quote, most vicious koshd nate and sinister attacks narrow participation in democracy since the early 20th century. >> it's strictly as a sleight of hand. >> you talk about jim crow, is voter i.d. similar? >> absolutely. even to murder or to lynching. we can argue it's not as violent or bloody.

bottom line, what kind of effect does it have. that was in alabama not too long ago. i met a guy that was 75 years old, it took him four days in alabama to get that free photo i.d. we know people are going to forgo voting at all. >> but arthur davis doesn't buy it? >> i never heard a single voter in my 68% african-american district complain to me about i.d. being something that was onerus or burdensome or difficult. >> you never have any voter say, i don't have i.d. i can't vote? >> not a one. the idea that african-american communities are burdened by attaching just a few responsibilities to the all important right of voting is condescending idea. if the law works the same with

respect to everybody, it's free and clear of whatever history of bigotry or racial animus in the state like south carolina. >> when they are denying people. tell me who has been denied. anybody that can't get to the motor vehicles, we will take you there. >> eric: how many south carolinaians called for a lift. >> after three weeks, 23 rides. >> out of what? >> five million. >> five million people in our state. that is all we got. we said fine, we'll give them a ride. >> eric: do you think the administration has been trying to jim this up for political purposes? >> it's oddly i ron ironic that we're trying to get it passed before this election and they are stopping us. >> eric: charges of hypocrisy are not new to the obama justice department. doj voting section chief when

holder first took office. >> i'm here to testify about a new black panther party case. >> eric: it was sparked by this 2008 video. it shows members outside a philadelphia polling place. the one with a billy club called them white devils and you are about to be ruled by the black man. they charged the black panther party with voter intimidation but after holder became attorney general, the department of justice dismissed the charges against the party and two of its members but did obtain an injunction against the one holding the club. holder denied race had any role in the decision and an internal report found no evidence of political interference. but they testified that department officials took the position that voting right laws did not protect whites, only minorities. >> white voters to be able to go to the polls without having race

haters standing at the entrance of a polling place with a billy club in his hand hurling racial slurs at voters. >> eric: he no longer works at justice. one of his clients -- the state of south carolina. he is defending the state against his own boss. >> you are talking about the state of south carolina, there is nothing i want to make sure that everybody that wants to vote can. >> did illegal vote by felons give democrats what they needed to make the obama agenda law? an eye-opening investigation after the break. [ scott ] i grew up playing with little toy trains and now i build them. i am a bigger is better kind of guy. i absolutely love building locomotives. i knew i wanted to design locomotives from when i was very young. [ jahmil ] from the outside it looks like such a simple device.

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>>. >> eric: many of cases we told you about involve local races where it doesn't take many votes to steal an election. it's usually a different story on the state or national level. but as you are about to see, with illegal votes decides one of those elections, the stakes are huge. >> did illegal ballots cast by people like these, convicted felons decide an election that changed america. >> do you think your vote helped al franken get into office? >> i hope it did. >> the story begins after the morning after the election. norm coleman thought he defeated al franken and won a second term by 725 votes. >> here we are today, with me being humbled and grateful that the voters gave us tonight. >> eric: that was great news for republicans. barack obama had defeated john mccain for the white house but a

coleman victory would deny the new president a majority in the senate. but coleman's tiny margin of victory triggered a recount and also alarmed dan mcgrath. the director of minnesota majority conservative watchdog group. >> do you think there was voter fraud? >> i know there was voter fraud. >> eric: so the recount battle unfolded the minnesota majority ran its own investigation. mcgrath found he smoking gun. >> convicted felons that were still serving probation, ineligible to vote voted in large numbers in the 2008 election. >> eric: how did he reach that conclusion? they compared two computer databases, first were voted this the n the election and second with people charged with felonies. they suspected were felons who had voted illegally, but by then

the state supreme court had already declared franken the winner by a razor thin margin of 312 votes. but the story wasn't over for dan mcgrath. with lot of people he suspected of voting illegally. >> eric: who did you go to? >> we brought it to the county attorney. upon receiving the affidavits is compelled to investigate and upon finding probable cause to prosecute. >> eric: what happened next is most extensive crackdowns in recent history. there has been roughly 175 convictions of felons voting illegally and another 60 cases are pending. >> you think dan mcgrath would be pleased but he is not. >> the number is not the number of felons, it's much higher than that. >> according to our research thousand felons participated in

the election. >> eric: if that is number the right, that is triple the vote margin of victory. this much is true. the actual number of felons who illegally voted is larger than the number of convictions because you have to intend to vote illegally to be guilty. rick is assistant prosecutor in charge for the washington county attorneys office. it convicted 16 people based on part on the list. >> is possible for a felon to vote illegally and because he didn't intend to do that get away with it? >> yes, it is. that is why some of our counties in minnesota received hundreds of referrals and prosecuted a relatively small number of cases. >> that is hundreds of votes that shouldn't have been counted. >> if they weren't in the mix, what could have happened. >> potentially the election could have gone to coleman. >> so franken benefited from these illegal felon votes? >> it looks likely.

from the research we have seen on the voting proclivity of felons, it benefited franken. >> race, do you think felons voted illegally could have tipped the election? >> i have no way of knowing who the felons that voted unlawfully voted for. >> eric: the ramsey county attorney and convicted 27 felons for voting illegally? >> i am highly skeptical that felons voted for one candidate or another en masse. >> eric: looking up a list we went door to door. >> did you vote for franken? >> yes. >> franken? >> franken. >> franken. >> we talked to ten felons convicted. nine of them said they voted for franken. it wasn't a scientific sample but it is consistent with academic studies that found

felons overwhelmingly vote democratic. other factors could have tilted it one way or the other. we wondered what the candidates in the election think about this. senator franken declined a request for an interview. coleman did not. >> felons voted illegally in heavily democratic counties that could have turned the election with felons, it could have turned the election, but in the end it is what it is. i really don't spend time. >> eric: he is philosophical but the staggering difference a handful of votes could have made for all americans. >> obamacare doesn't pass if the result of the minnesota election is different. $850 billion stimulus package cast on a partisan vote doesn't pass if the minnesota race is different. >> eric: he recognizes another consequence of fraud that it shake the faith of a system. >> what has happened in the past

and i predict it will happen in future. democracy flourishes because of citizen's confidence on those that represent them. if you undermine that it hurts the democratic process. >> almost nobody is fooled. in america, even when our system doesn't run perfectly. the overwhelming majority of voters remain confident that their baltsz do count. they should feel that way. but election fraud can only undermine the belief that our leaders act with the consent of the governed. only vigilance and prudence ensures. i'm eric shawn. thanks for watching. today, we stand against the tyranny

of single mile credirds. battle speech right? may i? [ horse neighs ] or too long, people have settled for single miles. with the capital one venture card, you'll earn doubleiles on every purchase, every day! [ visigoths cheer ] hawaii, here we come. [ alec ] so sign up day for a venture card at capitalone.com. and start earning double. [ all ] double miles! [ brays ] what's in your wallet? can you play games on that? not on the runway. no.

>> gregg: hello, i'm gregg jarrett.