QUOTE
Recall petition gets help from the grave
By Jake Wagman
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/07/2005
Cecil Watley's name is listed among hundreds who recently signed a petition to recall the 22nd Ward alderman in St. Louis.
Just one problem: Watley has been dead for years. Ditto for Leodora Jackson, whose name and purported signature also appear on the petition.
The discovery has led election officials to search for other irregularities on the recall petition and to determine how the names of the dead voters were not detected. It also raises fresh questions about the integrity of the city's voter rolls, which have been the subject of criticism and controversy for decades.
Although the Board of Elections regularly receives the names of deceased individuals to purge from their voter rolls, both Watley and Jackson were listed as active voters. Even more suspicious is that Jackson is listed to have voted in the April 5, 2005, election, about four years after her death. Watley died in July 1999.
"I don't understand this. My husband's been dead for five years. How could his name come up on a petition?" asked Watley's widow, Marie. She says she was approached to sign the petition but refused.
Once the Election Board finishes reviewing the 22nd Ward petition, Board of Elections Chairman Ed Martin indicated it would ask prosecutors to investigate.
"It's definitely a violation of the law, and we will refer it to the proper authorities to determine if a crime was committed," Martin said Wednesday after the Post-Dispatch brought the signatures to his attention.
In the short term, the signatures of the dead cast doubt on the city's recall elections, which have emerged as the weapon of choice for feuding ward factions. More St. Louis aldermen have been recalled since 2003 than in the previous 89 years of the city charter.
A bill before the Board of Aldermen would, if approved by voters, alter the recall process, limiting the amount of time opponents have to gather signatures.
Democrat Jeffrey Boyd, the target of the 22nd Ward petition, has been the subject of recall talk ever since he won a close primary election in 2003. He says the current attempt to recall him has "fraud written all over it."
"It makes a mockery of the process," he said.
To trigger a recall vote, a petition needs a number of signatures equal to 20 percent of registered voters in the ward as of the last mayoral election.
For veteran ward bosses, getting people to the polls on the day of a recall election is not difficult. It's gathering enough eligible signatures that can be tricky. The signatures must be from registered voters in the ward. Sometimes they are gathered by volunteers; other times by paid workers.
Late last month, Boyd's foes delivered to the Board of Elections 2,700 signatures, including those claiming to be signatures of Watley and Jackson. Each signature is on a page with up to 14 other signatures.
About half of the signatures submitted were thrown out, many on a technicality - the page they were on had the seal, but not the signature, of a notary. Other signatures were thrown out after the signer submitted an affidavit that they wanted their name removed from the petition.
But Watley's and Jackson's signatures were not thrown out. That's probably because election computers showed them to be active voters, Martin said.
"We blew it," he said.
Watley's signature appeared on a page with several other signatures from the 5600 and 5700 blocks of Labadie Avenue. Watley was a postal worker who served in World War II. He was buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery after he died at age 82.
Jackson died a few weeks short of her 83rd birthday. According to the funeral home that handled her arrangements, Jackson died in Oklahoma and was buried there on June 8, 2001.
Furthermore . . .
Boyd claims that dead voters are not the only thing wrong with the recall petition. He says some residents were told that what they were signing was a petition to remove President George W. Bush from office or to get money for neighborhood improvements.
Former Alderman Kenny Jones, one of the leaders of the Boyd recall, says he thinks it was Boyd himself who planted the dead individuals on the petition in an attempt to sabotage the recall.
"I suspect Jeffrey Boyd and crooked politicians are playing dirty tricks on the 22nd Ward voters,"Jones said.
Boyd denies the charge.
The authenticity of the signatures on each page must be sworn to by the person who witnessed and collected the signatures. The person who collected the page with Watley's signature could not be reached for comment, nor could the person who swore to Jackson's signature.
Jones and his associates have until Dec. 22 to gather the 254 valid signatures required to trigger a vote.
Meanwhile, Martin, part of a new Republican-controlled Election Board installed this year by the governor, is hoping the city can shed the negative image it earned in the 2000 presidential election, when hundreds of voters were turned away from the polls.
Martin has asked Scott Leiendecker, the Election Board's new Republican director, to audit the entire 22nd Ward petition for potential fraud. He will be looking for more deceased voters, ineligible voters and forged signatures.
"The new board is outraged by this," Leiendecker said.
By Jake Wagman
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/07/2005
Cecil Watley's name is listed among hundreds who recently signed a petition to recall the 22nd Ward alderman in St. Louis.
Just one problem: Watley has been dead for years. Ditto for Leodora Jackson, whose name and purported signature also appear on the petition.
The discovery has led election officials to search for other irregularities on the recall petition and to determine how the names of the dead voters were not detected. It also raises fresh questions about the integrity of the city's voter rolls, which have been the subject of criticism and controversy for decades.
Although the Board of Elections regularly receives the names of deceased individuals to purge from their voter rolls, both Watley and Jackson were listed as active voters. Even more suspicious is that Jackson is listed to have voted in the April 5, 2005, election, about four years after her death. Watley died in July 1999.
"I don't understand this. My husband's been dead for five years. How could his name come up on a petition?" asked Watley's widow, Marie. She says she was approached to sign the petition but refused.
Once the Election Board finishes reviewing the 22nd Ward petition, Board of Elections Chairman Ed Martin indicated it would ask prosecutors to investigate.
"It's definitely a violation of the law, and we will refer it to the proper authorities to determine if a crime was committed," Martin said Wednesday after the Post-Dispatch brought the signatures to his attention.
In the short term, the signatures of the dead cast doubt on the city's recall elections, which have emerged as the weapon of choice for feuding ward factions. More St. Louis aldermen have been recalled since 2003 than in the previous 89 years of the city charter.
A bill before the Board of Aldermen would, if approved by voters, alter the recall process, limiting the amount of time opponents have to gather signatures.
Democrat Jeffrey Boyd, the target of the 22nd Ward petition, has been the subject of recall talk ever since he won a close primary election in 2003. He says the current attempt to recall him has "fraud written all over it."
"It makes a mockery of the process," he said.
To trigger a recall vote, a petition needs a number of signatures equal to 20 percent of registered voters in the ward as of the last mayoral election.
For veteran ward bosses, getting people to the polls on the day of a recall election is not difficult. It's gathering enough eligible signatures that can be tricky. The signatures must be from registered voters in the ward. Sometimes they are gathered by volunteers; other times by paid workers.
Late last month, Boyd's foes delivered to the Board of Elections 2,700 signatures, including those claiming to be signatures of Watley and Jackson. Each signature is on a page with up to 14 other signatures.
About half of the signatures submitted were thrown out, many on a technicality - the page they were on had the seal, but not the signature, of a notary. Other signatures were thrown out after the signer submitted an affidavit that they wanted their name removed from the petition.
But Watley's and Jackson's signatures were not thrown out. That's probably because election computers showed them to be active voters, Martin said.
"We blew it," he said.
Watley's signature appeared on a page with several other signatures from the 5600 and 5700 blocks of Labadie Avenue. Watley was a postal worker who served in World War II. He was buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery after he died at age 82.
Jackson died a few weeks short of her 83rd birthday. According to the funeral home that handled her arrangements, Jackson died in Oklahoma and was buried there on June 8, 2001.
Furthermore . . .
Boyd claims that dead voters are not the only thing wrong with the recall petition. He says some residents were told that what they were signing was a petition to remove President George W. Bush from office or to get money for neighborhood improvements.
Former Alderman Kenny Jones, one of the leaders of the Boyd recall, says he thinks it was Boyd himself who planted the dead individuals on the petition in an attempt to sabotage the recall.
"I suspect Jeffrey Boyd and crooked politicians are playing dirty tricks on the 22nd Ward voters,"Jones said.
Boyd denies the charge.
The authenticity of the signatures on each page must be sworn to by the person who witnessed and collected the signatures. The person who collected the page with Watley's signature could not be reached for comment, nor could the person who swore to Jackson's signature.
Jones and his associates have until Dec. 22 to gather the 254 valid signatures required to trigger a vote.
Meanwhile, Martin, part of a new Republican-controlled Election Board installed this year by the governor, is hoping the city can shed the negative image it earned in the 2000 presidential election, when hundreds of voters were turned away from the polls.
Martin has asked Scott Leiendecker, the Election Board's new Republican director, to audit the entire 22nd Ward petition for potential fraud. He will be looking for more deceased voters, ineligible voters and forged signatures.
"The new board is outraged by this," Leiendecker said.
