Sharon Angle speaks to Fallon Rotarians

A former politician who almost upset incumbent Harry Reid in the 2010 U.S. senate race recently gave an overview of voting integrity to members of the Fallon Rotary Club.

Sharron Angle, who led Reid for most of the senate race 14 years ago, is no stranger to Churchill County because her daughter and her family reside here. Angle has been involved with Nevada politics since the early 1990s when she was first elected to the Nye County School Board. She served in the Nevada Assembly from 1999 to 2007 and unsuccessfully ran for the same congressional seat in 2006, which Dean Heller won to succeed Jim Gibbons, who was then elected governor. She calls herself a constitutionally conservative Republican.

In her presentation to the local Rotarians, Angle said election integrity has been a concern for centuries. She cited one of the first incidences of voting integrity when the first United Kingdom prime minister was elected

According to the United Kingdom national archives, Robert Walpole became known as the ‘Screen-Master General’ who was skillful at pulling political strings. Thanks to his deft handling of the financial and political crisis that followed the bursting of the South Sea Bubble in 1720 and the extensive corruption it had exposed, Walpole was largely able to shield the government and the South Sea Company from much of the fall out.”

In modern times, Angle said President Harry Truman coerced others who questioned his run for a second term as a U.S. senator from Missouri in 1940. When Truman went to bed, he was trailing his opponent by 11,000 votes. When he woke up in the morning, he was ahead by more than 8,000 votes.

Election irregularities also affected another future U.S. President. The Associated Press reported in 1948 that 200 voters on a poll tax sheet didn’t vote for Lyndon Baines Johnson, but a former Texas voting official revealed he “voted” for them. The difference allowed Johnson to win the Democratic primary for U.S. the Senate. Angle also noted everyone in a cemetery once voted for Johnson.

Angle said the hanging chad dispute in the George W. Bush-Albert Gore race in 2000 was “nefarious” to say the least. Of the invalid votes recorded in Florida during the race, hanging chads on the ballots resulted in a high percentage of invalid votes.

In her 2010 race against Reid, Angle said the exit polls were 99% accurate. At 6 p.m. on election night, she said the polls had her 8-15% ahead of Reid but the following morning, she was behind by 5%.

“That was a discrepancy of nine points,” she said.

During her presentation, Angle discussed other cases involving voter fraud such as Valerie Richardson, who voted illegally five times indulging casting a ballot for her sister who had been in a coma for five years.

The remark from the presiding judge reaffirmed the need for voting integrity.

“One vote, one person is a sacred right,” Angle said.

Another incident occurred in Las Vegas when a candidate used first class postage instead of the bulk mail rate. Angle said the post office now becomes a witness to 9,000 undeliverable pieces of mail.

Angle said a candidate sent out 13,000 pieces of mail but 9,000 envelopes were returned. She claims 13,000 voted.

“Who did that?” Angle asked. “No one has come forward. We don’t know.”

Angle said the integrity of the system becomes questioned. She said the state has great election laws, but there are fraudulent voter rolls and alleges names are not taken off for many reasons such as moving and death.

“We keep adding to the rolls, but we’re not taking the voters off,” she pointed out.

Angle said having voting observers is not a Democrat or Republican wish. She said all parties want to ensure voting was conducted fairly.