The untold story of how a US woman was sentenced to six years for voting

[marmar]

The untold story of how a US woman was sentenced to six years for voting
The case of Pamela Moses sparked a national outcry – but newly uncovered documents reveal the extent of its injustice

Sam Levine
Tue 27 Dec 2022 02.00 EST


(Guardian UK) It was the morning after Labor Day and Pamela Moses was in a rush.

All summer, the outspoken activist had been feuding with election officials in Memphis, Tennessee. She wanted to get her name on the ballot for Memphis’s 2019 mayoral election, even gathering enough signatures to do so. But officials said she could not run – a prior felony conviction made her ineligible to seek office.

Now, there was a new problem. In late August, the local elections commission sent her a letter saying they were going to cancel her voter registration. Moses was confused – she had been voting for years. That day, she was determined to sort it out.

But what unfolded over just a few hours that day on 3 September 2019 would upend her life. It would lead to a sudden arrest months later at O’Hare airport in Chicago and culminate in a six-year prison sentence for voter fraud.

Her case would go on to touch a nerve in the US and cause a national outcry. While there’s no comprehensive data on voter fraud prosecutions based on race, it was one of several recent examples in which Black defendants like Moses have faced long criminal sentences for voting errors, while white people have faced little punishment for more fraud. Long after the abolition of poll taxes and literacy tests, Black Americans still face significant scrutiny for trying to exercise their right to vote. ..............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/27/pamela-moses-voting-rights-mistake-jail

[MichMan]

1. She needs to sue the probation officer for $10 million

[70sEraVet]

2. TN has been using the 'justice' system to disenfranchise black voters since the Civil War.

Moses’s home state of Tennessee strips any person convicted of a felony of the right to vote. Nearly 472,000 people of voting age can’t vote in Tennessee because of a felony conviction, the vast majority of whom have completed their sentence, according to the Sentencing Project, a criminal justice non-profit. It’s estimated that more than one in five Black people of voting age in the state can’t vote because of a felony.

from the same article.

[DENVERPOPS]

3. How about President Biden

exposing the Travesty and giving her an immediate Pardon or commuting her sentence

[NullTuples]

5. He can only pardon/commute federal crimes.

Like those of Reality Winner, who exposed Russian interference in the 2016 election in favor of Trump. Or Chelsea Manning, who exposed US war crimes. Chelsea's sentence was commuted by Obama, but by that point her punishment had already far surpassed that of people who committed similar crimes for purely selfish reasons. She was never pardoned however.

[DENVERPOPS]

7. Trump and Republicans

seem to make up enough of their own laws, why can't Biden for such a Just cause???????/

How about a "presidential declaration" or "presidential executive order" or whatever, just like the previous Republican occupant of the White House often did...........

Or better yet, throw it to the Supreme Court on an "emergency basis" appeal like the Republicans are so good at doing, and every day, publicize what happens with it in the Supreme Court.

Also, daily, show a comparison with the White people and White Politicans that have been caught voting twice or more and got off with a wrist slap...............Or the ones voting where they were not a resident..........

It seems to me, that all those white people and white policiticans that have gotten off for voting violations, could suddenly be charged with, in addition, Federal Election Law Violations and display the progression of their cases daily for a comparison.

[NullTuples]

9. They don't though. Mostly they take advantage of good-faith "traditions"

From the beginning, there should have been laws governing the behaviors of those at the top of the federal government. But for the most part the founders assumed the nation would always be led by people like themselves; white, Christian, male, wealthy - and willing to maintain at least an air of propriety rather than pillage and plunder. So instead we have "traditions" and "rules" with no teeth and no guarantee of enforcement or even investigation. Worse still, it comes down to mechanisms like a Congress made up of two parties deciding whether to investigate and prosecute one of their own. And Republicans have figured out that they can easily stymie such mechanisms.

[DENVERPOPS]

10. great comment, and well said

thank you NT

[bronxiteforever]

4. Kick & recommend for visibility

[mn9driver]

6. This happens in a lot of places in the south.

Crystal Mason was jailed and lost her appeal for casting a provisional ballot that was never counted. In Texas:

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/20/crystal-mason-texas-upholds-sentence-voter-suppression

It’s almost as if these women are being made examples of in order to suppress the Black vote.

Inasmuch as I recall, prosecution and jail does not happen to White people who make good faith voting errors.

[raging moderate]

11. Is there a GoFundMe for Crystal Mason?

There must be SOMETHING we could do for Crystal Mason. This is such a TRAVESTY of justice!

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Case in point, an example that John Fetterman made a centerpiece of his campaign

when TX Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick offered $1,000,000 to anyone uncovering voter fraud.



Here is the why for the cheating with that 2020 election -

Allegheny
Lt. Gov. Fetterman seeks claim of $1M voter fraud reward from Texas lieutenant governor

Megan Tomasic | Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020 5:26 p.m.
 


Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is asking for his share of a reward after he offered up a case of voter fraud to Republican Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick via Twitter. Patrick had announced that he is giving out $1 million in rewards for information that leads to voter fraud arrests and convictions.

“Hey, Governor Patrick — it’s your counterpart in Pennsylvania,” tweeted Fetterman, a Democrat. “I’d like to collect your handsome reward for reporting voter fraud. I got a dude in Forty Fort, PA who tried to have his dead mom vote for Trump. I’d like mine in Sheetz gift cards pls.”

(snip)

https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/lt-gov-fetterman-seeks-claim-of-1m-voter-fraud-reward-from-texas-lieutenant-governor/

Two felony counts withdrawn against Forty Fort man in election fraud case

May 6, 2021

By Ed Lewis [e-mail]


WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County prosecutors on Thursday withdrew two felony counts against a Forty Fort man accused of forging the name of his deceased mother on an application for an absentee ballot during the 2020 presidential election.

Prosecutors instead added a third-degree misdemeanor charge of violations relating to absentee or mail-in ballots against Robert Richard Lynn, 67, of Center Street, during his preliminary hearing in Central Court.

Lynn, through his attorney, Joseph Michael Blazosek, waived the misdemeanor charge to county court. Lynn faces a fine of $2,500 and/or up to two years in jail if he is convicted or pleads guilty. However, it is likely Lynn will receive a lesser fine and no jail time as he has no criminal record.

County detectives charged Lynn Oct. 21 after the county Board of Elections Office “flagged” an absentee ballot application in the name of Marie P. Hannigan on Sept. 4. The application listed Hannigan’s date of birth, an address on Center Street in Forty Fort, and the reason for the absentee ballot, “visiting great grand kids Oct. 24-Nov. 10,” according to the criminal complaint. A signature line listed Hannigan’s name.

(snip)

https://www.timesleader.com/news/1382652/two-felony-counts-withdrawn-against-forty-fort-man-in-election-fraud-case

“Dude in Forty Fort’ pleads guilty to absentee ballot violation

August 16, 2021

By Ed Lewis [e-mail]


WILKES-BARRE — A man from Forty Fort said he used “poor judgement” and regrets using his deceased mother’s name on an application for an absentee ballot for the 2020 presidential election. Robert Richard Lynn, 68, of Center Street, pleaded guilty to a third-degree misdeanor charge of violations relating to absentee or mail-in ballots during a court proceeding before Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough on Monday. Prosecutors earlier had withdrawn two felony counts of forgery and interference with an election against Lynn.

(snip)

A signature line listed Hannigan’s name. A database used for voter information listed Hannigan died in 2015, and her voter information was changed to deceased on Aug. 21, 2015. Hannigan last voted on Nov. 4, 2014, and had her address listed as Crestview Drive in Dallas, the complaint says.

Lynn admitted, according to the complaint, he used a typewriter to complete the absentee ballot application and signed his deceased mother’s name. After Lynn was charged, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman tweeted,”My dude in Forty Fort, PA who tried to have his dead mom vote for Trump,” in response to an appeal from Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Patrick, a Republican, reportedly offered to pay up to $1 million from his campaign funds as a reward for people who come forward to report voter fraud in connection with the 2020 presidential election.

During Monday’s court proceeding, Attorney Joseph Michael Blazosek said his client, Lynn, has no criminal history and is a law abiding citizen. Prosecutors recommended a sentence of six months probation, which Vough agreed. Lynn could have faced up to two years in jail and a $2,500 fine.

(snip)

https://www.timesleader.com/news/1507381/dude-in-forty-fort-pleads-guilty-to-absentee-ballot-violation

And another -

Pennsylvania man sentenced to 5-year probation after voting in name of dead mother

By Rebekah Riess and Paul LeBlanc, CNN
Published 7:19 PM EDT, Mon May 3, 2021

CNN — A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to casting a vote in the name of his deceased mother in an effort to reelect then-President Donald Trump, according to court records and Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer’s office.

Bruce Bartman, 70, received the sentence Friday after entering a guilty plea to two counts of perjury and one count of unlawful voting. Bartman will also lose his right to vote for four years, pursuant to Pennsylvania statute, the district attorney’s office said in a news release.

Voter records show that Bartman used Pennsylvania’s online voter-registration portal to register both his late mother, Elizabeth Bartman, and his deceased mother-in-law, Elizabeth Weihman, who died in 2019 – illegally registering both as Republican voters, the district attorney’s office said.

Bartman then requested, filled out and sent in the absentee ballot for his deceased mother for the 2020 general election. Bartman’s attorney, Samuel Stretton, told CNN that his client regrets the decision. Stretton said Bartman had explained to the court that because of the coronavirus pandemic, he had been isolated at home and was misled by “propaganda and statements” that were made about voter fraud.

(snip)

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/03/politics/pennsylvania-probation-illegal-ballot-trump-2020/index.html

Two white male Republicans - Guilty of voter fraud. No prison time.

[live love laugh]

12. GRrrr