Five Wisconsin residents have been charged with criminal counts of voter fraud in the November 2008 general election, state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced today.Two of those charged - Maria Miles, 36, of Milwaukee, and Kevin Clancy, 26, of Racine - worked for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the embattled community organizing group.
"The complaint alleges that Miles and Clancy submitted multiple voter registration applications for the same individuals, and also were part of a scheme in which they and other (special registration deputies) registered each other to vote multiple times in order to meet voter registration quotas imposed by ACORN," the Van Hollen release says.
Both were charged with one felony count.
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Also charged was a couple - Herbert, 60, and Suzanne Gunka, 54, both of Milwaukee - for allegedly double-voting in November 2008, once absentee and once at the polls.
Michael Henderson, 40, was hit with two felony charges of being a felon who cast a ballot even though he was still on probation. The Milwaukee man was convicted in 2005 in Rock County with two felonies for bail jumping and one disorderly conduct misdemeanor. He was sentenced to five years' probation.
Each felony count for voter fraud carries a maximum penalty of 3 1/2 years behind bars and a $10,000 fine. All five individuals are scheduled to appear in court on April 20.
The charges were brought as part of the Milwaukee Election Fraud Task Force.
Van Hollen's announcement comes the same day that No Quarter disclosed that the Milwaukee County prosecutor for election fraud accused Milwaukee police of sitting on their hands and failing to investigate these cases for the first half of this year.
The prosecutor, Bruce Landgraf, said the Milwaukee Police Department began looking at election fraud cases last year only after Van Hollen's agency " stepped up to start the work MPD should have commenced immediately after your referral."
Landgraf was addressing a city election official.