S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley’s Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) – which has previously used tax dollars to bail the governor out of a brain dead promise regarding our state’s ridiculous voter ID law – is at it again.
Earlier this month, the agency’s director Kevin Shwedo declared that 957 deceased South Carolinians had case votes in the most recent election.
“In my opinion, and I’m not an expert in this area, dead guys shouldn’t be allowed to vote,” Shwedo said.
We agree … and the report from Shwedo’s agency was immediately seized upon by those who support the new voter ID law as evidence of the sort of “rampant voter fraud” that this legislation was created to stop. Beyond that, though, Shwedo accused the South Carolina Election Commission (SCEC) of having foreknowledge of this fraud – and doing nothing to stop it.
Since then, however, Shwedo’s office has failed to publicly release its report – and has refused to provide its list of “dead voters” to the Election Commission. Only S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson (and presumably Haley) have been provided with copies of the document.
Amazing isn’t it?
You would think that one state agency – upon discovering what appeared to be a serious problem at another state agency – would have turned over the information it obtained in an effort to help correct the problem. This is especially true in this case seeing as Shwedo made his allegations against the Election Commission less than two weeks before South Carolinians voted in a presidential primary election.
Sadly, though – in addition to its demonstrated incompetence with regard to counting (see here and here) – Haley’s administration doesn’t play well with others, which is why it ran straight to the press with this “dead voter” information.
On Wednesday, S.C. Election Commission director Marci Andino finally got a chance to defend her agency against Shwedo’s allegations when she testified before a legislative subcommittee.
The verdict? “Dead voting” in South Carolina isn’t quite the problem Haley’s administration has led the public to believe.
According to Andino, the S.C. Attorney General’s office has provided her agency with six of the 957 alleged “dead voters.” That’s right – six.
Of those six “dead voters,” Andino discovered that one voter died after casting an absentee ballot. Meanwhile the other five were … wait for it … very much alive and eligible to vote.
Dead voters casting ballots? Not so much …
“Just as one instance of voter fraud is one too many, a single voter denied his or her right to vote because of a clerical error or the vagaries of data analysis is one too many as well,” Andino testified.
We couldn’t agree more.
Both Haley and S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson have made plenty of political hay by parroting Shwedo’s allegations. Specifically, they’ve both been using the “dead voters” line to protest a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit aimed at blocking South Carolina’s new voter ID law.
Based on this new information, it looks like both of them owe Andino an apology …
Meanwhile Shwedo – who not only accused Andino of incompetence but flat out accused her of participating in the alleged election fraud – owes taxpayers his letter of resignation.
Unfortunately, GOP lawmakers seem less interested in uncovering the truth and more interested in manufacturing instances of voter fraud in South Carolina. Why? Because they believe the new voter ID law enhances their prospects at the ballot box – which means this could wind up being one of Haley’s many lies that lawmakers actually embrace as one of their own.
That’s unfortunate, particularly seeing as South Carolina’s “Dead Voter-gate” appears to be yet another one of the Haley administration’s many lies.
(For more on South Carolina’s voted ID saga, click here).
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By OhNoNotAgain January 25, 2012 at 1:38 pm
Amazing.
By RecallNikki January 25, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Hey, I arose from the dead to vote against Haley’s endorsement. And what percentage of registered voters are “dead”?
By Nikki's Twitter January 25, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Get Excited. I so absolutely know that over 20,000 votes were miscast last Saturday, which means Mitt Romney won no question.
By JAFO January 25, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Shedo’s announcement was irresponsible and obviously uninformed. Marci Andino needs to talk to DMV’s Office of Integrity (Internal Affairs). DMV refers to these as “dead man driving” and spends countless resources investigating dead people getting driver’s licenses and identification cards from SCDMV.. Where did Swedo think these individuals got their SC issued credentials to register with the election offices.
Just Another F$&@}ing Observer
By Dr. Leonard Hofstadter January 25, 2012 at 2:07 pm
To be fair, Shwedo might have had his face buried in Candy’s girls, or between Catherine’s cheeks in bed during this period.
By Clayton January 25, 2012 at 10:09 pm
The DMV has an Office of Integrity? Are you kidding me?
By Dr. Sheldon Cooper January 25, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Perhaps Big Tits Candy & No Show Catherine would be so kind as to get out of bed long enough to set the Governor straight on this matter.
By Justus January 25, 2012 at 2:08 pm
You folks put to much confidence in those working the polls and registering voters!
By vicupstate January 25, 2012 at 2:10 pm
I wonder if all the right wing ‘news’ or should I say propaganda organizations will run a retraction?
I won’t hold my breath.
By snodgrass January 25, 2012 at 2:31 pm
Why is the Voter ID law such a burr under your saddle, FITS?
This particular issue always seems to foam your beer a little more than others. Care to share?
By Dr. Harvard January 25, 2012 at 2:50 pm
I believe No Show Templeton, Apple Head Thad, and Big Tits Candy also perk his fancy. Hoping the later two pop up sometime today.
By jimlewis,owb January 25, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Get real. Read what the Fucker said, “In my opinion, and I’m not an expert in this area, dead guys shouldn’t be allowed to vote,” Shwedo said.
First, when has the opinion of an appointed Haley Official been worth more than the pus running out of a lanced boil.
Second, he admits he is not an expert which is so uncharacteristic of a Haley Official to admit to anything that he certainly must have been higher than a Six Foot Tall Redhead’s Pussy when he made his damn comments.
Third, as for turning the 957 over to the Woodchuck where better to hide a lie than in the mind of an idiot.
Fourth, Haley doesn’t “play well with others”. Hell, she learned at an earlier age if you can’t be Queen Bitch all the time then why play at all.
What you have left is 951 names (minus the 6) which just so happens to be the exact number of names/pseudonyms that comment regularly on this blog.
Go figure.
By SCBlues January 25, 2012 at 3:13 pm
Haley and the State of South Carolina have not been able to provide proof of even one instance of impersonation voter fraud (the type of fraud that SC’s Voter ID Bill) is supposed to remedy.
So not even one instance of impersonation voter fraud has been proved in SC yet this over-reaching Voter ID Bill has been passed by Haley and the RepubliCONS – and will disenfranchise tens of thousands of legal, registered and eligible voters in the State of South Carolina.
These same bills have been passed nationwide by RepubliCON controlled states and the same scenario has played out in each state – no evidence of impersonation voter fraud.
Thanks FITS for a great update.
By cash January 25, 2012 at 3:14 pm
So how many dead people voted for Haley? Did Sheheen really win? Will there be a special election? Will there be a recall? Will some be indicted? One thing for sure…this will make national news, again.
By Stephan January 25, 2012 at 3:23 pm
waht would be really funny is if those people still alive had picture IDs already.
By tomstickler January 25, 2012 at 3:51 pm
I challenged the usual posting suspects on the SunNews website to pick the over/under on the eventual number of dead voters this investigation will turn up, and it looks like the winner will be on the low side.
By Cid January 25, 2012 at 4:04 pm
DMV remains one of the most screwed up agencies in this state
Riddled with mistakes and errors
Suspending people’s licenses due to “clerical errors”
You would think the director of the agency responsible for motor vehicle records would spend his time attempting to remedy the innumerable deficiencies of his own bailiwick
Instead of attempting to please his “pimp” Nikki Haley and Ken Ards “protector” Alan Wilson
By dabbling in matters that have nothing to do with the mission of his agency
By hhuuhh?? January 26, 2012 at 1:20 pm
And, it’s former executive director is now in charge at the Budget and Control Board, after an LAC audit completed in 11-10 showed DMV under her control was so messed up the LAC could not determine whether or not DMV was paying some bills twice.
Another great Sanford appointee proving the Peter Principle and moving to another level of incompetence under the even sorrier executive Haley.
Politics trumps documented incompetence by the state’s audit agency. Don’t ya love it?
By Roseanne January 25, 2012 at 5:56 pm
How does the DMV know when someone dies? The survivors aren’t required to report it to DMV.
I don’t think they track that-they just figure a dead person won’t come in to renew his license. So what did they compare the voter list to in order to decide that people were dead?
By Libb January 25, 2012 at 7:14 pm
Exactly! I know from personal experience that’s how a deceased person drops off the DMV records. Nor does the DMV store voter info on its data bases. So Swedo expects us to believe that his IT dept “quickly” wrote a program that had to also access Probate and Election Commission data records in order to generate his “dead voter” report. I ain’t buying it and wonder why the Attorney General’s office does.
By because January 25, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Why is the AG’s office buying it. You see Alan Wilson can’t accomplish crap. He swings at the low hanging fruit basket. This is easy and other states have done so but he can’t get it done and its pointless. THERE IS NOT ONE SMIGIT OF PROOF OF a dead person voting. Proof I say, accusations yes, proof NO. He will do anything to get his name out there and will miss his own mom’s funeral to be on the news if they called. Just a publicity stunt. When are you people going to learn. You learned about Haley then Ard and now you are going to learn about Wilson. Most of the state has learned but for you slow learners you need to catch on to Wilson. How many of you have wondered why he hasn’t protected our states interest against Haley and Ard? A DUMBASS HACK!
By Libb January 25, 2012 at 9:02 pm
@because-a little sarcasm on my part concerning our feckless AG. With you all the way.
By eggaday January 25, 2012 at 7:22 pm
hehehe I bet those names are connected to a couple of other state systems too
they live boss
they live
By BigT January 26, 2012 at 7:12 am
Unless you’re a BLIND Idiot, living in the cushy, lily-white Burbs or Shandon (like isolated FITS)…You know D@M& well these people Cheat in Voting…
You know who does it…and you know they Do it A lot…
To act as if they are not doing it, shows you to be either STUPID or a Liar….(which makes you a Liberal)….
By Ken E. January 26, 2012 at 4:45 pm
I’m sorry, but did you not RTFA?
Still waiting for proof of how (select) SC schools are better than all others.
By Bogart January 26, 2012 at 9:02 am
No doubt the voters that put Gingrich over the top in SC were “brain” dead.
By BigT January 26, 2012 at 9:08 am
At least they were ALIVE…and did not have to cheat or use Clubs to forbid White voters, as FITS and Obama advocate…
By I'm Newt! January 26, 2012 at 11:28 am
To win the lawsuit to be filed by legal giant Alan “Two Bars” Wilson against the Feds challenging this law, SC has to prove that voter fraud has actually occurred, and that the voter ID law will prevent it, in a way that does not adversely effect minority voters.
Sorry, activist judge bashers, but that is the law. Even more amusing is that Obama appointee uber-liberal smart guy Richard Gergel will probably get the case.
But hey, if Newt wins the election, he will arrest these damnable activist judges, change the way federal judges are selected, or disband entire federal circuits if they don’t do what he wants. Hey, Thomas Jefferson did it!
The Court is not the boss of me! I’m Newt!
By I'm not January 26, 2012 at 8:58 pm
Legal Giant? Pfff. Please 2 bars yes! This guy is a one term wonder! Anyone know if Richardson is going to run again??? Richardson would surely win this time and can you imagine the smear campaign. I have never in my life voted BLUE but I will next time. I will vote against Haley Ard and Wilson. What crap!
By cash January 26, 2012 at 12:46 pm
They need to find out who the 957 dead votes voted for. That might be interesting.
By hhuuhh?? January 26, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Anyone who accepts an appointment from Haley should realize they have cut their own throat as far as ever being taken seriously by anyone about anything ever again.
Blind ambition leads a lot of people into a lot of trouble. All her appointees are doing is proving to God and everybody that they have no judgement.
By Go DMV January 27, 2012 at 1:15 am
Just to be clear, the one dead person that did vote absentee – actually didn’t get his vote counted, because he cast it before he died (absentee) and THEN after he died, the election Commission pulled the ballot, so it was never counted. Hence, not even ONE voter fruad incident yet…
By Ivo March 22, 2012 at 12:08 am
You have two forums on one night. Oct 5 Is that rercoct ?Oct 5 for both Congressional Districts is what is listed on your website.I thought the 6th District was Oct 26.Please rercoct.Pete Couladis