Epic fail: Undeliverable mail result of ‘obvious clerical errors’ by group alleging voter fraud
Remember the flap in Dover over mail addressed to registered voters that was returned as undeliverable? An investigation by city officials has determined the group that held that up as evidence of voter fraud made “obvious clerical errors” in addressing the envelopes.
Last month, former Dover councilman and Republican state representative David Scott filed a formal petition with the secretary of state’s office asking to have the voter checklist purged in Dover Wards 1, 2, 3 and 4. If the state ballot law commission had approved the request, voters would have had to re-register in person or be stricken from the checklist.
Scott, who has been pursuing allegations of voter fraud since he lost a close election in 2004, presented his evidence: over 70 of approximately 1000 letters he mailed to same-day registrants after the 2014 general election that were returned as undeliverable.
After the commission formally rejected the request, Scott selected 15 returned envelopes he believed offered the clearest evidence of voter fraud and handed them over to the Dover city clerk, who investigated.
“For all 15 there was an explanation,” City Attorney Anthony Blenkinsop told Foster’s. “Most notably, on 11 of 15, Mr. Scott and his colleagues had essentially addressed them incorrectly:”
City Clerk Karen Lavertu determined 11 of the 15 envelopes had obvious clerical errors. In one case, a letter sent to a Floral Avenue voter was sent to a Floyd Avenue address, Lavertu said this week. Floyd Avenue does not exist in Dover.
In another, a voter with a street number 176 in their address was incorrectly written on the envelope as 17B, Blenkinsop said.
Case closed.