East Longmeadow absentee ballot surge triggers state investigation - Update

[SecularMotion]

Last edited Mon Aug 5, 2013, 12:44 PM - Edit history (1)

Six weeks before the Sept. 6 primary, the town clerk’s office was swamped with absentee ballot requests.

By Aug. 1, 445 applications for absentee ballots had been filed here – four times the amount requested during the last town election and 115 more than in Springfield’s 2011 primary, according to records reviewed by The Republican.

The surge in applications, combined with high number of Democrats switching to the Republican Party, triggered a voting fraud investigation that has left town officials stunned and searching for answers.

“People are shocked – this isn’t Chicago or bloody-knuckled Philadelphia,” said three-term Selectman James D. Driscoll, adding the town is abuzz with theories and speculation about a suspected ballot-tampering attempt.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/east_longmeadows_absentee_ball.html

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Interesting. The town has a total population of less than 16,000.

Something stinks.

[canoeist52]

2. Interesting information in the comments section as well.

[intheflow]

3. Yes, the comments were most interesting indeed.

This is one town over from where I grew up. I left the area before I had any awareness of local politics. My son still lives out there, in Springfield, right on the EL line. I'll be curious to hear what he has to say about this.

[SecularMotion]

4. Enrico Villamaino pleads guilty to 11 charges in voter fraud scheme

SPRINGFIELD — Former East Longmeadow Selectman Enrico Villamaino pleaded guilty on Monday to 11 charges related to a voter fraud scheme before last year's statewide primary.

Villamaino told Hampden Superior Court Judge Mary Lou Rup that he pleaded guilty because he is guilty and hopes for some leniency.

Villamaino was a Republican candidate for state representative when an unusually large number of absentee ballots was requested in East Longmeadow. An investigation revealed that the party enrollment of nearly 300 voters in town had been changed from Democratic to unenrolled.

District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni asked Rup to sentence Villamaino to one year in the state House of Corrections. Mastroianni said Villamaino's crimes were an "extraordinarily serious offense."

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/08/enrico_villamaino_former_east_1.html#incart_m-rpt-2