Thursday, October 13, 2005

More Petition Fraud

Just when you thought it might be safe to go to the supermarket, the Worcester Telegraph & Gazette publishes the latest on the hired-gun signature gatherers. The investigative report is here.

Among the new twists are petition guys forging signatures from the wine-and-beer-in-groceries to the anti-same-sex-marriage initiative.

Yet, even if fraud is common, one must wonder it will affect the outcome. The way the law is written, fraud must be obvious on the face of it (a page of signatures in the same handwriting, for example) or individuals must complain that their names are not petitions they did not sign.

At least for the latter, you can go to KnowTheyNeighbor.org, fill in an email address and click Go under Get notified when someone in your town signs it! Then, if your name appears and you did not sign one, you can act.

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