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Election fraud is on the mind of many Americans---after all, by most all accounts the November 8 presidential election will have generational consequences on America.
Trump is urging Republicans to be vigilant in and around the voting stations because there are those who will try to "rig" the election.
Team Hillary has said Trump's concern is "baseless."
Incidents of voter fraud are already being reported---and those involved are not Republicans.
British lawyer Audrey Glover, leader of the 57 nation team who will oversee America's election, said earlier this week that their goal is to be sure "the vote meets international standards."
She said, "We do have concerns about voter registration, voter identification and also electronic voting."
Many of us share her concerns, but is ceding the oversight of America's election process to a United Nations related "Organization For Security and Cooperation in Europe" (OSCE) the way to address those concerns?
Reuters, a global news service, reports, "Amid charges from Donald Trump that the US presidential election could be 'rigged' and concerns of rights activists that black voters may face undue obstacles, the head of the international observer team pledged a full review ranging from voting machines to racial bias as it began its work on Tuesday."
Glover says, "We always let the facts speak for themselves"...we are only observers..."We're not policemen."
The facts are beginning to speak.
Laura Ingram's web site LifeZette wrote a very informative article this week exposing illegal voters in Philadelphia and elsewhere, reporting this is only the "tip of the iceberg."
Philadelphia knows about one group of 86 illegal voters because officials received special requests---in almost every case---from the voters themselves, asking to be removed from the rolls because they know they are not eligible. However, the local officials continue to send them ballots.
Attorney Joseph Vanderhulst with the Public Interest Legal Foundation says there is no way to know how many non-citizens might be registered to vote in Philadelphia, let alone in the rest of politically crucial Pennsylvania.
He says, "This is just the tip of the iceberg. Who knows how many are on and don't ask to be taken off?"
Research by the law firm also indicates that Philadelphia makes no effort to proactively remove non-citizens or incarcerated felons, who are also ineligible to vote under state law.
The firm asked a city election official how ineligible voters could be registered in Philadelphia. He said, "I have no idea what they're talking about. No they aren't," before abruptly hanging up the phone.
Vanderulst says his legal group regularly encounters indifference and outright hostility when they begin seeking information.
He says at least part of the problem is the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, designed to make motor-vehicle offices one-stop shops for driver's licenses and voter registration cards.
The problem---non citizens can get driver's licenses---but are not eligible to vote.
He says, "City of Philadelphia election officials behave as if Pennsylvania law prohibiting certain felons from voting doesn't even exist---that's rank lawlessness."
It is, considering there are 49,914 prisoners in Pennsylvania (2015) this opens up a significant possibility/opportunity.
The Progressive Left and a number of academics argue that voter fraud or manipulation is a myth propagated by conservatives whose true goal is to suppress legitimate votes.
This is one city and one state. And how can one know what we don't know about how deeply this is embedded in the voting process?
I agree, it's very likely just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Indiana State Police investigators on Tuesday searched a voter registration agency as part of an investigation into voter fraud cases that include at least 9 counties.
The police said the fraud investigation involves a combination of fake names, addresses and dates of birth with real information.
Secretary of State Connie Lawson says the investigation could impede the processing of the 45,000 voter registration cards that have been completed through the organization under investigation.
The organization under investigation, the Indiana Voter Registration Project, is known to be activist.
Authorities are saying some, perhaps many legitimate voters may not know their personal information has been used in the fraud scheme until they go to vote and are unable to.
Secretary of State Lawson has found it necessary to put out a statement because of the large numbers of people affected by this fraudulent operation.
The State Police Captain David Bursten says the investigation is ongoing because we are still finding issues that indicate fraud.
And he says "the investigation could go on well beyond the November 8 election."
Dead people and non-citizens have been documented casting votes in Virginia, an important swing state in the upcoming election.
The 2012 presidential race in Virginia was decided by just 3 percentage points, as was the next year's governor's race.
Against that backdrop, watchdog groups are paying a lot of attention to this year's election.
In Alexandria---across the river from DC, the Virginia Voter's Alliance suspected there was fraud so they filed a lawsuit against the city to help facilitate getting access to the records.
The Alliance determined that more people were registered to vote in the city than there are eligible voters who live there.
They too, have found that government agencies generally are not helpful, especially toward conservative groups.
When the Heritage Foundation's The Daily Signal inquired, the Virginia Department of Elections told them that they couldn't comment on pending litigation.
The Signal reminded them the case had been dismissed, the official still refused to comment, referring questions to the office of Virginia's Attorney General, which in turn refused to respond to phone and email inquires.
The Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is a Democrat.
Further investigation by conservative groups such as Heritage Foundation and others have discovered voter fraud is significant and that none of the cases have been prosecuted.
Hans von Spakovsky is a senior legal fellow with the Heritage Foundation. He is also a former member of both the election board in Fairfax County, Virginia and a member of the Federal Election Commission.
He says, "Not a single one of those noncitizens, who have committed a felony under federal law, has been prosecuted. In fact, there is no indication that any of this information was ever turned over to law enforcement officials for investigation or prosecution."
Von Spakovsky recently wrote in an article that the Virginia State Board of Elections was engaged in a "cover-up."
He said all this is what a "state-directed cover-up looks like."
"They are trying to hide hundreds if not thousands, of instances of voter fraud that occurred on their watch," he wrote.
And he said, "If thousands of aliens are registered or actually voting, it would obviously undermine the national narrative that voter fraud is a myth."
The tip of the iceberg.
But do we need some kind of international intervention in our elections process?
It appears we already have that.
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Pro-Active.