Cases of voter fraud becoming considerably worse in county

Christina Nelson was shocked when she received a completed voter registration form in the mail in January.

Yes, the Tracy address and phone number on it were hers, but the birth date and driver's license number were wrong.

Someone had forged her signature at the bottom of the form, dated Oct. 2, 2004.

"I've never seen this," she thought.

And who is Daniel Askelson? His name was listed as someone who had helped her fill out the form.

As it turns out, Askelson, 31, of Manteca, registered a lot of voters in 2004 -- as many as 1,000 bogus forms were turned in, said Deborah Hench, San Joaquin County's registrar of voters.

He is responsible for the largest case of voter registration fraud in the county, a problem that has "gotten considerably worse with these big registration drives and paying for registration," Hench said.

In the past, volunteers signed up voters. Now people get paid to do it by the signature, so there's a big incentive to get as many as possible.

Last year, Hench sent 789 forms -- 489 were Askelson's -- to the California Secretary of State's Fraud Investigation Unit. She usually sends in about 10 questionable cards a year.

There were at least 20 people Hench asked the state to investigate for voter fraud.

Hench couldn't send in all of Askelson's cards -- some were filled out so sloppily, she couldn't read them, making them bad to use as evidence in a criminal case.

Fifty-eight of the forms sent in were from Mathew Cross, 21, of Tracy, who could face nearly six years behind bars after being charged June 15 with five felony counts of voter registration fraud in San Joaquin County Superior Court.

Yet of those 20 suspects, Cross' case is the only one that has been prosecuted by the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office, said Scott Fitchner, chief deputy district attorney.

Askelson's case has not made its way to Fitchner's Stockton office, and a spokeswoman from the Secretary of State's office would not comment about whether it will.

Cross did not return calls, and Askelson's last-known phone number is disconnected.

Both Cross and Askelson were independent contractors, hired by companies that were paid by the California Republican Party.

Cross worked for DRS, a company run by James DeRouen of Stockton. DeRouen said he personally warned each new employee about voter fraud. He employed about 25 to 30 people at different times who signed up voters for the 2004 elections.

"Everyone that hired on with me signed a form that explains the penalties of fraud," DeRouen said.

He also had an agreement with the county's registrar of voters. "As soon as I heard there's fraud, they were fired."

Actually, Cross, who worked for DRS less than a month, was fired even before DeRouen was warned about him.

Cross sent up a red flag when he turned in 25 to 30 signed registration forms one day. He usually turned in only a few forms a day.

DeRouen paid employees about $5 per registration form. He would not say exactly how much he got paid by the Republican Party, though he did say his company, too, was paid per registration card.

Askelson worked for Robert's Registration Services, owned by Robert Gutierrez.

Gutierrez said he, too, personally spoke to each employee about voter fraud and asked employees to sign a waiver about fraudulent activity.

Askelson was fired -- his high volume of cards raised eyebrows -- but Hench said she was still getting voter registration cards filled out by Askelson after Gutierrez said he'd been let go.

Askelson could have hired other people to work for him, Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez, who paid workers about $5 to $6 dollars per card, also said he is required by law to turn all cards in to the county, regardless of whether he thinks they may be fraudulent.

And some cards are turned in to the county without being seen by registration companies. Newly registered voters can mail the cards in themselves.

Plus, there is a large influx of cards turned in at the last minute, so not all cards can be inspected, Gutierrez said.

A spokesman for the Republican Party of California would not divulge how much it pays per registration card, but said there is an extensive verification process once the names of new voters are received.

"We do an autodialer," said Jarryd Gonzales, the party's political director in California. "It calls every number ... and says, 'Welcome to the Republican Party. If you did not register, please call ...'"

For those cards without phone numbers, the party sends a postcard with a similar message.

It also does not pay registration companies if a pattern of fraud is found.

But paying per card may be the very root of the problem, said William Casey Jr., the chairman of the Democratic Party in San Joaquin County.

"It doesn't make sense on any level," he said, particularly because paying per card lowers the quality of registration. "I would not be unhappy if it would go to a volunteer situation."

California's Democratic Party pays those who sign up voters by the hour, about $7 to $10, said Bob Mulholland, the party's campaign coordinator.

But county Registrar of Voters Deborah Hench said voter registration fraud may occur more in the Republican Party simply because of time: Their voter registration drive is year-round, while Democrats only do a voter drive a few months out of the year.