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Trump campaign chief registered to vote in two states

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  • ASSOCIATED PRESS

    President Donald Trump’s White House Senior Advisor Steve Bannon arrives at a White House senior staff swearing in ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

MIAMI >> President Donald Trump has called for a national investigation into voter fraud, including people who registered to vote in two states — despite the fact that his campaign chief registered in both Florida in New York.

The voter registration of Stephen Bannon drew a complaint during the campaign from a group that opposed Trump, but ultimately Florida election officials dropped the complaint.

On Wednesday, the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections office removed Bannon from the voter roll based on information received from the New York City Board of Elections, said Ron Turner, a Sarasota elections official. Bannon never voted in Sarasota County.

Bannon registered to vote in Miami but never voted there. In August, Bannon switched his voter registration to Sarasota County. The global activist group Avaaz filed a complaint with the Florida Division of Elections on Oct. 19, claiming Bannon didn’t actually live at the Sarasota County address.

The address in Sarasota County was at the home of Breitbart News writer Andrew Badaloto. Bannon ran the conservative news outlet until August.

But Bannon didn’t vote in Sarasota County either. On Oct. 14, he registered to vote at an address on West 40th Street in New York City, according to Thomas Connolly, a spokesman for the New York State Board of elections.

Bannon remains registered to vote in New York and voted in the Nov. 8 election, said Barbara Brunson, a clerk at the New York City Board of Elections. He voted by mail.

Florida Division of Elections deputy counsel Lydia Atkinson wrote in a Jan. 11 letter to the person that filed the complaint that the state would take no further action after looking into it.

“These allegations are neither facially sufficient or do not set out an incident of ‘election fraud’ as defined,” she wrote.

Kendall Coffey, a Democrat and election law expert in Florida, said voters commonly don’t take the time to cancel a voter registration when they move and re-register in a new location. That’s common for college students, for example.

“It is not a crime to be registered in two states as long as, at the time of each registration, the voter’s residency was claimed truthfully,” said Coffey, a former U.S. attorney in Miami. “Residency is principally a matter of the voter’s intent as long as there is some accompanying physical movement to the new location. If one intends the new location to be his or her residence, and has a residence in the new jurisdiction to which movement has been made, courts will usually find that to be sufficient.”

Trump tweeted Wednesday morning: “I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!”

Trump has repeatedly claimed widespread national voter fraud, but there is no evidence to support his claims.

On Nov. 27 he tweeted that he “won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” The fact-checking website PolitiFact rated his claim Pants on Fire.

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  • I thought it was OK to be registered in two states so long as you only voted in one? People move around all the time and I don’t know if there is a way to unregister yourself when you move out of state.

    • This isn’t a case of someone who “move[s] around all the time.” He never lived at the address in Florida. There are a couple of reasons for such a fake address: voting, taxes, or both.

    • It’s a false and manufactured crisis over a problem that doesn’t exist.

      But it serves TRump’s narcissistic need for a daily dose of trauma and chaos. The more people believe his schtick, the more effective his destruction of our nation.

      • Sorry; I was referencing Bannon’s boss in my comment above.

        As to Bannon himself, wow. Whatever he’s up to (and he’s doubtless up to something), he makes my skin crawl.

    • IRT Nd127, fully agree with your post. Voter registration lists must be purged following each and every election. And, if you did not vote in an election cycle, you must re-register to vote. Who changed the purge laws, the Democrats.

  • so, this is a non story
    “It is not a crime to be registered in two states as long as, at the time of each registration, the voter’s residency was claimed truthfully,” said Coffey, a former U.S. attorney in Miami. “Residency is principally a matter of the voter’s intent as long as there is some accompanying physical movement to the new location. If one intends the new location to be his or her residence, and has a residence in the new jurisdiction to which movement has been made, courts will usually find that to be sufficient.”
    c’mon sa cool your jets!!!
    he neva vote in florida!!
    auwe

      • You are wrong, NanakuliBoss. He will be will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD. Being registered to vote in two states is not voter fraud; voting in two states is voter fraud and that is what will be investigated.

        • “Trump tweeted Wednesday morning: “I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states…”

          It’s a tweet for god’s sake, containing a very few, easy to understand words. Boss is not wrong because you feel the need to go back in time and rewrite something already posted and read by millions.

        • For God’s sake, TigerEye, open both eyes and mind to read and interpret it as intended. Try this: Trump tweeted “I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including (VOTER FRAUD BY) those registered to vote in two states….”

        • C’mon Ronin. You don’t get to re-write what the Trumpster already wrote, in an effort to create one of y’all’s “alternate truths.”

          No, you don’t.

        • Ronin: I see. Trump doesn’t actually have to say or do anything anything intelligent as long as he has people like you to open your minds and (x-ray?) eyes and cram the stupid things into smart containers no matter how ill-fitting.

  • too late to complain. you didn’t want something like this election to happen, the electoral college should have been overhauled a long time ago to reflect changing needs…those who crafted the Constitution did so with the intent that it would be as a “living” document that could be amended. Mr. Trump is the president and we must live with that whether you agree with him or not.

  • On the Wikiwiki voter registration form at the bottom of the driver’s license application asks:

    1) Do you wish to register to vote in Hawaii. If so, sign the form to become registered…AND

    2) Are you registered in any other state? By registering in Hawaii, your voter registration in the other state will be cancelled.

  • It’s not being registered so much as voting in two places. How do you de-register? I have never told the old polling place I moved. Maybe one is supposed to, but I never have.

  • And which residence did he claim on his Federal income taxes — the “residence” he never lived at in a state with no income tax? Or his actual residence in a state with an income tax?

  • C’mon is that the best you can do. When you show that he voted in two states then you got something. This is the type of activity that Trump wants to stop by purging voters from registries when they move and or die. Showing an ID to vote would be ideal in combating voter fraud. But somehow proving that you are the person that is registered to vote is somehow racist. Auwe!

    • Bannon didn’t ever live in the now-abandoned house where he registered to vote in violation of Florida election laws. Bannon, who was once charged with domestic violence, rented the house for his ex-wife, whom he divorced 7 years ago. He never lived there. The act of registering to vote in Florida was illegal, whether he voted there or not. A requirement to show ID would not prevent this sort of tax fraud.

      • last sentence above should have said “not prevent this sort of VOTER fraud.” There’s a strong likelihood that claiming a Florida residence was part of a tax fraud by claiming a Florida residence.

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