Dems ask DOJ to investigate GOP firm for alleged voter fraud

Several Virginia Democrats have asked the Justice Department to investigate allegations of voter fraud surrounding a GOP firm working in the Old Dominion and other battleground states.

Reps. Jim Moran, Bobby Scott and Jerry Connolly say recent allegations of registration fraud by Strategic Allied Consulting in Florida — combined with last week’s voter-fraud arrest of a Republican operative linked to the firm in Virginia — merit a federal probe to determine if the episodes “are connected and constitute a broader conspiracy of voter registration fraud.” 

{mosads}”The number of allegations in a multitude of locations would seem to suggest something more than the isolated acts of ‘a few bad apples,’ ” the lawmakers wrote Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.   

“We respectfully request the Justice Department to assume the responsibility and conduct its own investigation, given the mounting evidence that one company may have been engaged in a similar multi-state effort to commit voter registration fraud.”

Founded this year by longtime Republican strategist Nathan Sproul, Strategic Allied Services was paid millions of dollars by the Republican Party to manage get-out-the-vote efforts in swing states including Florida, Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina and Nevada. 

However, the Republican National Committee (RNC) cut all ties with the firm late last month after Florida investigators launched a probe into hundreds of suspicious registration forms submitted by the company’s workers.

Last week, the firm’s trouble worsened when law enforcement in Rockingham County, Va., charged Colin Small with 13 counts of election fraud for allegedly tossing registration forms in a dumpster in Harrisonburg. Small worked for Pinpoint, a private contractor with ties to Strategic Allied Services.

Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan F. Hutcheson said there was “no indication” the alleged fraud “was widespread in our jurisdiction,” but Moran, Scott and Connolly aren’t convinced.

“While the Republican National Committee and five state committees have severed their relationship with Strategic Allied Consulting, we are concerned that the alleged illegal practices may be continuing under its subsidiary Pinpoint,” the lawmakers wrote to Holder.

The Virginia State Board of Elections has so far rejected calls from some state Democrats to launch a statewide probe.

A DOJ spokesman declined to comment on whether the agency has launched – or has any plans to launch – a separate investigation.

“We have received the letter, and we are reviewing the letter,” the spokesperson said in an email.

—This post has been updated with comment from the Department of Justice.