Dead voters used as petition signers

Mia Baggenstos and Kelvin Moore face a combined total of 8 counts of making a false statement in violation of election law
By Oregon Attorney General

Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown and Attorney General John Kroger today announced two initiative fraud indictments, one alleging the use of dead voters’ names.”I committed to Oregonians to crack down on fraud and abuse in the initiative process. These indictments reveal how critical it is that we take a proactive approach to protect our elections and restore Oregonians’ faith in the initiative system,” said Secretary of State Brown.”Voters need to have faith in the integrity of our elections process,” said Attorney General Kroger. “These crimes will be prosecuted aggressively.”

Mia Baggenstos (DOB: 3/10/87) was indicted Sept. 22 in Multnomah County on 6 counts of knowingly making a false statement in violation of elections laws between April 13 and April 26, 2010. She also faces 1 count of Aggravated Identity Theft. The indictment accuses Baggenstos of falsely certifying the signatures of six people for Initiative Petition 70 who were in fact dead at the time. Kelvin Moore (DOB: 3/31/67) was indicted Sept. 22 in Multnomah County on 2 counts of knowingly making a false in violation of elections laws on May 30, 2010. The indictment alleges that Moore falsely certified that every person who signed Initiative Petition 70 did so in the defendant’s presence and that the defendant believed each such person was a qualified voter in Oregon when in fact they were not. It is alleged that Moore certified initiative petitions that were collected by a person not authorized to collect signatures.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Eugene Ebersole is prosecuting the case for the Oregon Department of Justice.