One Day Before Election Sheriff Joe Arpaio Caught In Hispanic Vote Suppression Scandal

Submitted by Kristian Ramos on 11/1/10

Tucson  Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, has cut ties with an anti-immigrant organization, after they used his name and signature urging its followers to stop Hispanics from voting.

As a result, the Justice Department will be sending election day monitors to voting places in Arizona.

Fair and balanced Fox News Online has the full story here:

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he is cutting ties with an anti-immigration organization after the group reportedly piggybacked on his name to make the claim that grassroots volunteers will be at the polls Tuesday stopping illegal immigrants from trying to vote, MyFoxPhoenix reported Friday.

An email sent out by anti-immigration group Ban Amnesty Now had Arpaio’s signature and said that when thousands of illegal immigrants attempt to vote this Election Day, an army of volunteers will be there to stop them

Not surprisingly, Sheriff Joe denies knowledge of the email, however he failed to mention that he was once the Co-Chairmen of the organization that sent out the email:

Arpaio denies writing the email and has asked the Tempe, Ariz.-based organization to disassociate itself from him.

Arpaio was once co-chairman on Ban Amnesty Now, but he says he never authorized the email to be sent out under his name.

As a result, according to Americas Voice and Vivir Latino, the Justice Department has decided to send election day monitors to make sure Hispanics are not intimidated at the polls. The full DOJ release can be seen here:

On Friday afternoon, the Justice Department announced that its Civil Rights Division plans to deploy more than 400 federal observers and department personnel to 30 jurisdictions in 18 states for the Nov. 2, 2010, general election. One of those jurisdictions is Maricopa County in Arizona.

An excerpt from the Hispanic Voter intimidation email is below:

“STOP ILLEGALS FROM STEALING THE ELECTION! Our grassroots army of VOTER FRAUD PREVENTION VOLUNTEERS will stand vigilant across the nation. We will be the first and strongest line of defense to ensure that only legal citizens vote on November 2nd.”