under what circumstances (for example, whether they were paid, intimidated, or not consulted). • Compare handwriting exemplars of subjects. Handwriting exemplars of persons suspected of forging absentee ballot documents should be obtained and compared with the handwriting on those questioned documents. • Develop multiple witnesses. Voters involved in fraudulent voting transactions are usually poorly educated, often intimidated by defendants and courtrooms, and generally may not make strong witnesses. 41 Successful prosecution of this type of case normally requires the testimony of several voter-witnesses against each defendant. (b) Ballot-box stuffing cases These cases involve the insertion into ballot boxes of invalid, fraudulent, or otherwise illegal ballots. All ballot-box stuffing schemes necessarily involve poll officials, since access to voting documents is essential to this type of fraud and is controlled by state law. Ballot-box stuffing investigations seek to identify fraudulent voting transactions and to link specific poll officials to them. The general investigative methodology is to: • Subpoena election documents. Obtain and examine the poll lists or other documentation that voters sign when entering the polls; the registration cards for voters residing in the target precinct, any paper or punch card ballots, and any tally sheets prepared by the poll officials reporting the election results. 41 These very factors, on the other hand, demonstrate to the jury the susceptibility of these persons to manipulation, which is often important evidence in the case. 95

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