[Vision2020] GOP voter registration fraud case leads to arrest

[Chasuk]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fraud20-2008oct20,0,3842357.story

GOP voter registration fraud case leads to arrest
Mark Jacoby, who was arrested in Ontario and owns a firm hired by the
California Republican Party, violated state registration laws,
authorities say.
By Evan Halper
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

2:38 PM PDT, October 19, 2008

SACRAMENTO — The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party
hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested
in Ontario late last night on suspicion of voter registration fraud.

State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently
registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he
no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that
signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California.

Jacoby's arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police
Department comes after dozens of voters said they were duped into
registering as Republicans by his firm, Young Political Majors, or
YPM. The voters said YPM tricked them by saying they were signing a
petition to toughen penalties against child molesters. The firm was
paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member of the
GOP.

Several agencies had launched investigations into Jacoby's activities,
including the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, which
issued the warrant for his arrest earlier this month on felony charges
of voter registration fraud and perjury.

Efforts to reach Jacoby were unsuccessful.