Hank Silverberg, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – Three Virginia congressmen are asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct a multi-state investigation into a company that has been registering voters for the Nov. 6 election.
Reps. Gerry Connolly, Jim Moran and Bobby Scott, who are Democrats, sent a letter to the Justice Department requesting the probe.
They say the arrest in Harrisonburg, Va., last week of a worker for the company Pinpoint warrants the probe. Pinpoint is a subsidiary of Strategic Allied Consulting, a firm already under investigation in Florida.
In the letter, the congressmen write:
As you are aware, Strategic Allied Consulting is currently under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and faces more than 200 allegations of voter registration fraud including registration of the deceased. Allegations of voter registration fraud by Strategic Allied Consulting also have been raised in Arizona and Colorado. The number of allegations in a multitude of locations would seem to suggest something more than the isolated acts of “a few bad apples.”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.
Pinpoint operates in Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun counties in Northern Virginia. It also operates in Rockingham County, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.
Rockingham County deputies arrested Colin Small, 23, of Phoenixville, Pa., for voter registration fraud after he allegedly threw out voter registration forms that had been filled out.
“I’m hoping that this will send a warning shot across the bow of anybody who wants to engage in this kind of behavior,” Scott says.
“I am deeply concerned that this is not an isolated incident. It is a pattern,” Connolly tells WTOP.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican, has already said he can only investigate if he’s asked to do so by the Virginia State Board of Elections.
A Justice Department spokesman says the letter from the congressmen is under review.
Follow Hank Silverberg and WTOP on Twitter.
(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)