Is the GOP committing voter fraud?

>>> we have big news tonight in our block the vote report. it turns out voter fraud does exist, even today in america. but it's the republicans playing the dirty tricks . today paul schurick, an aide to former maryland governor robert ehrlich was found guilty of conspireing to suppress black voter turnout in 2010 . prosecutors charged that schurick approved deceptive calls to convince black voters not to go to the polls.

>> paul, can we ask you your reaction first.

>> he's not speaking.

>> he had no public comment after the jury's verdict, guilty on four criminal count.

>> i'm calling to let everybody know that governor o'malley and president obama have been successful.

>> related to the 2010 election day robo call that suggested martin o'malley had won the governor's race before the polls had actually closed. schurick was the campaign manager for the bob ehrlich campaign, he authorized call which was mission the so-called authority line to hide the campaign's involvement. he said it was a counterintuitive event to get ehr li ch voters to the polls.

>> i thought it was ridiculous, think it's ridiculous. i didn't buy it and evidently the jury didn't buy it as well.

>> notes taken by the woman who recorded the robo call says it all. quote, suppress turnout in black communities. amazing. the conviction highlights what countless minority voters report in every election, that republicans use dirty tricks to suppress the vote.

>> will crossly is director of voter protection for the democratic national committee . thank you both for being here tonight.

>> thank you.

>> thank you, rev.

>> well, a stunning example of voter suppression today. so the plan to tell black voters that their candidate was doing fine so they wouldn't feel their vote was needed, is that what the scheme was?

>> absolutely, rev. we began to get calls on this subject on election day when it was happening in -- in the 2010 election, and we have followed it ever since and pleased to see that a jury found nothing short of a conspiracy to commit election fraud by republican operatives in the state of maryland . they went after 110,000 african-american voters in the cities of baltimore and in prince george 's county maryland . this is in fact the real fraud that's being perpetrated upon the american people , upon voters the rep ublican party. and so this verdict today is evidence that that is going on.

>> now, judith , i remember 2010 we have a chapter that we were hearing this but you hear it all over the country. does this verdict in your opinion help with many of the cases that groups all over the country have been trying to fight, and will it pour a little cold water on those operatives that may have plans for 2012 ?

>> well, reverend sharpton, oops, they got caught. this is clearly all of the stories that we have known that have existed for years, the deceptive practices. it's just a continuation of a campaign of misinformation that is being put together by the right wing. instead of, you know, talking about i.d. and trying to challenge the eligibility of hard-working americans who want to participate in democracy, they are committing the real fraud against americans by telling them to go to the polls on particular days after an election or telling them that in fact you can't vote if you have parking tickets or you have some other issue. instead of trying to block the vote, why not have real democracy and stop trying to undermine it. next week, reverend, we're going to be delivering a petition to the department of justice calling on them to step up their efforts to stop voter suppression . we have over 120,000 signatures. we hope more people will join this effort, because we have to call on them to enforce the voting rights act .

>> well, there's no doubt about it. and there are 14 states, i just put the map up, that saw 25 vote redistricting laws passed this year. we're rallying in 25 cities this friday, there's a march this saturday, there's your petition drive. b but, will, let me ask you, in maryland , the doctrine there was and i'm reading what they have written out, promote confusion, emotionalism and frustration among african-american democrats focused in precincts where high concentrations of african-american votes. that was maryland . do you know of other schemes around the country, will?

>> oh, there's no question. we saw other efforts in 2010 . these robo calls. we've seen the misinformation campaigns. we've also seen voter caging , a process in which they send out post cards to people. if you don't return the postcard, then they question your residency and add you to a list when you show up at the polls, question whether or not you're actually qualified to vote. that happened in 1982 in new jersey. we've seen it in louisiana, 1987 . we've seen it 1990 in north carolina . we prosecuted 2004 in ohio as well as in 2008 in the state of michigan . they created these lists from people's names who had been placed on foreclosure and challenged their residency. we went to court over that as well. and so the important thing, we want voters to know that we were watching in the past this verdict today and will continue to watch in the future for these kinds of activities.

>> judith , i think that this was got to be a fight, as you say, to preserve democracy and make things work that assure democracy for everyone. i wonder why with all of these voter i.d. laws and all of this so-called fighting against voter fraud , they're not talking about this in the right wing. strange they missed all of this voter suppression efforts will just outlined and the jury convicted on today in maryland .

>> that's right. this is the real fraud. let's talk about this. let's get some laws passed that stop these deceptive practices, that stop people from going to the polls, that give them misinformation. unfortunately, this campaign of misinformation works for the right wing. what we need to do is stand up, stand for democracy and fight back and get some laws passed that convict more people like the one convicted in maryland .

>> well, there was only 86 prosecutions with the voter fraud they raised out of 300 million voting. but here on the other side where we're seeing convictions, they're not interested. that's why we are. judith , will, thank you both for your time tonight.