Stealing Virginia and maybe the presidency, Chapter 2.

There is now a smoking gun that more than justifies the Romney campaign’s concern about the hundreds of thousands of registration forms the Voter Participation Center mailed to Virginia addresses that were partially filled out or “pre-populated” with names and/or information belonging to the recipients’ dead relatives, minor children, non-citizen relatives, already registered voters, convicted felons, and cats and dogs.

A convicted felon, living in Louisa County, Virginia, used one of the Voter Participation Center’s pre-populated forms to register to vote illegally and then cast a ballot in the 2008 presidential election. In January 2010, the felon pleaded guilty to two counts of election fraud and was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all time suspended.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Page Gardner, president and chief executive officer of the Voter Participation Center, discounts any suggestion that voter fraud can occur through the organization’s mailings. Gardner said Voter Participation Center relies on the “diligence of local election officials” to review the submitted applications, as well as on the “individual integrity of the individuals receiving the forms.”

Louisa County’s Attorney Thomas A. Garrett Jr., the guy who prosecuted the felon and is now a state senator, sees the connection, and has tough words for Page Gardner’s comments:

Garrett said Gardner is in denial if she believes that voter fraud can’t occur. “She can say … ‘We don’t know where (the felon) got it’ all she wants to,” he said. “But I do know where she got it from and it was from (Gardner’s) organization, and I got the proof. I produced the original form, which is on file and accessible to the public.” Garrett said he believes Nicholson and another felon he prosecuted for illegally registering to vote were essentially duped into breaking the law.

This is the first case of confirmed voter fraud I’ve heard of that resulted from the five million “pre-populated” voter registration forms the Voter Participation Center mailed across the country targeting Democrat-leaning voting blocs, such as unmarried women, young people and minorities. I’m sure it won’t be the last.