>>>
well, the
republican national committee
is in
damage control
mode after a firm they hired to register voters in
florida
and four other
battleground states
was hit with allegations of fraud. republicans abruptly had to cut ties with strategic allied consulting after it was linked to more than 100 questionable forms submitted in of all places,
florida
's
palm beach county
.
>>
some of the information on the
florida
voter registration
forms were trying to register people with addresses in new york. some of the address changes that were being requested on the forms were actually being transferred from a home address to commercial buildings. in one instance, the couple was being reregistered to an address in miami that's a shell
gas station
.
>>
can't make it up.
michael scott
, we planned on being joined by chairman of the
republican party
in
florida
who had to cancel this morning. mike, walk me through this story and what happened.
>>
it is causing headaches at the rnc this morning. the rnc goes out and hires this firm, newly created firm, strategic allied consulting, run by a somewhat questionable operative, nathan spew. they're asked to register republicans in five
battleground states
. they hire thousands of workers, over 2,000 in
florida
, paying them about $12 an hour to go out, go
door to door
, get registration forms from republican voters. what happens is a couple weeks ago one of the workers drops off at a
palm beach county
satellite office 308 new registration forms. they go through, the workers go through it, find repeated problems in about 108 of them, including similar signatures, apparently phony signatures, and phony addresses as we just heard, some linked to a shell
gas station
, a
land rover
dealership and a medical building in boca. they then call in susan bucher calls in the republican director and he agrees there's a problem, they take it to the
palm beach
state attorney's office which launches an investigation. the
florida
republican party
freaks out about this. they immediately fire the firm. meanwhile, there are reports of these irregularities growing throughout the state. as of last night, six counties reporting irregularities in
voter registration
firms in forms from the firm, including according to paul locks, republican supervisor registering of
dead people
. the rnc obviously they made an issue of
voter fraud
. they fired the firm nationally. already paid it $3 million. i talked yesterday to shawn spicer, the
communications director
of the rnc. here is what he said.
>>
it is totally different. we at this point have an allegation, that mere allegation caused us to act swiftly, boldly, sever ties with the firm, we have
zero tolerance
when it comes to this. the other side clearly engaged a long time in inappropriate behavior. we don't believe it is appropriate and wanted to make swift and bold action to illustrate that.
>>
mike, you can't help but sit there,
republican party
has been pushing this line, acorn, all of this, and the only evidence this year comes from their side.
>>
exactly. i should say i spoke last night to nathan spruell, he says he is the victim. he says he has strict
quality control
measures. he goes out, he is furious at the
florida
republican party
for suggesting his firm was involved in
voter fraud
. you could see lawsuits here which would make it even messier.
>>
michael isikoff
, national correspondent. nice work. thanks for that report.
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