National Ballot Access

Ward Connerly's paid signature gatherer started anew last year with a brand new firm. But already, complaints indicate that they're up to their old tricks.

Edee Baggett and National Ballot Access have been hired by Ward Connerly to gather signatures from citizens to advance his divisive effort to eliminate affirmative action in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma in addition to working on the paycheck deception initiative in South Dakota and several additional measures in Missouri.    

National Ballot Access, a signature gathering firm based in Georgia, was created on May 23, 2007, incorporated by two women: Mary Edith "Edee" Baggett and Heidi Verougstraete.  Although National Ballot Access is a relatively young firm, the principals behind it have a long history of allegedly engaging in initiative fraud.

In a manner eerily similar to what was witnessed in Michigan during the 2006 cycle, complaints are already being filed alleging that voters have been tricked into signing these anti-affirmative action initiatives.   In addition to the charges that Baggett's circulators misled voters as to the purpose of the initiative, more serious allegations have surfaced.  While conducting a review of the submitted signatures in Oklahoma, the Secretary of State referred the matter to the state Supreme Court, remarking that, initiative petition 387 had resulted in an unprecedented situation where large numbers of duplicate names and addresses were discovered well into the signature counting process by the SOS.  Even with an extensive effort made to manually cross-check names and addresses, it is a reasonable assumption that not all duplicates have been discovered."  Click here to read the Oklahoma Secretary of State's report.

The partners at National Ballot Access have a history of being accused of fraudulent activity and there is no reason to believe they are going to change the way they do business this year. Residents of any state which has been targeted by this firm would be advised to contact your Secretary of State and demand that any signatures submitted be heavily scrutinized.  

Read below to discover the details of Baggett and Verougstraete's alleged misdeeds. 

• 1996 Nebraska. Baggett notarized 35,000 signatures that were later called into question for a Nebraska gambling initiative headed up by Let the People Vote Committee. Casino foes alleged that Baggett had never become a Nebraska resident and therefore couldn't notarize the petitions legally.  In addition, it was claimed that Baggett's notary stamp was used illegally by several other people to notarize petitions. Officials with Let the People Vote have denied that, saying that Ms. Baggett signed her name several different ways. ("Casino Opponents Question Signatures" Omaha World Herald. October 17, 2006)
• 1998 Missouri. A petition circulator named David Jackson was hired by the National Petition Management Company to circulate a pro-gambling initiative. The Missouri Secretary of State invalidated nearly 7,000 signatures which he collected. Baggett had notarized many of them. (Associated Press. October 7,  1998)
• 2004 Michigan.  In 2004, Verougstraete worked with National Signature Management to gather signatures for the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. MCRI was later sued by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and several other groups charging that the petition passers had "used racially-targeted voter fraud to obtain signatures in support" of the initiative, and in particular had targeted "areas with large minority populations, resulting in 125,000 minority signatures being obtained under false pretenses." (2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61323, August 29, 2006)
• 2006 Nebraska. Edee Baggett was hired to circulation the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR).  During TABOR's circulation, the Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale was actually approached by a circulator seeking his signature while walking in downtown Omaha.  When pressed, the circulator admitted he was only 15 years old.  Gale also stated that he witnessed circulators failing to read the object statement to potential signers, a legal requirement which ensures that voters know what they're signing.  ("Rush for names leads to petition circulators' shortcuts." Omaha World. June 26, 2006). 
• 2007 Nebraska. The so-called "Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative," began gathering signatures quietly without any press releases or news conferences that so often mark the beginning of other initiative campaigns. The campaign hired Baggett's signature gathering firm National Ballot Outreach, which apparently asked the campaign to keep their kick-off quiet. With the accounts of fraud and forgery in other initiatives they have circulated, it's no wonder NBA wanted to get a head start before the public became aware of them on the street.  (Chronicle of Higher Education. October 19, 2007)
• 2008 Missouri. "Right now, contractors with National Ballot Access are gathering signatures for three Missouri initiatives - a pair restricting the use of eminent domain to take private property, and another limiting affirmative action programs. Conveniently, Baggett ‘forgets' to mention that she and her firm are prepared to begin circulating petitions in connection with another initiative --one which would roll back protections on those seeking cures through stem cell research...But Baggett --when she was deposed in connection with a petition-related lawsuit in the Missouri courts-- admitted to working with Cures Without Cloning ringleader Jeff Roe and other officials from the Missouri Catholic Conference to run the signature collection effort that would put the repeal of Amendment 2 on the 2008 ballot." (Fired Up! Missouri, March 3, 2008)
• 2008 Nebraska. University of Nebraska Students protest against the so-called "Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative's" use of Georgia Corporation, a National Ballot Access firm being used to circulate the Connerly pushed initiative.  They said Connerly's use of National Ballot Access firm, doesn't help his image.  "The Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative is attempting to buy its way on to the (November) ballot with the Georgia Corporation and out-of-state funding," Swiercek said. ("Bill to ban affirmative action pulled off table." The Daily Nebraskan. February 26, 2008). Click here to link to article.  
• 2008 Oklahoma. Baggett was hired to circulate the so-called "Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative." Throughout the signature drive voters complained of being deceived by the circulators as to the purpose of the initiative.  When the Secretary of State reviewed the submitted signatures, she forwarded the official report directly to the state Supreme Court stating that "initiative petition 387 has resulted in an unprecedented situation where large numbers of duplicate names and addresses were discovered well into the signature counting process by the SOS.  Even with an extensive effort made to manually cross check names and addresses, it is a reasonable assumption that not all duplicates have been discovered."  ("State anti-affirmative action petition drive draws criticism." The Oklahoman. The February 21, 2008). Click here to read the Oklahoma Secretary of State's report.
• 2008 Missouri. Baggett and her signature gatherers are hired to carry petitions for both the so called "Missouri Civil Rights Initiative," and an eminent domain initiative. Yet signature gathers are tricking voters into signing the ban on affirmative action by saying it's for the eminent domain initiative. "Affirmative Action Supporters Call Drive Misleading." Kansas City Star. April 1, 2008.)

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