Arizona firm accused of trashing Democratic voter registration forms

LAS VEGAS - The chief executive of an Arizona consulting firm denied Wednesday that a group he hired to register Republicans in Nevada deliberately tore up Democratic voter registration forms. State and federal officials said they were aware of allegations that Voters Outreach of America failed to register Democrats and were trying to determine if any laws might have been broken. Nathan Sproul of Sproul & Associates in Chandler, Ariz., told The Associated Press that there was no truth to the accusations by Eric Russell, whom he called a disgruntled employee who was fired last month. Russell, a former Voters Outreach of America employee in Las Vegas, said he witnessed his supervisor shred eight to 10 Democratic registration forms from prospective voters. Russell could not recall his supervisor's name. Russell acknowledged he was angry at Voters Outreach for not paying him and his girlfriend hundreds of dollars for work they said they did registering voters. "They held our paychecks," said Russell, who called himself a registered Republican. "Who wouldn't be disgruntled if some lady told you she wasn't going to pay you? That doesn't take away from the fact that I saw them rip up the forms." Russell said he didn't know if Voters Outreach was systematically destroying the forms from Democrats. Russell said he worked for Voters Outreach for a couple of weeks in September. Sproul confirmed his firm was contracted by the Republican National Committee to register voters. The focus of Voters Outreach was "to register Republicans but we registered anyone who wanted to register," he said. Sproul said Voters Outreach registered plenty of Democrats and Republicans and didn't turn people away because they were from the opposition party. Sproul would not say how many people from each party the group registered. During a Wednesday news conference in Las Vegas, local Democrats said voter infringement was unacceptable and implored authorities to investigate Russell's claims. FBI Special Agent David Schrom said no federal investigation has been launched in Las Vegas or in Reno, reportedly the scene of similar voter registration irregularities. State officials in Oregon said they were investigating allegations that a paid canvasser might have destroyed voter registration forms. "We've not received any formal complaint whatsoever," Schrom said in Las Vegas. Schrom said any investigation would likely fall under state jurisdiction, adding the FBI would not get involved unless asked or if a federal crime was committed. Schrom said the FBI would discuss the allegations with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Las Vegas to determine if a federal crime had been committed. "Based on that, we'll either open or not open an investigation," he said. Steve George, a spokesman with the Nevada Secretary of State, said his office had not received an official complaint, but "we're looking into whether any state or federal laws were violated." The Republican National Committee issued a statement Wednesday saying its party has "a zero-tolerance policy for anything that smacks of impropriety in registering voters." In a Wednesday conference call, Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, accused Republicans of trying to disenfranchise voters. Democrats said they planned legal action but were not specific.