Palin guilty of misdemeanor election fraud in Prescott?

by David Safier

I promised myself I wouldn't write about Sarah Palin. But when this one fell in my lap . . . how could I resist?

Apparently, over Memorial Day weekend, Palin was in Arizona, and Friday, she went to Prescott where:

A large band of California-based motorcyclists, wearing American-flag and other patriotic gear, was spending Friday night in the town's historic Courthouse Square on their way to Washington, D.C. for July 4 celebrations.  

A Palin sighting? About as exciting, and surprising, as a quail sighting in my back yard. But here's where it gets interesting.

Sarah got kinda punked by an "insurgent/reform candidate for mayor, running against the good-ole-boy GOP incumbent." He asked her if she would sign his petition for mayor.

And she did! With TV and still cameras recording the event! Think of campaign commercials you could make out of that footage.

That's fun all by itself. But another writer pointed out that Ms. Palin probably committed a class 1 misdemeanor by knowingly signing a petition when she wasn't qualified to vote.

[A]ccording to Title 16 of the Arizona Revised Statutes:

16-1020. Signing of petitions; violation; classification

A person […] who is not at the time of signing a qualified elector entitled to vote at the election initiated by the petition, is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.

Which would make Palin guilty of a misdemeanor. To put that in context, entry to the U.S. as an illegal immigrant is a misdemeanor as well. And as Russell Pearce is fond of saying, "What about 'illegal' don't you understand?"