Today, the Lone Star Project filed a formal report with Fairfax County, Virginia prosecutors and alerted the Virginia Attorney General, calling for an investigation of voter fraud by Texas Congressional District 22 Republican challenger Pete Olson.  Documents obtained by the Lone Star Project and provided to Virginia authorities show that Olson voted in both Virginia and Connecticut during 2003, which is a felony violation. Olson has deep roots in both Virginia and Connecticut. He only recently moved to Texas, arriving in August 2007, just in time to file for the District 22 Congressional race against highly respected incumbent Congressman Nick Lampson. (Source: The Houston Chronicle, February 10, 2008)

The Lone Star Project made Olson’s apparent violation public in a report released on October 1, 2008 , which provided the new Texas resident an opportunity to give a credible answer for his double registration and voting.  However, instead of demonstrating that he had officially changed residences and switched his voter registration or showing proof that the documents are somehow incorrect, Olson’s campaign made the bizarre and implausible claim that although a Peter G. Olson may have voted in the August 2003 special election, “it was not candidate Olson.” (National Journal’s House Race Hotline, October 6, 2008) In making this fantastic claim, Olson did not say if he has alerted authorities to look for and apprehend his alleged imposter.

Virginia Legal Expert Agrees, "Olson likely committed voter fraud"
Before notifying authorities, the Lone Star Project asked Virginia attorney and election law expert, Jack Young, to examine the documents and the law. Young confirmed that election and registration records indicate that Pete Olson voted in Virginia in 2003, remained on the Virginia voter rolls when he cast a Connecticut vote, and then cast another ballot in Virginia during the same year. Commenting on his review, Mr. Young said, “It’s against the law in Virginia to register and to vote from more than one residence. It certainly appears that Pete Olson broke the law, so an investigation by Virginia authorities is warranted.”

Mystery Pete?

Pete Olson hasn’t been in Texas long, so most District 22 voters don’t know much about him. Instead of being honest and giving straight answers, Olson is asking voters to believe that someone stole his identity in order to illegally vote in one Connecticut special election in the small village of Newtown. Or, Olson wants voters to buy the notion that he has a virtual twin who just happened to wonder into the real Pete Olson’s former hometown in order to cast a vote. Olson’s confusing, arrogant and disrespectful answers mean that Virginia authorities will have to sort it all out. Meanwhile, Texas Congressional District 22 voters have just a few weeks to decide whether newly-arrived New Englander, Pete Olson, can be believed or trusted on any other matter.