I can’t see the Great Debate here. Tell him you disapprove and that you will turn him in if he doesn’t take care of it himself. If he scoffs, turn him in.
I would call the RNC, and ask them to pay me $10,000 for all the details.
Remind him that as a lawyer, you’re an officer of the court and all that, and unlike a layman, you can’t just sit idly by if he goes through with this stunt.
I have no idea whether that’s true, not being a lawyer myself, but I bet you could make it sound convincing.
You’re a lawyer, aren’t you Drain Bead? Surely you’re ethically bound here.
[eta]I hadn’t seen RTF’s post. I dunno about jurisdiction, but here my wife is punctilious about anything that violates her duties [sub]or would get her struck off.[/sub]
Personally, I try to weigh things against the harm they are causing to others. While every vote counts, his one vote is not going to swing the election. Voter fraud is very serious, but it’s more serious when it’s an organized thing, not one yahoo. In any case, I don’t think it’s something I’d be willing to send someone I knew to prison for. I don’t think that would really improve the world.
Really, I would tell him in stern words that you are on to him and that you absolutely demand that he stop.
Dude, right is right and wrong is wrong. Make the call and have his ass busted. He’s breaking the law.
If you let him do what he plans to do, you are an accessory before the fact and therefore would be a criminal. Now, how dumb would that be?:smack::dubious:
I have to agree with RTFirely and hawthorne here.
Libby, as an officer of the court with prior knowledge of a crime to be committed, aren’t you required to report that crime?
Try talking to him and explaining that if he goes ahead with this, you have no choice but to report it.
You have worked so hard to get where your at in your career, and with your prior knowledge of this fraud, that career could go down the tubes.
[sub]On preview I see that Clu-Me-In went along the same lines as I.[/sub]
I agree with Sven. I’d like to add that a lot of individuals commit voter fraud. Voters who move to new districts prior to an election will often vote in their old district rather than not vote at all (not reigstered in the new district). Perhaps it is a matter of laziness or convenience but it’s technically fraud and a felony all the same.
Sure as heck not something I would rat someone for and risk making them a felon, an enemy and a resentful family member.
I second that.
Are you still a practicing attorney? If the relative got caught, could this harm your career?
I’d do nothing. Family loyalty trumps non-violent crimes. I have a brother whom I utterly despise, and I can imagine him doing this, but I’d still do nothing.
What if he did this and it’s found out later, including the use of your address? You could probably be found complicit in the fraud.
Just tell him you don’t care what he does as long as he does not include you in his fraud. Tell him unequivocally that he is not allowed to use your home for such shenanigans. Absent another option he will likely desist.
Finally a voice of reason amongst all the, “Go ahead tear your family apart, it’s the prinicple of the thing!”, arguments.
Sorry, for me ethics trump blood ties. I would tell them that I know and warn them against it first, of course. I doubt it would “tear [my] family apart,” but the possibility of my being implicated shows that they have no respect for me or the results of their actions. In that case, people get what they deserve. And if the rest of my family wants to side with someone with no scruples like that, then at least I have my self-respect.
This is the only thing you can say. I’m not even that close to my family but what closeness I have I’d like to keep. If I brought something like this into the public arena, hell yeah I’d be yelled at every time I saw them. I would just talk to the relative privately and tell him to LEAVE ME OUT.
This guy is already tearing the family apart. He’s forfeited any familial privilege he might have had. Had he been planning this using some apartment he used to live in, or the like, then conceivably there might be an argument for “family first”. But he’s actually using the OP, a member of his own family, to facilitate this crime. Drain Bead doesn’t have the option of simply not getting involved: The loser has already gotten her involved. The question now is just whether she’s going to get uninvolved, and the only way to do that is by turning the loser in.