It's situations like this the 1964 Voting Rights Act were designed to address.

Prosecutors Charge 95 People With Registering to Vote Using Small-Town Strip Club as Address
By Steve Karnowski Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 17, 2002

COATES, Minn. (AP) - Prosecutors charged 95 people with forgery Wednesday for an alleged scheme in which they all registered to vote using the same address: a strip club recently shut down by city officials.

Most of the alleged forgers lived outside the town. The scheme, in which the club's owner also was charged, could have given club supporters a political majority in the town of 163 people. The mayor and two council members are in contested races next month in Coates, where 79 voted in the 2000 general election.

"It's shocking to see such a blatant attempt to undermine the most fundamental pillar of our democracy - our right to vote," Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said.

Club owner Richard J. Jacobson, 32, of Prescott, Wis., was charged with conspiracy to commit forgery and conspiracy to commit unlawful voting for allegedly orchestrating the scheme. The other 94 were charged with forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery. All the charges are felonies, and each carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

Backstrom said he believed some of the defendants were employees at the club, called Jake's, but thought most were customers who might have been duped into signing the registration cards.

A federal judge ordered Jake's closed last week for violating the city's law regulating sexually oriented businesses.

Reached at the club, Jacobson declined to comment.

His attorney, Randall Tigue, said under Minnesota law county auditors are supposed to notify people believed to be registered improperly. It's fraud only if those people then try to vote.

"I think that it is real clear that no crime has been committed," he said.

Coates is about 15 miles south of St. Paul.