Fraudsters in Riverside?

This is a developing story out in Riverside.

Some Coachella Valley voters were duped into registering as Republicans, the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee alleged Wednesday.

The party is launching an investigation into the 2,312 new Republican voters that were registered countywide between July 14 and Aug. 11, many in Coachella Valley cities that typically swing Democrat.

They've also contacted the Secretary of State and District Attorney's office. Riverside County DA spokesman Michael Jeandron said he could neither confirm nor deny any investigations.

Democrat party officials raised the questions after getting numerous reports that people were standing outside of stores saying they were collecting signatures for child abuse-related petitions, only to turn around and use the names for voter registration.

(Question: is Michael Jeandron related to Gary Jeandron, the former Palm Springs police chief who's now running as a Republican for State Assembly in AD-80?)

Now, exactly what the point for this would be is an open question. If they're registering voters without telling them, it could perhaps get problematic later if these voters tried to legitimately register as Democrats. That might throw up a lot of mud about doubled registration forms and voter fraud. The other possibilities are that Riverside County Republicans want to maintain their voter registration lead, or simply that paid signature gatherers wanted a few extra dollars for themselves for turning in additional voter registration forms.

Nonetheless, it's very curious.

While shopping at the local Wal-Mart, (Eric Antuna) was asked to sign a petition protesting the early release of child molesters.

He agreed — until he was told he would have to fill out a registration card to prove his identity so the petitioner could be paid.

“Do you mind if I put you as a Republican?” Antuna said the man asked him.

The Democrat did mind.

This is an ongoing investigation and I'm sure the Riverside County Dems will have more.

UPDATE: This is not the first time questions have been raised about GOP voter registration efforts in Riverside County.