House Democrats Rig Vote

Remarkable goings-on last night in the House, as Democrats -- who were about to lose a vote -- tampered with the vote so that they would win, and then erased the record altogether.

Captain's Quarters (subject link) has video. The ensuing ruckus sounded like something that would happen in a foreign country, not in the U.S. Congress.

More details at Politico: "The House eventually recessed at 11:18, but Republicans quickly discovered that there was no longer any record of the controversial vote and immediately charged Democrats with erasing the bad result."

A post at The Corner says the House finally posted results today, showing that Democrats won the vote 216-212. Republicans charge that they had won the vote, 215-213.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra provides more background, including this: "U.S. Rep. Michael McNulty, D-NY, who was presiding over the proceedings, gaveled the vote closed when it had passed by 215 to 213, but reported that it had failed 214 to 214. The Democratic House leadership then continued allowing members to cast votes after the vote had been officially closed until they claimed that it failed by 212 to 216."

Michelle Malkin and Power Line have more.

What especially fascinating is that "Democrats used this creative vote-counting in order to preserve and expand new welfare services for illegal immigrants."

That's right, the Democrats broke the most basic rules of democracy in order to provide taxpayer funds to those who break our laws.

Update: Drudge reports with a siren that the House is switching to paper ballots, with Democrats claiming the electronic tally board is broken, with "mysterious 'engineering problems.'"

Methinks this claim is part of a Democrat cover-up. No link yet...

Later: More from Politico.