John Waters: I've Committed Voter Fraud

"I have committed voter fraud, yes, but she didn’t win so it didn’t matter. I voted for her twice, because in those days they didn’t have picture ID. So in California, I would ask people, ‘Are you gonna vote?’ and if they said no, I would go vote for her. I wouldn’t do that today. I get carried away—I’m such a good citizen I vote more than once." - John Waters, referring to the 1972 presidential campaign of Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first black major party candidate for the presidency.

RELATED: Although Chisholm entered the Democratic Convention having won only 28 delegates in the primaries, former Vice President Hubert Humphrey symbolically released his delegates to Chisholm when it became clear that Sen. George McGovern would overwhelmingly win the nomination. Chisholm's final tally of 152 delegates placed her fourth behind McGovern, Sen. Henry Jackson, and Alabama Gov. George Wallace. It was also at the 1972 convention that a major party considered a gay rights platform plank for the first time. The plank, which included a call for repealing laws against same-sex marriage, was rejected by the platform committee in a 54-34 vote. Forty years later the Democrats formally included same-sex marriage rights in the party platform at the 2012 convention. That committee vote was unanimous and the plank was adopted by voice vote from the convention floor following a rousing speech by then-Newark Mayor Cory Booker.