For the past two days, the internet has been abuzz with the latest political scandal, although this one has nothing to do with twitter photos or sexual shenanigans.

And the center of this brewing controversy is ... here. Did longtime Belmont resident and Republican frontrunner commit the serious crime of voter fraud – that could result in a five year prison sentence –when in January 2010 he strode up the steps to the second floor of to vote in Precinct 2?

The story, which has been on the 'net for less than 72 hours, has exploded over the Web. A google search – which had become the modern de facto gauge of popularity – finds more than one million hits when searching for the key words Romney, voter, fraud. Yesterday, June 13, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow spent a portion of her opinion program citing the allegations as did numerous media publications in primary states, in magazines such as New York and mentioned on the Huffington Post (editor's note: the Patch network of hyperlocal sites is part of the Huffington Post Media Group).

The allegations against the South Cottage Road resident emerged this week in an article on the Mother Jones magazine website. In a story written by staff reporter Stephanie Mencimer, Fred Karger – a person who says he is also running for president – said he filed a formal complaint with the Elections Division of the Secretary of State's Office claiming that Romney was not a Massachusetts or Belmont resident when he slide this paper ballot into the scanning machine during the election for US Senator which Scott Brown won.

Karger claimed to Mother Jones that Romney no longer qualifies as a Belmont resident since he has moved several times since failing to win the Republican nomination in the summer of 2008 especially since he sold his long-time Marsh Street home in April 2009 .

Karger said since Ronmey spent a great deal of time in his other homes in La Jolla, California and on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, he no longer could claim that his primary residency was Belmont despite registering to vote using his son's Greensbrook Way address.

Karger, which Mother Jones dubbed an expert in performing "opposition research" for Republican candidates, did not believe that Romney was actually living "in his son's basement" nor living in a newly constructed townhouse he bought in June 2010 that Mencimer noted is located on "the grounds of the McLean Mental Hospital." Mencimer wrote that Karger ventured to Belmont to talk to residents, store owners – including the town's "fish monger" – and members of the Church of the Latter Days Saint's community which the Romney's have been part of the leadership since arriving in Belmont in the early 1970s, all who have said that Romney has not been part of life in Belmont for years.