Associated Press
Fox News ran a curious special report the other day called, "Fox News Reporting: Stealing Your Vote." The ostensible point of the report was to justify Republican efforts to place new restrictions on Americans' access to the ballot box, as we've seen in recent years with a slew of voter-ID laws.
And while Fox was able to highlight some actual, real-world incidents, there were a couple of notable problems with the report. For one thing, these were isolated incidents, some of them several years old, and represent an infinitesimally small percentage of the larger voter-participation rate. For another, as Matt Gertz explained, Fox found "no credible cases of in-person voter fraud that could have been prevented by" the GOP's voter-ID measures.
This seems to happen quite a bit.
As Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) prepares to decide the fate of a proposed voter ID bill in the Old Dominion state, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on voter fraud prosecutions stemming out of the 2008 election that "may signal a more significant voter fraud issue than some state lawmakers realized."
One problem: the type of voter fraud that allegedly took place -- namely, felons voting when they shouldn't have been -- wouldn't have been prevented by the proposed voter ID law.
The underlying problem itself is not at all widespread. Research uncovered 39 individuals who voted in Virginia who weren't eligible to do so. In an election in which roughly 3.7 million votes were cast in the state, the number is inconsequential, and just as importantly, there are already laws against these felons voting, and most of the 39 individuals are being prosecuted.
So when the right points to stories like these as a reason to pass voter-ID laws, they're confused -- the felons could have shown their identification and still cast a ballot.
The same thing came up earlier this month in Indiana, when four county-level Democratic Party officials allegedly falsified some petition signatures four years ago, got caught, and now face charges. Fox and Republicans seized on this as yet another reason to justify voter-ID laws -- overlooking the fact that voter-ID laws wouldn't have prevented the crime.
The right is so desperate for evidence it's seizing on the wrong kind of evidence. Of course, they don't have much of a choice -- if they're looking for proof of many people voting under false identities, they'll be looking for a very long time.
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I voted this morning in PA. The nice lady looked at my photo ID and I'm sure had no ability to really tell if I was the person on it or not (30 pounds lighter and new haircut and glasses). So the whole GOP led nonsense is simply a way to frighten people and keep them from voting.
I refused to show a photo id, I just showed my Pa. voter registration card issued by the county, they gave me a provisional ballot and sent me on my way rather than make a big deal of it.
Provisional ballots are rarely counted on election day and then only as absentee ballots and God only knows what happens to those!!
Point Number 1) The Northern Indiana cases were 'Registration Fraud' not 'Voter Fraud'! If you want to reference 'Voter Fraud' in Indiana, you need look no further than a couple months ago when the Republican Secretary of State (responsible for voting) was convicted of multiple felonies (including actual 'voter fraud') and was removed from office.
Point Number 2) The reasons for the 'voter fraud' laws and the justifications for the 'voter fraud' laws are separate. The justifications are fraudulent. The reasons are to disenfranchise groups of voters who have historical patterns of voting democratic.
That the 'voter fraud' laws are intended to disenfranchise blacks and the poor and the elderly should always be pointed out when writing any articles about 'voter fraud' laws.
Though their cowardliness won't allow them to do so, it would bring carthesis to those Republican ALEC types to fess up to the fact they simply think many of our fellow citizens aren't worthy enough to cast a sovereign vote for the candidate of their choice!
Any group that actively works to disenfranchise any American citizen should be kicked to the curbed and run over by the next available bus of the hoi polloi! -Kevo
Republican's know full well there isn't any widespread voter fraud. The point of this facade is to hide their true intent which is to pass laws to make it more difficult for the typical Democratic voter - especially minorities - to vote. The harder they make it, the more they'll stay away from the pols thus, game, set, match, Republicans win! (The other way that Republicans fixed the system is with the gerrymandering of the congressional districts since the 2010 census redrawing the lines clearly in favor of the Republican candidates. Democrats have got to start paying more attention to the local and state races).
I read the comments of that Richmond Times-Dispatch story and found some guy who claimed a TV station had found "hundreds" of non-citizens who were registered to vote and had actually voted. I figured if a station had actually done this, it would show up in a Google search. It did.
http://immigrationreform.com/2012/04/05/video-florida-tv-station-exposes-voter-fraud/
Now, you are right. A voter ID law would not have caught this at the voting place, but one requiring a person to show a passport or birth certificate to attain voter registration would have.
Am I missing something here? I KNOW that voter ID laws are there to suppress the vote -- and I don't want them. However, how do you prevent people from misrepresenting themselves on voter registration forms, and how do county officials detect those bad registration forms?
The wingnuts are in serious high dudgeon over this lead-cinch-pipe proof of massive voter fraud in PA and OH during the 2008 Presidential election.
http://nation.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/23/wikileaks-democrats-tampered-2008-election-results
Amusingly, wingnuts might have a new hero: Julian Assange!
You can't make this stuff up. Maybe Mr. Benen should look at this one. It's juicy.
When I went to vote here in Oklahoma, I showed my state employee ID. It was not acceptable.
The story I hear over and over is that it doesn't cost anything to get a state issued ID. That is a crock. Many do not have birth certificates--they have misplaced them over the years or never had them. I volunteer at a soup kitchen--we have been helping folks get their paperwork etc. straight so they can continue to vote (their old voter ID is not acceptable). For one person, the cost was 80 dollars. This is a POLL TAX on low income and elderly folks--plain and simple.
When I went to pay my Charter cable bill this morning, I was required to show ID. That's the first time I have ever had to show ID in order to hand someone money. The nice lady, who knows me by name, apologized and explained that it's a new nation-wide policy. So what is this? Is it a corporation showing solidarity with Voter ID laws, or a corporation doing its part to ensure voters have the proper ID come November?
Why should they care who's paying the bill so long as it gets paid? Rhetorical question. We know it's just further erosion of privacy.
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If they want to do a story on election fraud, perhaps they should head up to Anchorage and talk to the people there about their recent local elections. The wonderful people at Mudflats have been keeping an eye on things (and pulling their hair out, I think!):
http://www.themudflats.net/2012/04/17/baked-alaska-yet-another-election-crashes-and-burns-on-the-last-frontier/
Little evidence, some evidence or no evidence makes no difference to Republicans. The justification for voter suppression laws is not based in fact which is standard for Republican policies. Facts are irrelevant. Dems have to beat Republicans at their own game by helping people register to vote, particularly those groups who are hurt the most by these voter laws. Make the law irrelevant.
Ahh the GOP never a bunch to let "reality" stand in the way of their delusions. G-d bless America......