Since it's Part of the GOP Agenda, Can we all educate ourselves on THE MYTH OF VOTER FRAUD

[mod mom]

Mods...I know this topic could belong in Election Reform Forum but since it's an agenda of the GOP and many here will never venture over to that forum, I thought it might be wise to educate DUers on just why this issue is of importance to us:

THE GOP HAS MADE VOTER FRAUD A FOCUS IN REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED LEGISLATURES, PUSHING DRACONIAN ID LAWS FOR A NEARLY NON EXISTENT(exceptions include Indiana's Republican SOS & Ann Coulter) PROBLEM. THE REAL PURPOSE TO TO SUPPRESS VOTES OF PREDOMINATELY DEMOCRATIC VOTERS. PLEASE INFORM YOURSELF ON THIS ISSUE AND FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE RW TALKING POINTS:

EDITORIAL
The Myth of Voter Fraud


Published: May 13, 2008

-snip

There is no evidence that voting by noncitizens is a significant problem. Illegal immigrants do their best to remain in the shadows, to avoid attracting government attention and risking deportation. It is hard to imagine that many would walk into a polling place, in the presence of challengers and police, and try to cast a ballot.

There is, however, ample evidence that a requirement of proof of citizenship will keep many eligible voters from voting. Many people do not have birth certificates or other acceptable proof of citizenship, and for some people, that proof is not available. One Missouri voter, Lillie Lewis, said at a news conference last week that officials in Mississippi, where she was born, told her they had no record of her birth.

Proof of citizenship is just one of an array of new barriers to voting that have been springing up across the country. Indiana adopted a tough new photo ID voting requirement, over objections from Democrats that it would prevent eligible voters from casting a ballot. The critics were right. In last week’s Indiana primary, a group of about 12 nuns in their 80s and 90s were prevented from voting because they lacked acceptable ID.

-snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/opinion/13tue1.html

The Myth Of Voter Fraud
TOOLBOX

By Michael Waldman and Justin Levitt
Thursday, March 29, 2007
-snip

Allegations of voter fraud -- someone sneaking into the polls to cast an illicit vote -- have been pushed in recent years by partisans seeking to justify proof-of-citizenship and other restrictive ID requirements as a condition of voting. Scare stories abound on the Internet and on editorial pages, and they quickly become accepted wisdom.

But the notion of widespread voter fraud, as these prosecutors found out, is itself a fraud. Firing a prosecutor for failing to find wide voter fraud is like firing a park ranger for failing to find Sasquatch. Where fraud exists, of course, it should be prosecuted and punished. (And politicians have been stuffing ballot boxes and buying votes since senators wore togas; Lyndon Johnson won a 1948 Senate race after his partisans famously "found" a box of votes well after the election.) Yet evidence of actual fraud by individual voters is painfully skimpy.

-snip
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032801969.html

THE MYTH OF VOTER FRAUD
Lorraine C. Minnite

In The Myth of Voter Fraud, Lorraine C. Minnite presents the results of her meticulous search for evidence of voter fraud. She concludes that while voting irregularities produced by the fragmented and complex nature of the electoral process in the United States are common, incidents of deliberate voter fraud are actually quite rare. Based on painstaking research aggregating and sifting through data from a variety of sources, including public records requests to all fifty state governments and the U.S. Justice Department, Minnite contends that voter fraud is in reality a politically constructed myth intended to further complicate the voting process and reduce voter turnout. She refutes several high-profile charges of alleged voter fraud, such as the assertion that eight of the 9/11 hijackers were registered to vote, and makes the question of voter fraud more precise by distinguishing fraud from the manifold ways in which electoral democracy can be distorted. Effectively disentangling misunderstandings and deliberate distortions from reality, The Myth of Voter Fraud provides rigorous empirical evidence for those fighting to make the electoral process more efficient, more equitable, and more democratic.

-snip
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=5637



Posted: May 22, 2007
The Politics of Justice
Daniel P. Tokaji
Professor of Law; Associate Director, Election Law @ Moritz
Moritz College of Law

-snip
DOJ's actions are particularly difficult to defend, given the mounting evidence that claims of voting fraud have been greatly exaggerated by some on the right. As Professor Lori Minnite writes in a recent report entitled The Politics of Voting Fraud: "The claim that voter fraud threatens the integrity of American elections is itself a fraud." Professor Minnite's argument finds further support in the meager results of the DOJ's aggressive anti-fraud campaign, and the report of Tova Wang and Job Serebrov -- originally prepared for, but not released by, the EAC -- finding "widespread but not unanimous agreement that there is little polling place fraud."

The fact that air is quickly escaping from the voter-fraud balloon is confirmed by the abrupt disappearance of the American Center for Voting Rights. Formerly led by Mark P. "Thor" Hearne, who had served as National Elections Counsel to Bush-Cheney 2004, ACVR issued a lengthy and misleading report in 2005. As described here, this report sought to create the impression that fraud was rampant, especially in communities of color, based mostly on unconfirmed and specious media reports. But as Rick Hasen has recently observed, ACVR has now vanished as quickly as it appeared after the 2004 election.

There is also increasing evidence that the means most commonly suggested to target alleged voter fraud -- restrictive identification requirements -- are likely to have a disparate impact on certain classes of likely Democratic voters, especially racial minorities. That evidence includes this report from M.V. Hood and Charles Bullock, finding that African Americans, Latinos, and the elderly are less likely to have DMV-issued photo ID in Georgia. It also includes this one from the Brennan Center, finding that minorities, elderly people, and the poor are disproportionately represented among the more than 21 million U.S. citizens who lack government-issued ID.
-snip
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/comments/index.php?ID=151


SO WHY THE BIG PUSH FOR VOTER ID? Here is what OSU Law Professor, Dan Tokaji says: VOTER SUPPRESSION

Posted: March 21, 2011
Ohio's New Disenfranchisement Bill

-SNIP

It’s difficult to say precisely how great a vote-suppressive impact this bill will have, if enacted. The many factors that affect turnout make it hard to pin down the precise impact of comparable laws in Georgia and Indiana. But the available evidence makes clear that its burden will not fall evenly on all citizens. Rather, it will strike hardest against those groups who are already underrepresented in the electorate – specifically, minority voters, people with disabilities, those who are elderly, and poorer citizens.

Studies from Georgia and Wisconsin have documented that African American and Latino voters are much less likely to have a driver’s license than White voters. This is probably because members of these groups, statistically speaking, are less likely to drive or own a car. Of course, these groups also tend to vote Democratic.

It’s also worth emphasizing the negative impact that this bill will have on younger voters. Ohio’s bill conspicuously leaves out student ID – even from a state university – as an acceptable form of voter identification. Again, the reason is self-evident: College students are more likely to vote Democratic, and these are among the votes that the bill’s sponsors are seeking to suppress.

-snip
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/comments/index.php?ID=8199

MORE INFO:



1. A Georgia analysis showed that 20% of all people over 60 and 35% over 75 don't have a driver's license;

2. U Wisconsin study in Milwaukee County found that 53% of Af-Am and 57% of Hispanics had no license vs 15% whites. The disparity was worse in the 18-24 age group: 74% Af-Am are without a license as are 66% Hispanic vs. 29% whites.

3. The 2000 census data provides evidence in terms of vehicle ownership in Cleveland and East Cleveland, where 32% of Af-Am households did not have a vehicle. Across the county, ownership of a vehicle is closely related to household income.

All these people will find it exceptionally difficult to vote. This bill is worse than a poll tax, it is an effective bar to hundreds of thousands.

SOURCE: Norman Robbins, CASE Ohio


FOR THOSE WHO WANT OT LEARN MORE...DU HAS A WEALTH OF INFORMATION. EITHER DO A SEARCH OR CLICK ON OVER TO THE ELECTION REFORM FORUM:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=203

[postulater]

1. knr

[mod mom]

2. "The motivation for ginning up this bogeyman is to encourage activities as vote caging & challenges.

Report Notes 'Sudden Silence' From Voter 'Fraud-Mongerers' Post-Election
Ryan J. Reilly | November 5, 2010, 11:13AM




Claims of massive voter fraud efforts backed by Democrats were all the rage in conservative circles in the weeks and months leading up to the election on Tuesday. But since the polls closed, there's been barely a peep.

So says a report from the public policy center Demos issued Friday analyzing the "mixed bag" outcome of the 2010 campaign in the areas of voter access and effective administration of elections.


-snip

"The motivation for ginning up this bogeyman is to encourage activities such as vote caging and challenges designed to intimidate certain groups of voters and ultimately enact policies such as proof of citizenship and voter ID laws that will make it harder for disadvantaged groups to exercise their right to vote," she wrote.

The report found that there were a number of problems with voter intimidation and vote suppression, but also said that both elections administrators and the Justice Department have taken "major strides forward" in proactively responding to allegations of both voter fraud and voter intimidation.

-snip
REPORT AT LINK:

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/sudden_silence_from_voter_fraud-mongerers_post-ele.php

[tavalon]

3. The only voter I know of who committed fraud was Ann Coulter

Now, election fraud, OTOH, is rampant and with black box, no receipt voting, it's getting worse with each voting session.

[L. Coyote]

4. Watch these films, screen them for your friends

Stealing America, Vote by Vote
http://www.stealingamericathemovie.org/

Reclaiming their Voice
http://www.concentric.org/reclaiming/

============
Disclaimer. I worked on producing both of them.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

5. People Who Shout "Election Fraud" Can Be Defeated Very Easily

First of all, I think you'll find that anyone who is railing against "rampant election fraud" will also be completely unable to finish a sentence without using the word "ACORN." That gives them away right there. But in order to completely refute their points (you'll never be able to silence them or get them to admit defeat), all you have to do is tell them the following.

"All you have to do in order to prove to me that electoral fraud is a huge problem and is taking place right now is this: find every voter registration form containing the name of Mickey Mouse or whoever, and registering a fictional person to vote. OK, good. Now show me a single instance where Mickey Mouse showed up to vote."

Argument over. They can't do it because it doesn't happen.

[Patiod]

6. But "20% of the voters in NC were illegal immigrants" !

At least that's what my Hate Radio-listener brother told me, explaining why we need these laws.

Because illegals are willing to risk bringing themselves to the attention of the authorities, imprisonment, and deportation in order to vote in North Carolina elections, you fucking idiot.

In the same phone call where he wanted me to go in person to an office in Philadelphia to get his birth certificate, which he needed to participate in a NC job re-training program, because it would be too difficult for him to get it from NC.

This is the mentality we're fighting here, folks.

[sandyo--ERA]

7. Voter Fraud "myth"?

Hey, I watched the votes turn from Kerry to Bush. As I pollwatched in the only Dem town on the Pinellas County beaches, voters stormed out of the polls complaining about that. I tried to alert those officials inside the polls and get them to phone the SOE with complaints and was brushed off. And what about the Congressional testimony by Curtis saying that he was ordered to create a program to switch votes inside the voting machines?

I don't get why you people CLAIM there's no voter fraud!

I am highly supportive of requiring ID at the polls though this may not be the biggest source of fraud; computer hacking may be the biggest. A drivers license is not the only way. There are IDs that can be issued to those who don't.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

9. I Think The OP Means "Voter REGISTRATION Fraud"

In every instance where people were disenfranchised (whether by intimidation, disinformation, or computerized vote-hacking), they were ALL legally allowed to vote when they showed up at the polls.

[hootinholler]

10. You confuse election fraud with voter fraud

The latter there is very very little of.
The former there is a lot of and SOP for the GOP whilst shouting loudly about the latter.

Your ID thing that you have no problem with is actually a tactic to suppress Democratic voters. I suggest you go hang out in the election forum and get informed.

-Hoot

[bobbolink]

8. "THE REAL PURPOSE TO TO SUPPRESS VOTES OF PREDOMINATELY DEMOCRATIC VOTERS. "

And I will remind you at this juncture that a lot, if not most, of those targetted Democratic voters are in the inner cities... they are POOR.

They are targeted because being poor, they mostly vote DEMOCRATIC.

So, could you also help to remind people, when they say that poor people don't vote, that it is precisely the poor people who are targeted, BECAUSE THEY ARE POOR AND BECAUSE THEY VOTE?!

I get so tired of hearing that lie, because it was poor people who stood in line 3, 5, 7 hours and even longer.

Yet, rather than protect our poor voters, they get slandered with the lie that they "don't vote".

I can only that that is done to cover up the fact that the Democratic Party has decided that poor voters are a voting block they can do without, and has tossed us under the bus.

I ask you to include this in your awareness campaign.

Thank you.

[mod mom]

11. Here is a reminder to all those who have forgotten-VIDEO:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=320808&mesg_id=321016

Big hat tip to Dzika!

[bobthedrummer]

12. ^