Trumps voter fraud commission is hearing a proposal to make every voter pass a gun background check

[Arkansas Granny]

John Lott, an independent researcher and Fox News commentator, is best known for his book “More Guns, Less Crime,” which argues that increases in gun ownership are associated with drops in crime (most mainstream criminologists reject this view).

But Lott also occasionally branches out into other topics. Back in 2006, he wrote a paper on voter fraud, arguing that “regulations that prevent fraud are shown to actually increase the voter participation rate.” He is not otherwise known for work on elections or voting. Michael McDonald, a University of Florida political scientist, noted in an email that the paper was not published in an academic journal and said that its findings were “not credible.”

Lott has nonetheless been invited to speak at Tuesday's meeting of President Trump's commission on voter fraud. There, he'll argue that elections officials should run prospective voters through the federal background check system, currently used for gun purchases, before allowing them to register to vote.

Why would such a system be useful in a voting context? Because it checks for criminal history as well as immigration status, according to Lott's presentation, which is posted to the election commission's website. This would allow authorities to “check if the right people are voting,” according to the presentation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/09/12/trumps-voter-fraud-commission-is-hearing-a-proposal-to-make-every-voter-pass-a-gun-background-check/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.87b59818e0a0

Wonderful. A man whose arguments have been found "not credible" is going to speak at Trump's voter fraud commission meeting with a proposal to "check if the right people are voting".

This has nothing to do with voter fraud. It is all about voter suppression. That's the only way Republicans are able to win elections.

[Iliyah]

1. Scratching head with this one.

[Orrex]

2. Well, that'll keep G. Gordon Liddy from voting, at least.

[FakeNoose]

3. This would hurt the GOP more than the Democrats, I'd expect

I don't see this proposal going anywhere, the right-wingers would be idiots to pass this.

Just sayin'

[aikoaiko]

4. I think this is a clever way to set up Democrats to disparage NICS

First, the proposal is flawed on its face because the NICS system is mostly binary. Go or No Go. NICS doesn't tell you why a person is denied and some things that would deny you a gun purchase wouldn't deny you the opportunity to vote (involuntarily committed for example).

On the other hand, the more Democrats says NICS should not be used to deny people the right to vote, the closer you are to saying NICS should not be used to deny people the RKBA.

[Gothmog]

5. The GOP is the party of voter suppression

[gratuitous]

6. Also the party of John Lott, batterer

Lott is a real shit-stain and one more example of how a conservative can never lose credibility.