"Voter fraud" largely doesn't exist
Ralph Neas has an interesting piece up at People for the American Way about the nearly non-existent evidence that "voter fraud" is a problem in this country.
There's always room for improvement in election systems. Sincere efforts to improve things are laudable, but that's not what happened during the Bush administration and it's not what happened in the Washington State Republican Party after the insanely close 2004 election and recount. Instead, the GOP has tried to deprive many Americans of the right to vote using a variety of shady tactics, including database purges and restrictive measures designed to make registering and voting more difficult for poor and minority citizens.
As the Bush administration continues to drag the GOP towards even tougher times, it's heartening to see honest Republicans like the fired prosecutors speak out against manipulation of the justice system. As the other side continues its discussions about how to find a way out of the political wilderness, they would be well-advised to listen to the John McKays of the world. McKay and I probably don't have a lot in common in terms of politics, but we both realize that you can't have a real democracy if the justice system is subverted for political gain.
Frankly, I doubt that the GOP as an institution will listen to its sensible, honest members. The crackpots are running the show, and have been for a very long time. People who get their information from Rush Lumpenbaugh and Fox Noise are, by definition, living in an alternate universe that has little to do with the world as it is. As someone in the progressive blogosphere pointed out recently, and I regret being unable to recall who it was, it's a lot of work to keep all the conservative fantasies straight. It would be much simpler and better for the country in the long run if we could have reality-based arguments about policies.
We can argue in good faith about how low or high taxes should be, or what to do about climate change, or even how best to combat the still dangerous threat of terrorism. But you can't debate a fantasy, and by endorsing a deliberately false view of the world, the GOP has revealed itself as a dishonest institution led largely by dishonest people. That is the core of our problem in this country today, and frankly it helps Democrats a lot. Because at the rate things are going, the GOP dream of a "permanent majority" has vanished beneath a tidal wave of corruption.
While it might be better for Democrats if the lunatics stay in charge of the Republican Party, deep down I kind of hope that some of the reality-based folks can make some inroads. A healthy two party system can lead to better policy, as no one person or party is likely to have a great solution to every challenge.
But if I were a gambling man, I'd put my money on the crackpots. That's been a safe bet for about twenty years now.
Virtually every academic study of voter fraud concludes that it is not close to being a substantial problem, if it exists at all. For instance, in states where alleged voter fraud was used as the justification for restrictive voter ID requirements, the supporters of voter ID have made the following admissions:This stuff is abundantly clear to active Democrats who have been paying attention since the actual fraud called the 2000 election, but in the heat of campaigns journalists have a difficult time sorting out the baloney the GOP throws at the wall. Some loser working for ACORN or something will get caught trying to fake registrations, and the Republicans try to use that as proof of some huge plot. Which is nonsense but it's how they operate.This is the legal testimony of those who have the greatest incentive, and the greatest obligation (in order to justify the burdensome restrictions they impose on voters), to prove the existence of real fraud. And yet, they cannot prove it exists.
- The State of Indiana, and its Republican Secretary of State Todd Rokita, in defending the state’s voter ID law in court documents, admitted that it could not find one single instance of voter impersonation fraud in the history of the state. Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20321 (S.D. Ind. 2006).
- The Republican Governor of Missouri, who had formerly been the Secretary of State (and run Missouri’s elections), admitted that elections in Missouri were “fraud-free,” before unsuccessfully defending the restrictive voter ID laws in court. Weinschenk v. Missouri, 203 S.W.3d 201 (Mo. 2006). Missouri’s current Secretary of State agrees, noting in a recent report that “As in previous elections, the absence of reports of voting impersonation or voting fraud in the 2006 election in Missouri was notable.”
- The State of Arizona and its counties, in defending their restrictive voter registration laws and voter ID laws, admitted that, of the over 2.7 million registered voters in Arizona, not one had been convicted of registering to vote illegally, and not one instance of voting by an ineligible non-citizen had led to a conviction.
There's always room for improvement in election systems. Sincere efforts to improve things are laudable, but that's not what happened during the Bush administration and it's not what happened in the Washington State Republican Party after the insanely close 2004 election and recount. Instead, the GOP has tried to deprive many Americans of the right to vote using a variety of shady tactics, including database purges and restrictive measures designed to make registering and voting more difficult for poor and minority citizens.
As the Bush administration continues to drag the GOP towards even tougher times, it's heartening to see honest Republicans like the fired prosecutors speak out against manipulation of the justice system. As the other side continues its discussions about how to find a way out of the political wilderness, they would be well-advised to listen to the John McKays of the world. McKay and I probably don't have a lot in common in terms of politics, but we both realize that you can't have a real democracy if the justice system is subverted for political gain.
Frankly, I doubt that the GOP as an institution will listen to its sensible, honest members. The crackpots are running the show, and have been for a very long time. People who get their information from Rush Lumpenbaugh and Fox Noise are, by definition, living in an alternate universe that has little to do with the world as it is. As someone in the progressive blogosphere pointed out recently, and I regret being unable to recall who it was, it's a lot of work to keep all the conservative fantasies straight. It would be much simpler and better for the country in the long run if we could have reality-based arguments about policies.
We can argue in good faith about how low or high taxes should be, or what to do about climate change, or even how best to combat the still dangerous threat of terrorism. But you can't debate a fantasy, and by endorsing a deliberately false view of the world, the GOP has revealed itself as a dishonest institution led largely by dishonest people. That is the core of our problem in this country today, and frankly it helps Democrats a lot. Because at the rate things are going, the GOP dream of a "permanent majority" has vanished beneath a tidal wave of corruption.
While it might be better for Democrats if the lunatics stay in charge of the Republican Party, deep down I kind of hope that some of the reality-based folks can make some inroads. A healthy two party system can lead to better policy, as no one person or party is likely to have a great solution to every challenge.
But if I were a gambling man, I'd put my money on the crackpots. That's been a safe bet for about twenty years now.
