GOP Offers Scant Proof Of Voter Fraud - Politico

[WillyT]

<snip>

For weeks Republican leaders have warned that widely reported problems with fake voter registrations could result in a flood of phony votes in pivotal states.

But Ronald Michaelson, a veteran election administrator and member of the McCain-Palin Honest and Open Election Committee, said in an interview that he could not name a single instance in which this had occurred.

“Do we have a documented instance of voting fraud that resulted from a phony registration form? No, I can’t cite one, chapter and verse.”

The claims and counter-claims about fraudulent voting have emerged as a prominent issue in the 2008 campaign. Senator John McCain declared in the final presidential debate that ACORN — the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, the low-income advocacy group whose temporary staffers submitted thousands of faked applications — “is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.”

Republican elected officials and lawyers for state Republican parties have made similar claims in court and in statements to the press. So far, however, they have failed to provide significant supporting evidence.

A review of prosecutors’ statements and documents filed by Republicans in the most serious new cases alleging voter fraud shows that none offer an example in which a fraudulently registered person managed to cast a valid vote. While several cases argue that such frauds are possible, none sketched a scenario for how massive numbers of people could fake registrations and then vote.

Asked for specifics about the dangers of fake registration, Ben Porritt, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, provided links to 13 news clips and a 2003 Missouri state auditor’s report. Eleven of the cases did not involve registration fraud. Two recounted how felons appeared to have cast illegal votes under their own names. The lone example of a forged registration leading to an illegitimate vote comes from The Wall Street Journal’s John Fund, who in April 2006 wrote that a community organizer had improperly registered a noncitizen, and “someone eventually voted in name.”

<snip>

More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/15155.html

Yep...

:shrug:

[thepurpose]

1. If the GOP concentrated their efforts on ideas, including all people and organizing them to vote

they may be doing a lot better. Instead they use race baiting, hate, exclusion and voter oppression tactics. This kind of stuff has run its course in this country. The electorate has changed and pass them by.

[Orsino]

2. "Scant proof"? How about "no evidence"? n/t

[LiberalFighter]

3. It needs to be explained why voter fraud is highly unlikely to occur.

First, the registration has to get past the processing. Data matching BMV or SSN.

Second, it goes thru the post office and undeliverable mail gets returned and flagged.

Third, how many would be willing to stand in line for a long period of time to vote a 2nd or 3rd time?

Fourth, how many really want to risk being sent to jail and/or fined?

[stillcool]

4. It always surprises me ..

to hear someone say that those in this country illegally would risk everything to vote. People are so eager to gobble up the shit that the tv feeds them.

[jacksonian]

9. plus to actually swing anything you would need thousands

or tens of thousands of these fake votes, and you would need thousands of people to do the double voting - any McGinty-types voting 37 times would be caught. And once you have your thousands of dupes, you have to swear them all to secrecy or the whole plan gets revealed and you go to jail.

There has to be an easier way to steal, and there is. Diebold.

[LiberalFighter]

10. Yep! The only way to keep the secret is to kill those that know about it.

[Diamonique]

5. There is no voter fraud.

But election fraud? Oh yes.. the Rethugs commit election fraud every time. I hope the new congress will do something about it.

[underpants]

6. What about BIGFOOTS voting???

:shrug:

[WillyT]

7. Hey Man... It Happens, LOL !!!

:evilgrin:

[underpants]

8. It's all the Dems problem

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/underpants/83