How Voter Fraud Works

Dave Brockington at Lawyers, Guns and Money gets to the real question nobody ever asks:

... they never question just why in hell somebody would fraudulently vote.  As a student of voter behavior in general with a sub specialty in turnout, I can list at length how the costs associated with voting far outweigh whatever tangible benefits one might accrue.  One has to navigate registration, polling locations, the hours the poling location is open, let alone being in possession of both the internal and external efficacy such that you’re confident in your decision, and that decision will make one iota of difference.  As one who studies and teaches this, it’s amazing to me that so many do vote to begin with.

Why bother to do it twice?  If one is unemployed and has nothing to do with their day, perhaps $20, $50, $100 will get me onto a bus from Chicago (and we all know what type of person lives in Chicago) for a day out up to Wisconsin.  Then you have to ask, for whom is it worth to spend that much money.  The sheer number of fraudulent votes necessary to tip an election such as the Wisconsin recall is not one here, another there, a busload up yonder.  It would have taken 171,106 votes added to the Democratic tally to swing it — to a recount.  Best add another 50,000 to ensure a recount doesn’t happen, as we wouldn’t want this fraud coming to light.  That’s 220,000 voters.  At $20 per fraudulent voter, “labor” costs alone are $4,400,000.  If it costs $100 for a person to give up their day, break the law, and experience both Wisconsin and the interstates, a cool $22,000,000 is required to replace a Republican with a Democrat in Wisconsin.

Then there’s transport.  It would require 2,445 sorties of a Blue Bird All American school bus to transport our wave of nefarious democracy from Chicago to Wisconsin, if packed to their capacity of 90.  I have no idea what it costs to rent, fuel, and provide a driver for one of these, but this cost is not insubstantial.  And don’t forget lunch; in the classic tradition of GOTV, we should feed our anti-democratic legions.

Let’s review.  We need a population of 220,000 people willing to give up their day, knowingly commit a crime, for some modest financial remuneration.  We require the infrastructure to transport them.  And food.

Basically, we need a hell of a lot of money to pull this off.

 It's not that in-person voter fraud is vanishingly rare; it's that it's Just. Fucking. Impossible.

And yet this utter fantasy, as ridiculous as pigs flying, is the solemnly-accepted excuse for disenfranching millions of American citizens.

And the insidious part is that, as Brockington says, we'll never know what actual effect massive voter suppression has on the election. 

Who Deserves to Vote?

When someone challenges your right to vote by demanding you prove that you are a citizen, there is one and only one answer:

"Prove I'm not, motherfucker."

Voter suppression has gotten completely out of hand. In a rational democracy, people could register when they arrive at the polls to vote and you'd only have to prove your identity the first time and your signature would suffice from then on. Polls would be open 24-7 for an entire month, so everyone could vote at one's personal convenience.

But no.

Forget the first-Tuesday-after-the-first-Monday nonsense when the rest of the world votes logically on weekends - that one involves freakazoids and horses and is too stupid to discuss.

First came the for-no-reason separation of registration and voting, with senseless deadlines and inconvenient locations.

Then we had to show ID at the polls even when we've been voting at the same place, with the same people, for 50 years.

Then it had to be a picture ID. No, a government-issued picture ID. No, just one particular kind of government-issued picture ID, available only in far-flung suburban neighborhoods one hour per month, on a rotating schedule posted in the members-only section of the country club.

And yet, somehow, Democratic-voting minorities, students and old people still manage to leap all those hurdles and cast actual votes.

But nothing stops Florida Voldemort impersonator Rick Scott in pursuit of illegal profits election fraud protecting democracy.

He just ordered his minions to read down the list of registered voters and cancel everyone who is black, Hispanic or a registered Democrat.

Ta-DA! Repug victory, guaranteed.

Ed Kilgore nails it:

Add 35,000 to the votes removed from the ballot by the earlier disenfranchisement efforts, and project it to a very close election in a state Republicans believe they must win to take back the White House, and it could be a pretty big deal. But what’s really maddening is how blase Republicans have become about disenfranchisement: voting isn’t being treated as a fundamental right, but as a selectively protected privilege that some categories of Americans are repeatedly forced to prove they deserve. Perhaps this attitude comes from the “constitutonal conservative” belief that government as Calvin Coolidge envisioned it is a divine institution that voters should not have the power to modify. Perhaps it has been influenced by the Randian view of poor people as looters who really shouldn’t be allowed to “vote themselves welfare” in the first place. But it’s there, it’s more blatant than ever, and it could have a big impact on what happens this November.

Steve Benen at Maddowblog:

It's worth appreciating the fact that the purge isn't dying down or being scaled back in the face of public criticism; it's intensifying.

Chris Cate, a spokesman for the state Division of Elections, defended the state's actions. "It's very important we make sure ineligible voters can't cast a ballot," he said in an email to the Herald on Tuesday.... "I don't have a timetable on when the next list of names will be sent to supervisors, but there will be more names."

Cote said the state will try to rely on updated information, but as Judd Legum noted, "It's unclear how the new procedures alluded to by Cate will solve the systemic problems with the voter purge list. There have been several individuals targeted by the list that have been citizens their entire lives. Therefore, there seems to be major problems beyond outdated citizenship information."

In response to demands from state and national civil rights groups, the commiemuslinterrists at the U.S. Justice Department told Florida to cut it the fuck out.

Florida responded in kind: fuck off and die, DOJ.

This criminal, unconstitutional, un-democratic, un-American election-fraud-by-voter-suppression is not confined to Florida; there's hardly a state left that doesn't do something to make it harder for Democratic-leaning voters to vote.

But it looks like Florida is where this shit is finally going to hit the fan.

Why Is This Admitted Fraudulent Voter Not in Jail?

Because he's white, male, rich* and republican, of course.

Via Steve Benen:

Rep. Todd Akin (R) is planning to run for the Senate in Missouri, but first has to overcome a new controversy — he’s been living in one district, but voting in another. “I don’t think there is a crime,” Akin said yesterday, which isn’t exactly a strong line to take.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

U.S. Rep. Todd Akin raised his family on a sprawling homestead in this St. Louis County burg, where a modest home now sits among a collection of weathered sheds. Earlier this month, old newspapers had accumulated in the long driveway that separates the property from surrounding suburban mansions.

About 18 miles west, the Republican congressman and his wife own a secluded ranch house near the county line in Wildwood. On a recent afternoon, Akin's Chevrolet Blazer was parked out front, and a dog sat in the driveway.

Which house is Akin's official residence?

Akin's office says he lives in Wildwood. Tax documents show Akin lives in Wildwood. Akin has been telling people since 2009 that he lives in Wildwood.

But the congressman has continued to vote in Town and Country, according to voting records.

Akin has cast a ballot in Town and Country 10 times since he and his wife, Lulli, purchased the Wildwood home at the end of 2007. Most recently, he voted in the April municipal election in Town and Country.

Both addresses are within Akin's 2nd Congressional District. But the law says voters must cast their ballots in the specific jurisdiction where they live.

Akin, who this month launched a bid for U.S. Senate, declined several interview requests to talk about where he lives and votes. A spokesman said he wasn't sure when in the last three or so years Akin actually moved.

Rethuglicans work nonstop to pass nonsense laws that require certain voters to have photo ID, fingerprint checks, drug tests and a cavity search. (No, not yet, but would you bet money it won't happen?) Not to mention personal intimidation at polling places, challenging the right to vote of anyone who doesn't look republican. All to prevent non-white, young, female or poor people from voting. Because they vote Democratic.

They claim illegal aliens, terrists, muslins, commies and other dusky types are flooding polling places to vote illegally, despite the virtual absence of any evidence of such voter fraud.

Meanwhile, the rethuglicans engage in every possible type of election fraud by disenfranchising Democratic voters. And yes, there are tons of proof of exactly that happening everywhere rethuglicans have control of state election laws.

Now we have proof - a confession, no less - that rethuglicans also engage in the voter fraud they falsely claim Democrats engage in.

I think it's pretty clear now that only one party is engaging in illegal voting behavior, and it is not the Democratic Party.

* Members of Congress earn more than $170,000 per year - more than triple the median U.S. income.

Voter Identification = Voter Suppression

Kentucky's voter ID law actually predates the last decade of repug attempts to prevent Democratic voters from voting, but that doesn't make it acceptable. I am seriously considering refusing to show ID at the primary election May 17 and daring them to try to prevent me from voting.

Challenging the state's voter ID law would keep me out of trouble all summer.

Zandar:

How bad is Florida's new voter identification suppression bill? This bad. Kay at Balloon Juice:

When I reached this section of the linked article, I went to the text of the bill because I honestly did not believe it (pdf):

A new provision added last night would now require voters whose legitimacy is challenged by poll watchers to cast provisional ballots with no opportunity at the polls to defend themselves and cast a regular ballot.

Yup. It’s in there.

The clerk or inspector shall immediately deliver to the challenged person a copy of the oath of the person entering the challenge, and the challenged voter shall be allowed to cast a provisional ballot.

Alternatively, a challenge in accordance with this section may be filed in advance with the supervisor of elections no sooner than 30 days before an election. The supervisor shall promptly provide the election board in the challenged voter’s precinct with a copy of the oath of the person entering the challenge. The challenged voter shall be allowed to cast a provisional ballot.

A simple sworn statement that the voter is not eligible is enough to force any voter to accept a second-class ballot. Wow.

And as Kay points out, the determination cannot be challenged by the voter themselves. As a matter of fact, the elections board can basically pre-challenge anyone up to 30 days before the election and force those voters to take a provisional ballot. Do not pass Go. Go straight to second-class voter status. Florida Republicans are basically going to lock in the right to disenfranchise any voter they choose to with a simple sworn statement that your right to vote is in question. That is all it takes to remove your right to vote in Florida if this bill passes...and it will.

Count on it. Adam Serwer has a smart discussion on the history of voter identification as voter suppression.

The unfounded rumors regarding the president's citizenship that lead to demands for his papers, and the Arizona-style immigration laws that would force Latino Americans to retain theirs at all times, reflect a creeping suspicion among some whites, at a time of job loss and austerity, that non-whites are gaining at their expense in a zero-sum battle for political power and resources. Hardcore birthers, (as opposed to those who have simply been misled by sources they trust) can't be sated because they believe Obama has no such claim. Likewise, for many Arizona-style immigration laws are an attempt to restrict access to American abundance to those who are "truly deserving," but their effect on those who genuinely are American citizens but are not white is minimized because their claim is believed to be weaker anyway. This is deeply frustrating because of how a sensible immigration policy could lead to mutual gain both for Americans and immigrants, but that realization has yet to take hold. As a country, we are increasingly demanding that non-whites literally prove that they "belong here," that they have a legitimate claim to American prosperity.

This thread runs throughout history. When America wants to restrict opportunity and remind minorities to stay in their place, it asks for their papers.

It's been done before, and Republican-controlled states are simply taking it into the 21st century with the straw man of "voter identification".

Dems Can't Win If Minorities Can't Vote

Steve Benen has an excellent post on how changing demographics favor Democratic candidates for the foreseeable future.

But the conclusion he draws - that to save themselves as a viable political party the republicans are going to have start appealing to minorities - only applies to people capable of rational thought.

Repugs are pure Id and criminal corporate greed. So of course they will not let up at all on their attacks against non-white, non-Xian, non-males. They will double down, as they always have.

Think Progress:

Thursday, ThinkProgress reported that the Ohio House had approved the most restrictive voter id law in the nation — a bill that would exclude 890,000 Ohioans from voting. Earlier this week Texas lawmakers passed a similar bill, and voter id legislation — which would make it significantly more difficult for seniors, students and minorities to vote — is now under consideration in more than 22 states across the country

Conservatives have said voter id laws are necessary to combat mass voter fraud. Yet according to the Brennan Center for Justice, Americans are more likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning than commit voter fraud. And the Bush administration’s five-year national “war on voter fraud” resulted in only 86 convictions of illegal voting out of more than 196 million votes cast. Instead conservatives are employing an old tactic: using the specter of false voting to restrict the voting rights of minorities and the poor.

Below, ThinkProgress examines the history of conservatives anti-voter agenda:

Read the whole thing.

Don't be fooled: every single law, regulation, rule and practice that makes voting more difficult, inconvenient, annoying, costly or even dangerous is nothing but a way to stop Democratic voters from voting. It's nothing but cheating so repugs can force their way into office.

There is no such thing as "voter fraud." There is, however, widespread election fraud. Election fraud is perpetrated by and for republicans, and depends heavily on voter ID and other restrictions to stop Democratic voters from voting Democratic.

Stop wasting time on helping minorities and the elderly get ID cards so they can follow repug rules. Invest time in overturning voting restrictions and making it easy, convenient and fun for everybody to vote. Start with these:

• Same-day registration. Show up at the polls with something that shows where you live - a recent electric bill - and register and vote at the same time.
• Election Day national holiday. People who vote Democratic work for a living, which means Tuesday election day is a work day. If they can't get the day off, which most low-income workers cannot, they can't vote. Make election day a national holiday, and require businesses to give time off to workers to vote.
• Allow early voting for everyone, not just those who won't be around on Election Day.

Make it easy for everyone to vote.

When Everybody Votes, Democrats Win.

Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....

Rethug Convicted for Election Fraud

Yes, this is election fraud: preventing people from voting through deception or intimidation.

Not to be confused with voter fraud: voting by people who are not eligible to vote.

Here's how to tell the difference:

Election fraud is committed by republicans, targets minorities and other Democratic voters, affects thousands of people, and can change election results.

Voter fraud is falsely attributed to Democrats, doesn't target any particular group, affects a handful of people at most, and has no effect on election results.

Republicans scream bloody murder about rare voter fraud in order to distract attention away from frequent, widespread and destructive election fraud they themselves are committing.

Now we have an actual conviction in a case of republican election fraud.

From TPM:

Former House candidate Tan Nguyen (R) was convicted yesterday of lying to investigators during a voter suppression probe surrounding an intimidating letter sent to Spanish-speaking voters.

Nguyen, a Republican who challenged Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) in 2006, was convicted of obstruction of justice.

According to prosecutors, Nguyen lied to investigators about his involvement with a mailing, written in Spanish and sent to 14,000 households, that warned that "emigrados" could go to jail for voting. The mailing was written on letterhead similar to that of an anti-immigration group in California.

News of the letter and subsequent state investigation broke just weeks before the 2006 election. Sanchez won by 24 percent.

Sanchez was lucky - such voter-supression election fraud usually goes undetected and succeeds.

But now you have hard proof of republican crime to throw in the face of the next rethuglican who foams at the mouth about "voter fraud."

KY Officials Fall for "Voter Fraud" Myth

As republicans across the country ramp up state efforts to use massive disinformation and intimidation to prevent newly-registered Democrats from actually exercising their right to vote, Kentucky's Attorney General and Secretary of State are off on a snipe hunt.

The Commonwealth’s chief law-enforcement official and chief elections officer came together today in the State Capitol to announce that they will once again be working together with agencies across Kentucky as part of a task force to prevent and investigate allegations of voter fraud during the November 4, 2008 general election. Attorney General Jack Conway and Secretary of State Trey Grayson discussed the importance of this year’s elections and how each office is working to protect the election from potential fraud.

Um, boys? BOYS! Listen up: "Voter Fraud" is a myth. It doesn't exist. It's a fairy tale of democratic shenanigans repeated by republicans to distract everyone from the very real and widespread election fraud perpetrated by republicans.

Or as Dahlia Lithwick in Slate puts it:

Believing in vote fraud may be dangerous to a democracy's health.

There is no such thing as vote fraud. The think tank created to peddle the epidemic has evaporated. A handful of cases have been prosecuted. Then why is Sarah Palin shooting off e-mails contending that "we can't allow leftist groups like ACORN to steal this election?" Why is former Sen. John Danforth announcing, all statesmanlike, that the whole 2008 election "has been tainted?" Why is Ted Olson, the Republican National Lawyers Association lawyer of the year, claiming that "[ACORN] acknowledged having to get rid of a thousand people or more who were participating in voter fraud efforts." These people know the difference between registration fraud and vote fraud. Why continue to suggest they are the same thing?

Consider the fact that, as the Brennan Center reported recently, "[E]lection officials across the country are routinely striking millions of voters from the rolls through a process that is shrouded in secrecy, prone to error, and vulnerable to manipulation." Consider the recent New York Times review of state records and Social Security records, which concluded that "[t]ens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law." Consider the case, now on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, in which 200,000 new Ohio voters stand to be bounced off the rolls because, through no fault of their own, their names don't match error-riddled state databases. Consider the indictment this week of former Republican official James Tobin for his 2002 role in jamming Democratic get-out-the-vote calls. Consider the much-ballyhooed Republican challenge to the eligibility of 6,000 Native American and student voters in Montana that backfired first in court, then with the abrupt resignation this week of the official who spearheaded the effort.

SNIP

Consider the fliers and robo-calls designed to spread false information and threats to Hispanic and African-American voters. (According to the Philadelphia Daily News, fliers in minority neighborhoods warned residents that undercover cops would be lurking around the polls on Election Day, arresting anyone with "outstanding arrest warrants or who have unpaid traffic tickets.")

There is wholly implausible vote stealing, and then there is the vote stealing that actually happens. You want to get all crazy-paranoid? I'd worry more about the people who want to rough up their fellow citizen at the polls than people who want to risk jail time for voting twice.

But it appears repug Grayson has thoroughly bamboozled Democrat Conway into ignoring repug intimidation of poor and minority Democrats trying to vote legitimately in order to beat the bushes for wholly imaginary fake voters.

Even though the same attempt to track down "voter fraud" during the primary in May and 2004 election turned up a grand total of - wait for it - zero cases.

During the primary, the Office of the Attorney General’s Election Fraud Hotline received 59 calls on election day from 28 counties. There were no complaints of vote-buying. The majority of calls dealt with informational questions or complaints about electioneering within 300 feet of polls and exit-polling violations.

The last Presidential election in 2004 resulted in 52 pre-election complaints, 123 Election Day complaints and 26 post-election complaints. Seventeen of those complaints were referred for review or investigation. There were no charges filed.

Keep your eyes peeled and ears sharp at the polls this year. Be ready to report immediately any suspicious activity, like anyone trying to prevent someone from voting by questioning their identification, or their address, or their citizenship, or anything else.

But don't bother to call the Fraud Twins Trey and Jack. Call the Kentucky Democratic Party's Election Protection Hotline staffed by attorneys an volunteers. You can call 888-4KYVOTE to learn more about your rights, report problems or get answers on Election day. If you don't get the help you need immediately, call your local television station or Page One Kentucky.

Cross-posted at BlueGrassRoots.

The True Face of the McCain/Palin Campaign

Many years ago, I struck up a conversation at a conference with a citizen of a third-world nation struggling to establish democracy. He was shocked and disbelieving at the failure of more than half of eligible voters in the U.S. to actually exercise their right to vote. I'll never forget what he said:

"If we had the right to vote in our country, not a single person would fail to do so."

Right here in the United States of America, McCain/Palin supporters are trying to intimidate eligible voters - their own neighbors - from exercising their right to vote.

The Washington Times, a self-described conservative paper, reported today on a polling site in North Carolina where "a group of loud and angry protesters who shouted and mocked the voters as they walked in." The voters were mostly black, and the "angry protesters" were "nearly all were white."

Stop and think about that for a second. In the United States, in the 21st century, we have Republican activists protesting a presidential election. McCain/Palin supporters have taken to heckling, mocking, and shouting at people who want to participate in the democratic process. Literally.

And when they're not trying to intimate voters at polling places, Republican activists are slashing voters' tires, kicking journalists to the ground, attacking middle-aged women going door to door on Obama's behalf, and vandalizing ACORN offices. And, of course, the unabashed racism is common.

The mind reels.

And the stomach churns.



Cross-posted at BlueGrassRoots..