In recent weeks, opponents of voter ID laws have escalated their attacks on the measures by claiming the common sense requirement that a voter be able to identify him or herself at the polls is a new form of Jim Crow. But because the measure applies equally to everyone and the Supreme Court has ruled such laws are constitutional, their charges have more to do with inciting racial discord than actually affirming the right to vote. At the same time, others are seeking to undermine the entire premise of voter ID advocates by claiming there is no such thing as voter fraud in the United States. That’s the conceit of a piece in the Daily Beast today that repeats the charge made by liberal and Democratic foes of the laws that there is no evidence of voter fraud going on anywhere in the country.
But on the same day the Daily Beast piece was published, evidence surfaced that union officials in Wisconsin have been subpoenaed in an investigation of, you guessed it, voter fraud. As the Washington Free Beacon reports, the DA’s office demanded the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) hand over records that relate to the conduct of their officials who may have voted in the city earlier this year while using a Marriott hotel as a residence and using out of state IDs. The Wisconsin legislature passed a photo ID law, but state courts have blocked its enforcement, so the lack of such a requirement and a same day registration process makes it easy for anyone, including those who aren’t legally qualified to vote there, to cast a ballot. All of which makes a good argument for exactly the laws liberals tell us are not only racist but also unnecessary.
While the Daily Beast tells us that a voter is more likely to be struck by lightening than commit fraud, that conclusion doesn’t hold up when you consider that several Philadelphia precincts have reported vote totals in heavily Democratic districts that exceeded 100 percent of the tally of registered voters. It was that practice that motivated the Pennsylvania legislature to pass a voter ID law there. Moreover, the idea that fraud is unheard of not only contradicts much of American political history but also an elementary knowledge of human nature which tells us that where there is something to be gained (such as the unions’ hope that Governor Scott Walker would be defeated in a recall election), people will cheat if they think they can get away with it. That’s especially true when the stakes are as high as they are in many elections.
Believing that the concept of voter fraud is itself a fraud only requires that you ignore what happened in Wisconsin or the routine trickery that remains a standard part of election hijinks any time or place that politicians believe no one is watching. Given the unfortunate timing of the Daily Beast piece, opponents of voter ID laws will probably do better sticking to specious allegations of racism than by pretending that cheating is a myth.
All this from the Washington Free Beacon, a right-wing website. That's certainly enough for Commentary to declare voter fraud.
The links are there, including one to an affidavit filed by a district attorney that recites the facts he believes point to voter fraud, if you care to inform yourself. But you wouldn't want to do that, would you.
It doesn't matter where the article was written from, the fact remains that there was voter fraud. Thanks for playing…
One of the problems with detecting fraud is that the laws are so lax that fraud is incredibly easy to get away with. In reality, the likelihood of someone getting caught committing voter fraud is less likely than getting hit by lightning. n nAs a poll worker in a very small precinct in California, I witnessed voter fraud myself and there was nothing that could be done about it – a cast ballots are anonymous. n nPoll workers are required to post at the polling place every hour an updated register of those who have voted. Anyone can look at the list, select a name of a registered voter who hasn't voted and proceed to vote in that persons name. If the actual registered voter comes in later to vote an ID check may be required and if passed they also vote. n nIt's my belief that current voter laws were advanced by Democrats with the intention of making fraud virtually fool proof.
Charlie Rangle's opponents knew voter fraud when they saw it. n nAnd who can explain the thousand mysterious vote that put Al Fanken in the Senate. Maybe it was caused by a physical conservation law; with Biden gone another buffoon had to serve.
Dems are the kings at cheating in elections.
The entire liberal argument here rests on an equivocation. "Prosecution" for voting fraud being rare is not remotely the same thing as voting fraud being rare. Were the laws on embezzlement as carelessly drafted as the laws on voting fraud — for example, that embezzlement is only cognizable on Mon., Wed., and Fri. — you'd see a whole lot more embezzlement and a whole lot less prosecution for it; and that doesn't even begin to take into account the contribution to voting fraud arising from the fact that the same people who will, say, hand Eric Holder's ballot over to an impostor, as happened, are the same people who must report fraud before it can be prosecuted and, frequently, are from the same corrupt political class as those to whom it is then left to investigate complaints of fraud. n nThe voting shenanigans that actually take place and are systematically and willfully ignored in all urban areas, but particularly in large, metropolitan areas, are beyond any doubt enormous in magnitude and scope. Tell me again which political party is in control of the vote and seeing to its honesty in large urban municipalities. I've got it written down somewhere.
nSay it's not so – left wing voters in Philly cheating in an election. I am shocked… Of course Eric Holder will investigate this one just like the Black Panther case during the 2008 election.
Voter ID is another election legal issue that is settled law just like tax return publishing. The Democrats keep flogging such issues as a distraction from their abysmal record governing as well as a way to delegitimize the election results in case they lose.