2012 Tuesday: Voter fraud, not suppression, is real
It’s an election year, so we’re being treated to the usual back-and-forth about whether requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls is an attempt to suppress voting or just voter fraud.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder — never hesitant to politicize an issue — last month likened voter ID laws to Jim Crow-era poll taxes that suppress minority voting. Of course, neither he nor any plaintiff in a court challenge to a voter ID laws has produced any evidence that suppression has taken place. I’ve always thought it is insulting to minorities to suggest they are incapable, or unmotivated, or whatever, when it comes to obtaining a free, state-issued photo ID.
On the contrary: Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp noted in a recent interview that since the General Assembly passed our voter ID law in 2006, the number of minority voters has soared — between both the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections, and the 2006 and 2010 gubernatorial elections. That’s strong evidence against the idea that the law is suppressing voting by minorities. (H/t: Georgia Tipsheet)
Critics of voter ID requirements argue that voter fraud is non-existent, and that champions of these laws are trying to solve a non-problem. A new book by two leading supporters of voter ID laws aims to take away that argument, too.
In “Who’s Counting?”, conservative journalist John Fund and former Civil Rights Commissioner (and one-time Georgia resident) Hans von Spakovsky argue that a current U.S. senator may be in office thanks to voter fraud. Byron York explains in a Washington Examiner column about the book:
In the ‘08 campaign, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman was running for re-election against Democrat Al Franken. It was impossibly close; on the morning after the election, after 2.9 million people had voted, Coleman led Franken by 725 votes.
Franken and his Democratic allies dispatched an army of lawyers to challenge the results. After the first canvass, Coleman’s lead was down to 206 votes. That was followed by months of wrangling and litigation. In the end, Franken was declared the winner by 312 votes. He was sworn into office in July 2009, eight months after the election.
During the controversy a conservative group called Minnesota Majority began to look into claims of voter fraud. Comparing criminal records with voting rolls, the group identified 1,099 felons — all ineligible to vote — who had voted in the Franken-Coleman race.
Minnesota Majority took the information to prosecutors across the state, many of whom showed no interest in pursuing it. But Minnesota law requires authorities to investigate such leads. And so far, Fund and von Spakovsky report, 177 people have been convicted — not just accused, but convicted — of voting fraudulently in the Senate race. Another 66 are awaiting trial. “The numbers aren’t greater,” the authors say, “because the standard for convicting someone of voter fraud in Minnesota is that they must have been both ineligible, and ‘knowingly’ voted unlawfully.” The accused can get off by claiming not to have known they did anything wrong.
York adds: “With 1,099 examples identified by Minnesota Majority, and with evidence suggesting that felons, when they do vote, strongly favor Democrats, it doesn’t require a leap to suggest there might one day be proof that Al Franken was elected on the strength of voter fraud.”
At the very least, those 1,099 examples — and 177 convictions, so far — represent far more evidence in favor of voter ID laws than opponents have ever mustered for their case.
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
472 comments Add your comment
Didn't you know
August 7th, 2012
4:34 pm
“Bookman bloggers”
As long as one follows the rules and does not get suspended or banned, they are bloggers of the AJC and do not have to confine themselves to certain blogs. Of course some elect to stay at one place and those that are allowed move around at times.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
4:35 pm
“returning from idiotic wars started by CONSRVATIVES?”
Hillary and Joe Biden are conservatives?
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
4:35 pm
What things do you need a photo ID for?
Driver’s license
Buy alcohol
Buy cigarettes
Apply for welfare
Apply for food stamps
Cash a check
Purchase a firearm
Make any large credit card purchase
Open a bank account
Rent an apartment
Be admitted to a hospital
Get a marriage license
Jefferson
August 7th, 2012
4:37 pm
I remember when the GOP ran the country, right into the ground. 2000-2008, the lost decade.
Hillbilly D
August 7th, 2012
4:37 pm
There’s really nothing liberal or conservative about a mass murder spree. There’s no rationalizing an irrational act. I’d be for electrocuting the perpetrator but in this last instance, he saved us the trouble.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
4:38 pm
“I remember when the GOP ran the country, right into the ground. 2000-2008, the lost decade.”
Another lie by the left to attempt to take the attention off the fact that Obama is a complete failure.
Didn't you know
August 7th, 2012
4:38 pm
Hillbilly
Agreed. He was a sick man, PERIOD
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
4:38 pm
“There’s really nothing liberal or conservative about a mass murder spree. ”
Tell that to Finn and JamVet.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
4:40 pm
“And I suppose by that last sentence we shouldn’t discuss returning war veterans returning from idiotic wars started by CONSRVATIVES?”
How many times do we have to go down this road?
Finn, shall I post every single Democrat who signed on to both wars AND publicly stated that it was the right thing to do?
Dusty
August 7th, 2012
4:40 pm
FINN
You still don’t get it.
If is the live ones we respect as they suffer the loss. Doesn’t matter the political party of anyone. It is the sad loss of life that we do not use for controversy.
And you are wrong again about the Iraq war which I presume you mean. That war was approved by Congress which is composed of Democrats and Republicans.
Try to keep your prejudices in order.
beam me up
August 7th, 2012
4:43 pm
LOL…..ROFL….What you fail to mention is that none of the voter suppression laws would have stopped the felons from voting (they don’t run background checks at the polls….yet, anyway). That was a failure of the registration process and roll management. Additionally, you fail to mention that these were the only examples they could find. Is the place where you can get a voter photo id card, but only on the 5th Wednesday of the month not trying to suppress turnout? Nah. Couldn’t be. The trouble isn’t people trying to cast too many votes, it’s not enough people bothering to vote at all. What would our political system look like if voting were a mandatory civic duty where you had to pay a fine for not doing it ? And what if we made it ultraconvenient to get the required identification ? I’m absolutely sure that you would not want to find out, because I’m pretty sure you would soon be shown to be completely irrelevant.
Hillbilly D
August 7th, 2012
4:46 pm
Some quotes on WMDs.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/wmdquotes.asp
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
4:46 pm
“Is the place where you can get a voter photo id card, but only on the 5th Wednesday of the month not trying to suppress turnout? ”
The DMV is open 5 days a week.
“What you fail to mention is that none of the voter suppression laws would have stopped the felons from voting ”
It would certainly stop illegal aliens from voting.
Hillbilly D
August 7th, 2012
4:47 pm
What would our political system look like if voting were a mandatory civic duty where you had to pay a fine for not doing it ?
If a person doesn’t want to vote or keep up with what’s going on, do we really want to force them to vote?
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
4:47 pm
Hillbilly D
Those quotes have been posted numerous times for left wingers to read. I posted Bill Clinton’s speech back in 1998 about Saddam and someone on Bookman’s blog actually said that it was a doctored speech by the right in an attempt to smear Bill Clinton.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 7th, 2012
4:49 pm
“I remember when the GOP ran the country, right into the ground. 2000-2008, the lost decade.”
Proving once again that memory is one of the first things to go as you get older, Jefferson.
John
August 7th, 2012
4:56 pm
Number one: Identification to establish a voter ID is not free hence the implication that his is a poll tax. The whole process can be a major setback for people who are disabled, elderly, living on the edge or otherwise unfortunate. Second there has never been proof of any substantial voter fraud in recent history. An educated adult will quickly evaluate this effort for it’s true intent, which is to disenfranchise voter and spend more of tax payers money doing it.
@@
August 7th, 2012
4:56 pm
One out of eight voting registrations is inaccurate, and about a quarter of those people eligible to cast a ballot are not even registered, according to a report released Tuesday by the Pew Center on the States.
The report describes a voting system in confusion, with about 1.8 million dead people listed on the rolls, some 2.8 million with active registrations in more than one state and 12 million with serious enough errors to make it unlikely that mail, from any political party or election board, can reach the right destination. In all, some 24 million registrations contain significant errors.
Even in the current election cycle, access to voting remains an issue. In general, Democrats have argued for the broadest definition of voting with the fewest obstacles, a position that favors their core groups of poor and young voters. Conservatives generally raise questions about whether the system is too open to fraud.
Given those numbers, I’m one of the conservatives who believes the system is ripe for fraud.
Why are dems so opposed to purging the rolls of incorrect data?
Rightwing Troll
August 7th, 2012
4:56 pm
“And you are wrong again about the Iraq war which I presume you mean. That war was approved by Congress which is composed of Democrats and Republicans.”
Based on a gaggle of wingnut bald faced lies… so yes, the congress voted for it based on what they thought they “knew” (which was what they were told by W, Rummy, Cheney, et al…)
JDW
August 7th, 2012
4:56 pm
@tiberius…”Proving once again that memory is one of the first things to go as you get older”
If you don’t remember that eight year path of destruction you really should get yours checked out.
Rightwing Troll
August 7th, 2012
4:57 pm
“I remember when the GOP ran the country, right into the ground. 2000-2008, the lost decade.”
If this isn’t true why do you wingnuts refuse to discuss those years?
Rightwing Troll
August 7th, 2012
4:59 pm
“Yeah, and next you’ll say the GOP wants to take your SS away.”
Only after wingnuts tell us that Obama will take our guns away… oh wait, that really happens…
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
5:00 pm
“Based on a gaggle of wingnut bald faced lies”
So you’re saying Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry, etc are all bald faced liars. Got it.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
5:01 pm
“If this isn’t true why do you wingnuts refuse to discuss those years?’
If you could actually read, you’d have read my earlier comments about how unemployment was MUCH lower than it is now.
I’d be MORE than happy to discuss the Bush years.
Hillbilly D
August 7th, 2012
5:03 pm
As I remember, when the Congress was about to vote on Iraq, all the evidence was laid out and any member of Congress could go by and look at it for themselves. From reports at the time, the only member of Congress who availed themselves of this opportunity was Hilary Clinton. The rest voted without looking at it. She has since said that given the same information, she’d vote the same way, again.
JDW
August 7th, 2012
5:03 pm
@tiberius…”It would certainly stop illegal aliens from voting.”
O do enlighten us to a couple of points….
1). Just how many case of that have been discovered in the las fifty years.
2). If a undocumented worker were so inclined to vote that they created the false documents to register. Why do you think they would come to the polls without them?
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
5:03 pm
“Only after wingnuts tell us that Obama will take our guns away”
Well, you asked for it.
U.S. reverses stance on treaty to regulate arms trade
The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales as long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said gave every nation a veto.
The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S. State Department, overturns the position of former President George W. Bush’s administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that national controls were better.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would support the talks as long as the negotiating forum, the so-called Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, “operates under the rules of consensus decision-making.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/10/15/us-arms-usa-treaty-idUSTRE59E0Q920091015
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
5:05 pm
” Why do you think they would come to the polls without them?
Because a lot of polling stations don’t look at voter ID. Illinois for instance.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
5:05 pm
Rightwing Troll must have been in a long deep sleep when Fast and Furious took place.
@@
August 7th, 2012
5:06 pm
If those numbers didn’t convince anyone of the need for Voter ID, it costs each county within the U.S. over $4.00, per person, to maintain voter rolls. It costs Canada 35cents, per person, to maintain voter rolls.
Voter ID is mandatory in Canada.
JDW
August 7th, 2012
5:06 pm
@@@…”One out of eight voting registrations is inaccurate, and about a quarter of those people eligible to cast a ballot are not even registered, according to a report released Tuesday by the Pew Center on the States.”
Problem is Voter ID does NOTHING TO CORRECT a single one of those errors…why should we waste time and money NOT solving the problem?
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
5:07 pm
Can’t wait for the left wingers take on this.
Emails: Geithner, Treasury drove cutoff of non-union Delphi workers’ pensions
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/07/emails-geithner-treasury-drove-cutoff-of-non-union-delphi-workers-pensions/#ixzz22teyIhcc
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
5:08 pm
“Problem is Voter ID does NOTHING TO CORRECT a single one of those errors”
Except for the fact that it curbs voter fraud.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 7th, 2012
5:08 pm
JDW
Why are you so afraid of voter ID?
_______________
August 7th, 2012
5:09 pm
“Voter ID is mandatory in Canada.”
Insurance is as well, but I missed where you touted that
JDW
August 7th, 2012
5:09 pm
@@@…”If those numbers didn’t convince anyone of the need for Voter ID, it costs each county within the U.S. over $4.00, per person, to maintain voter rolls. It costs Canada 35cents, per person, to maintain voter rolls”
Has zero to do with I’d and everything to do with managing data across jurisdictions.
HDB
August 7th, 2012
5:11 pm
Logic…..Question: IF previous RNC Chairmen (Atwater, Mehlman, Steele) have ADMITTED that minority voter suppression is part of Republican mantra, why is calling it out “race baiting”?
Dusty
August 7th, 2012
5:13 pm
Rightwing Troll and JDW
Your lives must be set on suppositions. What if???? All information on Iraq came through the CIA and other Intelligence Groups. Material also came from British Intel which closely backed what Americans had found.
What material Congress received was the same material the president received. Bush & Cheney only passed what info they received to congress which is composed of both parties. Unless you are saying the your own Demo half of congress is perfectly stupid, then go ahead.
And to treat 9/11 like it did not happen or was not caused by terrorists is absolutely brainless. George W. Bush stood before us after that disaster and held us together as a country.
(All of this has been confirmed over & over & over.)
Yep, your memory is not only poor, but very selective. You should be ashamed to pass on the misinformation poured out so many times by people with no sense of truth or patriotism. Running down your own country for political purposes is not patriotism. Yet you do it so often. Today is the perfect example.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 7th, 2012
5:14 pm
“The whole process can be a major setback for people who are disabled, elderly, living on the edge or otherwise unfortunate.”
Then how do they get out to vote, to shop for food, or to survive in this society, John?
JDW
August 7th, 2012
5:15 pm
@Dusty…what the hell are you talking about?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 7th, 2012
5:16 pm
JDW: Your 5:03?
I didn’t make that comment you’re responding to.
You really need to stop fixating on me. As I have told you before, I’m just not that into you.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 7th, 2012
5:18 pm
“If you don’t remember that eight year path of destruction you really should get yours checked out.”
I remember those years, JDW. I also know that there is not a single, solitary bill that was signed during that time that anyone can point to as being the cause of the recession. I also know that the 30+ previous years of liberal policies and the GOP’s failure to dismantle them, are the real cause of this current downturn.
JDW
August 7th, 2012
5:22 pm
@Tiberius…ok now I feel bad…you may be lots of things but “that other guy” isn’t one of the.
md
August 7th, 2012
5:23 pm
“Based on a gaggle of wingnut bald faced lies… so yes, the congress voted for it based on what they thought they “knew” (which was what they were told by W, Rummy, Cheney, et al…)”
Selective memory? Part of that intel came from the Clinton admin…..and then there were 20+ resolutions in that bastion of worthlessness called the UN…..and as others have stated Congress was privy to the same info. And then let’s not forget that Congress critters with clearance have the ability to look into things on their own………….it went forward with the needed votes. Deal with it….
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 7th, 2012
5:25 pm
I was wrong. Petraeus would give Romney an 11 to 12 point bounce, not the 3 or 4 I figured from Portman.
He’ll be in the lead even at See BS.
HDB
August 7th, 2012
5:28 pm
Voter ID laws are nothing more than a backdoor way to create a POLL TAX…which has been made ILLEGAL!! Note: it COSTS to get the proper paperwork needed for a “free ID” when prior to 2006 in Georgia (and 2010 otherwise), all one needed to vote was a voter registration card and/or a utility bill!! When a 93 year old registered voter can’t get voter ID because of the inability to get her birth certificate…THAT’S a problem!!
http://www.theroot.com/buzz/93-year-old-woman-who-cleaned-state-capitol-denied-voter-id
JamVet
August 7th, 2012
5:28 pm
Petraeus on the Romney ticket?
Where do you guys come up with this nonsense?
Talk about desperate Drudgebots…
JDW
August 7th, 2012
5:28 pm
@Tiberuis…”I also know that there is not a single, solitary bill that was signed during that time that anyone can point to as being the cause of the recession.”
There was so much bad there I can’t begin to list it all, these are just some of the economic ones….
The Return to Deficits
Iraq
Tax Cuts for the Rich
Financial Regulation
Telling Us to Go Shopping
Energy Policy
A State of Denial
The Muddled Bailout
Educate yourself read more at:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1872229,00.html#ixzz22tjx9jxD
It will all come back. When it does we can talk about other things like torture and “Mission Accomplished”
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 7th, 2012
5:32 pm
OBAMA: ROMNEY WANTS VP PETRAEUS
_______________
August 7th, 2012
5:32 pm
“I was wrong”
heck even the righties knew that…………. When are you ever right is the question you need to ask yourself?