Inaccurate voter rolls invite voter fraud, and not just in Alabama: “Voter rolls that do not — and obviously cannot — accurately reflect the number of registered voters in a county open the door to potential fraud.” The diversity of problems that can corrupt the election process, from inept management to multiple avenues of fraud, require multiple solutions – a fact that the “voter ID won’t prevent this problem” crowd often ignores.
But the more inaccurate the voter rolls are, the more important the commonsense safeguard of photo voter ID becomes because, as the bipartisan Carter-Baker commission noted in its 2005 recommendation to adopt photo voter ID, “Election officials need to make sure that the person arriving at the polling site is the same one that is named on the registration list.”
Inaccurate voter rolls also exacerbate the problem of mail ballot fraud, which even the staunchest voter ID opponents say is where the “real voter fraud” occurs.
Yet voter fraud deniers, taking their lead from Eric Holder’s Department of Justice, routinely fight both voter ID laws and voter roll cleanup efforts enacted by states working to ensure honest and fair elections that inspire public confidence.
Author Archives: J Christian Adams
Al Gore: “Big Money is part of hacking of American Democracy”
Politico Magazine interviews the speech regulator – Al Gore. He even inserted the Koch brothers as a boogeyman. Gore is a multi-millionaire pointing fingers at “Big Money” yet he plans to spend $300 million in issue advocacy on climate change.
PM: Define the political tipping point. Is that a moment in American politics?AG: Every issue is paralyzed now because our democracy has been hacked and we’re suffering from what some have called demosclerosis.Big money is now at toxic levels.…PM: Sen. John McCain supported cap and trade but backed away from it when President Obama was elected. He had his primary that he was thinking about in 2010.AG: Hello! The Koch brothers and the others who operate the way they do have worked overtime to put fear in the hearts of Republicans that if they as much as breathe a favorable breath about solving the climate crisis they’re going to get a well-financed primary opponent. And so they’re all running scared. And this is part of the hacking of American democracy. Money. Big money has paralyzed American democracy to a shocking extent. Now it can change. And it will change.
“Missouri Lawmakers Debate Voter I.D. Amendment”
“McCutcheon Restores Power to Congressional Campaigns”
Efforts by campaign finance reformers to limit the flow of money into the campaign finance system have not just failed, they have instead diverted that flow into unaccountable side streams. Now, true reformers should acknowledge that McCutcheon could well bring a larger percentage of political spending into the sunlight, rather than bemoan it as the latest decision signaling the end of America’s democracy.
Link.
Voter fraud risk keeps Maryland Board of Elections from certifying online ballot-marking system
“Sanity prevailed” “Sanity prevailed,” said Michael Greenberger, a University of Maryland law professor and founder of its Center for Health and Homeland Security. “If this system had been adopted, Maryland would have had a voting system that was the most subject to fraud in the country.” Board members were reportedly “troubled by an IT security assessment conducted for the state by a firm that has never performed Internet security tests on election systems” and “didn’t study voter fraud risks at the front end of the voting system where ballots are requested online.”
The Baltimore Sun reports on the Board’s decision:
[T]he State Board of Elections refused to move forward with part of the plan amid fears it would open the door to widespread fraud…
“House Republicans set May vote on holding Lois Lerner in contempt”
The House next month plans to vote to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt for her refusal to testify before Congress about the targeting of Tea Party groups, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told his colleagues in a memo Friday.
Link to the Hill.
“Judge strikes down NY limits on donations to ‘super PACs'”
A federal judge on Thursday reluctantly struck down New York’s limits on donations to independent political action committees as unconstitutional, potentially ushering in a new era of “super PACs” in state campaigns. Link
“Voting Fraud Hangs Stubbornly Over Afghan Elections, With Runoff Likely
The New York Times reports on voter fraud in Afghanistan but refuses to admit it can happen in the United States.
Is the EAC and DOJ defying a federal court order?
All the talk around DC (okay, maybe not) is whether the EAC is openly defying a court order or just too incompetent to update the federal voter registration application instructions for Kansas, Arizona, and other states that have citizenship verification requirements. The Department of Justice (Civil Rights Division) is now running the show at the EAC and refusing to comply with the March 19 court order. In its pleading, Kansas and Arizona believe the EAC and DOJ should be held in contempt for misleading the Court and now delaying implementation of the order. DOJ claims the EAC needs additional time to translate the few paragraphs of instructions into 7 different languages. Link here for the DOJ response and additional litigation history.
Of course, this contradicts with the earlier EAC assertions:
The court filing late Monday comes in response to U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren’s decision on March 19 requiring the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to immediately modify a national voter registration form to add special instructions for Arizona and Kansas residents about those states’ proof-of-citizenship requirements.
No stay has been granted. Earlier, the EAC prayed to the Court that they needed until April 11 to have the updated form on its website translated. April 24? Still crickets, nothing on the website or instructions. In fact, Arizona’s instructions to voters still have not been updated by the EAC since 2006 due to liberal bureaucracy at the EAC. A month past the court ruling and two weeks past their self-proclaimed deadline and still no revised instructions. The federal court should bring down the hammer on DOJ and the EAC.
Two more indicted for voter fraud in Ohio, including another poll worker
More “nonexistent” voter fraud. Via Cincinnati.com: “Two more people — including a poll worker — were indicted Wednesday for illegal voting in Hamilton County. A grand jury issued indictments against Timothy Merman of Fairfax and Ellen Duncan of Avondale.” Duncan, a Hamilton County poll worker like convicted fraudster Melowese Richardson, is accused of voting twice in the 2013 election, by absentee ballot and in person. “She’s been a poll worker for over 10 years and she said she didn’t understand the rules.”