That voter fraud and other shenanigans might have taken place in the
district which stretches from Harlem to The Bronx will surprise no one
familiar with the grand traditions of New York politics. Nor is there
anything particularly innovative about the allies of an establishment
figure like Rangel working within the system to make it more difficult
for a challenger to take him on.

Given the way these things generally work in New York, we may never
know whether Espaillat actually beat Rangel. Nor can we be sure whether
the voters allegedly turned away at the polls were really ineligible (in
which case Espaillat’s camp was trying to game the results). But what
we do know is that wherever politicians and their friends are tempted to
cheat, that is exactly what they will do. The stakes involved in such
races are high, and anyone who assumes Rangel or any other entrenched
officeholder will not stoop to twist, bend or otherwise mutilate the
results in order to hang on knows nothing about American political
history or politicians.

Full piece by Jonathan Tobin @ Commentary Magazine.

John Fund latest piece at National Review Online headlines “How the New York primary exemplifies how many American elections are amateurishly run.”

The near-meltdown in the
vote count for the New York Democratic primary featuring scandal-tarred
congressman Charlie Rangel should serve as a warning siren about what
could happen in this November’s national election. It’s not just voter
fraud we have to worry about. Sometimes it’s hard to tell where the
fraud ends and the incompetence begins.

The Rangel fiasco reminds us that the United States has, as
Walter Dean Burnham, the nation’s leading political scientist, put it,
“the developed world’s sloppiest election systems.” And New York City is
no unsophisticated backwater.

The troubles in the Rangel race began on Election Night, June
26. The voting-machine totals put down on paper had the incumbent
beating his challenger, state senator Adriano Espaillat, by a
comfortable 2,300 votes in a Harlem district that is now equally divided
between black and Hispanic populations.

Full story here.

Newsmax: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted the Obama administration
for supporting the Disclose Act in an Op-Ed today, calling it “an
attempt to identify and punish political enemies, or at the very least,
intimidate others from participating in the process.”

The Mississippi Secretary of State’s new outreach program, designed to assist those who might need help getting photo voter identification, has only received a few responses in its first two weeks. 

Is there really a “photo ID gap” or do the healthy turnout statistics and proven ability of Georgia (and Indiana) Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics to obtain photo identification dispel the myth of any discriminatory photo ID gap?  The lukewarm response by Mississippi citizens to acquire free photo identification raises serious doubts to the claims of a great divide and need among the citizenry.

 Breitbart has more on the DOJ Voting Section hiring a partisan GOTV operation to assist an expert in the Texas Voter ID case.  This issue is going to get even bigger shortly.  Stay tuned to ELC for more.  Also catch Congressman Ted Poe on Fox Friday morning about the Voting Section’s involvement with the partisan group.

“Catalist was apparently hired without ‘an open bidding process.’ As Smith says, it is “unacceptable for the Department to go into court in a case involving the integrity of Texas elections on the basis of data provided by a Democratic Party campaign operation.” He charges that it is a misuse of taxpayer dollars that undermines the credibility of the Justice Department.”

Will the responsible parties be fired at the DOJ?  Of course not, they will probably be rewarded because nobody there thinks anything is wrong with this.  On the other hand, this mess could justify significant changes in 2013.  Stay tuned for more breaking on this story.

“Justice Lost. We won.”

Fox News leads with the story.

Based on the timeline established by the federal court for hearing the South Carolina voter ID case against DOJ, a positive or negative ruling may not provide enough time to implement before November.  This is becoming a recurring theme where the wheels of justice turn so slowly (intentionally or otherwise) that enacted legislation adopted by state legislatures are held up and delayed for months and now going on years.  When the courts want to move quickly, they do so.

The answer is staring the Times in the face. 

“We have long worried about the design and operation of electronic voting machines, but New York city produces a paper record that could be used for recounts or to resolve disputes.  The idea that poll workers are told to ignore the computers and do the arithmetic by hand is chillingly abusrd.  New York City has a state primary on Sept. 13 and the general election on Nov. 6.  It’s time to stop the cut and add routine and let the computers do their job.

In Michigan, it appears new integrity measures may be on the way.  The Michigan Secretary of State notes that 15 states recently compared voter registration lists and found that up to 164,000 Michigan voters could be registered in another state.

Nothing is more sacred to democracy than integrity in our elections and safeguarding the principle of one citizen, one vote.  That is why the Secure and Fair Elections legislation, now before Gov. Rick Snyder, is so critical.  It will allow election official to go after the worst campaign finance offenders, help them clean up our voter rolls and remove those who have died, moved and are not citizens. It also will close photo ID loopholes and create more transparency and accountability in the elections process.  It also retains strong measures in place that ensure no legitimate voter is disenfranchised.  Michigan’s voter rolls had an impossible 102.54% of eligible voters registered in 2008.  See the full article at TimesHerald.com