Author Archives: ELECTIONLAWCENTER.COM

New Myths on Voter ID – National Review

@ NRO Corner, a lengthy discussion debunking not only the “new myths on voter ID” but deconstructing the Brennan Center report on the “fallacious” number of disenfranchised voters they claim will result because of new laws, third party voter registration regulations, non-citizen registration and even early voting days. Must reading over the weekend.  Here is a taste:

The fraud denialists also must have missed the recent news coverage of the double voters in North Carolina and the fraudster in Tunica County, Miss. — a member of the NAACP’s local executive committee — who was sentenced in April to five years in prison for voting in the names of ten voters, including four who were deceased. And the story of the former deputy chief of staff for Washington mayor Vincent Gray, who was forced to resign after news broke that she had voted illegally in the District of Columbia even though she was a Maryland resident. Perhaps they would like a copy of an order from a federal immigration court in Florida on a Cuban immigrant who came to the U.S. in April 2004 and promptly registered and voted in the November election.

Michigan SOS seeks to remove “dead wood” from voter rolls

In Michigan, Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, with the help of U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, hopes to cut down on potential voter fraud by removing about 20,000 names from Michigan voter rolls.

An election reform package proposed by Johnson this week features another attempt to delete the “dead wood” from the voter registration rolls — names that could be used fraudulently at the polls to cast illegal ballots.

“Some of the people on what is called our Qualified Voter File aren’t ‘qualified’ at all — they’re dead, they’ve moved out of state, or they’re not U.S. citizens,” said Johnson, citing a 2008 Pew Center on the States report that indicated an impossible 102.54 percent of eligible adults in Michigan were registered to vote. “That doesn’t add up and indicates vulnerabilities in the system.”

The bloated rolls in Michigan is just another example of the Voting Section at DOJ not raising a single finger to ensure that timely list maintenance activities are conducted as required under federal voting laws.  However, it appears the Voting Section is not the only federal agency doing their best to hinder Michigan. 

Johnson spokeswoman Gisgie Gendreau said the Secretary of State’s office seeks access to federal Homeland Security, Social Security and immigration databases to help remove non-citizens from the rolls. But those agencies have not responded to requests for access.



Wisconsin lawmaker proposes electoral votes by congressional district

At WisPolitics.com, a Wisconsin lawmaker proposes more of a proportional allocation of the electoral votes rather than a winner take all.  Pennsylvania is also considering making such a move.

He also said his proposal would be an added protection against voter fraud. By dividing up the votes by congressional districts, it would take away any incentive for Dems or Republicans to pile up votes through fraudulent means in any area of the state in an effort to impact the statewide popular vote and sway who gets the electoral votes. Nebraska and Maine are the only states that now award electoral votes by congressional districts.  “I’m looking along the lines of protecting the vote of the people in any given district, whether they be Republicans or Democrats and not have that vote taken away from them because of the people voting in other parts of the state,” he said.

Despite Maine allocating electoral votes in this manner, it appears the Left doesn’t like it:

Scot Ross of the liberal One Wisconsin Now called it the latest GOP effort to rig the ballot box.

“The depths to which Republicans in Wisconsin will sink to rig elections appear to be bottomless,” Ross said

113 Voter Fraud Convictions. . . in Minnesota

A presser from the Minnesota Majority:

113 convictions represent small fraction of total unlawful votes



St. Paul – Minnesota Majority today released a report on voter fraud convictions to date stemming from Minnesota’s 2008 general election. The report finds that 113 individuals who voted illegally in the 2008 election have been convicted of the crime, “ineligible voter knowingly votes” under Minnesota Statute 201.014.



“As far as we can tell, this is the largest number of voter fraud convictions arising from a single election in the past 75 years,” said Minnesota Majority president Jeff Davis, “Prosecutions are still underway and so there will likely be even more convictions.”



The highest number of convictions ever recorded in the United States came from the 1936 Jackson County, Missouri elections in which 259 individuals were convicted of voter fraud.  A more recent five-year probe by the United States Department of Justice identified just 53 convictions for voter fraud nationwide.



“It’s mind-boggling to me that as a tiny non-profit corporation, we netted more than double the number of convictions in one year than the US Department of Justice was able to find in five,” said Davis.



Minnesota’s recent charges and convictions stem from research initiated by Minnesota Majority. The research identified upwards of 2,800 ineligible felons believed to have unlawfully voted in Minnesota’s 2008 general election.



“These convictions are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Davis. “The actual number of illegal votes cast was in the thousands.  Most unlawful voters were never charged with a crime because they simply pled ignorance. We have evidence of these people casting illegal ballots, but in Minnesota, ignorance of election law is considered to be an acceptable defense.”



At the time of this report, nearly 200 additional cases are still pending trial.  But time is running out for any additional cases to be prosecuted. The statute of limitations on election crimes is three years, and will expire for the 2008 election this November. Anyone who county attorneys have not charged by then will go free.



“The problem rests largely on our current Election Day registration system,” said Davis. “Most of the fraudulent votes cast in 2008 could have been prevented by using the normal registration and verification processes. But since the Election Day registration process does not include eligibility verifications, it simply leaves the door open to these kinds of abuses.”



Minnesota law requires voters to register at least 20 days before an election so that the information they provide and their eligibility to vote can be verified by election workers before they vote on Election Day. However, Election Day registration creates an exception. People who register at the polling place are given a ballot without first being subject to the same scrutiny.



“This is an example of why creating two classes of voters is unacceptable,” said Davis. “You shouldn’t be subject to less scrutiny than everyone else, just because you waited until the last minute to register. Less responsible voters are allowed to cut in line and cast a ballot without being validated and this is what happens.”



Investigations of voter fraud are also now underway from Minnesota’s 2010 election.




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