Add to the long list of reason vote by mail is a bad idea:

“In a conference in Sacramento today, UC Davis researcher Mindy Romero will present her latest data showing that 2.9 percent of the vote-by-mail ballots cast in the June primary went uncounted. That amounts to 91,000 ballots. In the 2012 election, 1 percent of the mailed-in ballots went uncounted. That equated to 69,000 ballots.”

Sac Bee

“What’s wrong with some reasonable — non-discriminatory, may it please the court — measures meant to encourage turnout chiefly by those who exert themselves when turning out? What is the matter with some minimal formality, such as producing on demand a photo that verifies identity? The Texas photo ID law rebuked by an Obama-appointed federal judge as “an unconstitutional poll tax” permits the tendering of ID in various forms, including a citizenship certificate, a military ID card, and a concealed handgun license. That hardly strikes me (though I am not a federal judge) as troublesome or vexatious.”

American Spectator.

EDWIN MEESE III CENTER FOR LEGAL AND JUDICIAL STUDIES
Invites you to attend or tune in live at heritage.org

Keeping Elections Honest:
How States Can Protect Your Vote
#OurConstitution

Featuring
Catherine Engelbrecht
President, True the Vote

The Honorable Scott Gessler
Secretary of State, State of Colorado

The Honorable Kris Kobach
Secretary of State, State of Kansas

Host:
Hans A. von Spakovsky
Senior Legal Fellow, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, The Heritage Foundation

The United States has a long history of voter fraud that has been documented by historians and journalists. Such fraud can make the difference in a close election, and we have many elections – particularly at the local and state level – that are decided by a very small number of votes. Every American citizen who is eligible should be able to vote, but it is equally important that every citizen’s vote not be diluted or stolen through fraud, especially fraud that could change the outcome of an election. Election integrity is fundamental to securing free and fair elections, which are the key to preserving our democracy. Is your vote in the upcoming election safe? What steps have been taken by election officials to ensure the integrity of the voting and election process? How accurate are our voter registration rolls? What are the responsibilities of state versus federal officials when it comes to protecting the franchise? What problems can we expect?

Join us as our panel of chief state election officials and the head of a citizens group dedicated to election integrity discuss these issues, moderated by a former commissioner on the Federal Election Commission.

Tuesday, October 14, at noon
The Heritage Foundation’s Lehrman Auditorium

Link to access the audio is here.

The stay merry go round keeps going:  The Supreme Court blocked voter ID in Wisconsin, reinstating a stay by a vote of 6-3.  Three justices (Alito, Thomas, Scalia), and they give the clue about why it happened when they say:

“There is a colorable basis for the Court’s decision due to the proximity of the upcoming general election. It is particularly troubling that absentee ballots have been sent out without any notation that proof of photo identification must be submitted.”

My read: The North Carolina and Ohio claims which were also stayed are in substantive trouble.  Wisconsin’s ruling is in substantive trouble too but the substantive wrecking of the novel Section 2 theory will occur after the election.

The Supreme Court has dealt a blow to efforts to fundamentally transform Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.  Some groups have been trying graft a disparate impact theory onto the law.  They’ve run into trouble – in the form of seven Supreme Court justices.  I have more on the Supreme Court greenlighting election integrity laws in North Carolina.

1. The report was done at the behest of one of the most radical member of Congress – Bernie Sanders from Vermont.
2. The report is part of the partisan attack on election integrity and was done by beltway insiders with no experience in election administration.
3. The report was methodologically flawed and state election officials told the GAO that before they published the report.  The report just regurgitates other studies and uses what it calls a “quasi-experimental analysis.”

An interesting blame game in the New York Times for the recent court decisions permitting election integrity laws to go into effect.

“I don’t believe that any of these judges are deciding cases because they want to help, in quotes, their party win the election,” Mr. Hasen said. “Rather I think people who are more conservative based especially on what they hear in conservative media are more disposed to believe voter fraud is a major problem and the requirements are no big deal. Where liberal judges hear the laws are simply an attempt to stop poor minority voters from voting.”