Think Progress

‘The myth of voter fraud.’

By Amanda Terkel on Mar 29th, 2007 at 12:27 pm

‘The myth of voter fraud.’

Michael Waldman and Justin Levitt of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law take on the Bush administration’s prosecutor purge excuses: “[T]he notion of widespread voter fraud, as these prosecutors found out, is itself a fraud. Firing a prosecutor for failing to find wide voter fraud is like firing a park ranger for failing to find Sasquatch. Where fraud exists, of course, it should be prosecuted and punished. … Yet evidence of actual fraud by individual voters is painfully skimpy.”



43 Responses to “‘The myth of voter fraud.’”

  1. Jake J. says:

    Simple logic:

    I hate Democrats. Democrats make up more than 50% of America. Therefore, Democrats hate America.

    I am an independent, by the wya.


  2. Dr. Matt says:

    “But, but, but, Clinton, Clinton, CLINTON!!!!” ~Jake


  3. Jake says:

    At least Big Foot doesn’t have lawyers and union reps trying to hide him ; )


  4. Jake says:

    Anyone (NOT on the “Ignore List”) want to discuss, in civil terms, the problem of voter fraud?


  5. Laura Bush says:

    obstruction of justice is an impeachable offense.


  6. Rocks911 says:

    Using Diebold machines with no paper trail, is that what is meant by voter fraud?


  7. profmarcus says:

    what i have found endlessly fascinating is how the term “voter fraud,” as promulgated by the r’s has become code for voter suppression… a careful read of the lead-up to florida in 2000 clearly shows a calculated purge of minorities and low-income folks from the voter rolls, and the stories since are legion… what has also struck me as the epitome of chutzpah is karl rove speechifying about voter fraud around the country… the most telling thing to come out about the current us attorney firing issue is how few minority voter suppression claims have been pursued to date in the bush administration… that pretty much says it all…

    And, yes, I DO take it personally


  8. gummitch says:

    “Voter fraud” is what happens whenever Democrats manage to register new voters or win an election. It’s a parallel to the War on Christmas, something that conservatives can screech about as a given, regardless of evidence. Anyone who requests actual evidence is then scoffed at as being a tool.

    Whenever the Republicans haul this particular buffoonery out of the basement, we know they’ve gotten desperate again. “Why don’t the voters understand we’re perfect?! The Democrats are cheating again!”


  9. VerbalKint says:

    #4 Why bother discussing it, Jake, it has been debunked. That is why I don’t debate global warming science, either. If someone wants to debate it, I start by telling them they’re wrong.


  10. VerbalKint says:

    Jake, why do you want to debate issues after the controversy has already been settled, if it ever existed to begin with?


  11. west virginia hillbilly says:

    Hey Jake, simply logic says, I hate Democrats. Democrats make up more than 50% of America. Therefore, Jake hates America.


  12. null says:

    ELECTION FRAUD NEWS

    -it would take days to read it all-

    http://electionfraudnews.com/resources.htm


  13. Jake J. says:

    More logic for you liberal twits:

    If voters are allowed to vote, that is voter fraud. That is why the Republican Party in New Hampshire did nothing wrong. They were just trying to prevent people from voting. How is that a crime, unless you’re a crazy Democrat politicizing the criminal justice system?

    These US attorneys were failing to prosecute people who were letting people vote. That is a crime.

    IF LAURA BUSH WERE A DIRTY $2 PROSTITUTE WHO MURDERED ALL HER JOHNS, AND A US ATTORNEY DIDN’T PROSECUTE HER, DON’T YOU LIBERALS THINK THAT US ATTORNEY SHOULD BE REPLACED????

    Hypocrites.


  14. TripMaster Monkey says:

    ‘The myth of voter fraud.’

    Oh, voter fraud exists, all right…just do some research into the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

    (And then, for extra credit, research the recent Mexican presidential election.)


  15. And You Thought REAGAN Was Stupid says:

    Republicans hate the fact any U.S. citizen of majority, with a few exceptions, is allowed to vote. Republicans would prefer a poll tax or some sort of questioning prior to voting.


  16. TripMaster Monkey says:

    Uh oh….I don’t think there’s anyone on this thread that’s not on Shakey’s “ignore list”.

    So…does that mean we don’t have to endure his idiotic screeds?


  17. Wayne says:

    Firing a prosecutor for failing to find wide voter fraud is like firing a park ranger for failing to find Sasquatch.

    About right there.
    A prosecutor prosecutes when he finds that a law has been broken, and there is enough evidence to make the charges stick, not for inuendo.

    Anyone (NOT on the “Ignore List”) want to discuss, in civil terms, the problem of voter fraud?
    Comment by Jake

    No one wants to discuss anything with a person who never a provides any proof for his insane statements, other than the poop on his fingers from pulling the “facts” out of his A$$.

    And your offtopic, insane questions are really stupid, moron


  18. gummitch says:

    So…does that mean we don’t have to endure his idiotic screeds?

    Comment by TripMaster Monkey

    Who? Never heard of him.


  19. Jake J. says:

    None of you are answering my question:

    IF LAURA BUSH WAS A $2 DIRTY PROSTITUTE WITH SYPHILLIS AND HIV, AND SHE WAS THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD WHO KNEW WHERE FAYED (WHO STILL HAS 4 SUITCASE NUKES LEFT) WAS, AND THERE WAS ONLY 40 MINUTES BEFORE THE BOMBS WERE GOING TO HIT THEIR TARGETS, AND JACK BAUER CUT OFF HER FINGERS TO GET HER TO TALK, DON’T YOU THINK THE NY TIMES WOULD REPORT IT?


  20. Jake says:

    null:

    Thanks for the info — I hate voter fraud whether it is Democrat or Republican.


  21. Wayne says:

    Uh oh….I don’t think there’s anyone on this thread that’s not on Shakey’s “ignore list”.

    So…does that mean we don’t have to endure his idiotic screeds?

    Comment by TripMaster Monkey

    Oh, the moron will keep posting his inane crap he keeps pulling out of his A$$ anyway.


  22. EBIII says:

    There are allegations that Anne Coulter committed voter fraud. Did Bush fire the US Attorney for Florida for not throwing the she-devil in stir?


  23. SKdeA says:

    Right on TMM, Mexico actually learned a lot from our 2000 and 2004 elections (kind of mindboggling that we are now more corrupt than Mexico!), same company did the consulting for the right as for Bush, and same data company did the numbers on the electorate…
    And yes, we are all on the IL, hopefully Jake will go take a Jake or something and leave us alone to have a decent conversation!


  24. null says:

    “Yet evidence of actual fraud by individual voters is painfully skimpy.”

    #20
    Thanks for the info — I hate proof of overwhelming voter fraud whether it is 5% Democrat or 95% Republican.

    Comment by Jake


  25. Jake says:

    Good catch, EBIII — I will forward that one along ; )


  26. Ben B says:

    Yeah, I’ll bite. I’ll discuss voter fraud.

    In 2004, I lived in Cincinnati, OH. I remember how the voting went around my city. I got in and out of the voting place in under 20 minutes, most of that time was actually reading the ballot. My co-workers experienced about the same time-frame. That night when I started watching coverage of the election, I saw huge lines of people in Cleveland, in the rain, waiting to vote. For hours. In the cold November rain.

    The demographics of Ohio are that the SW corner (Cincinnati) is Republican (my rep was Bohner, himself). The northern areas around Cleveland are more heavily Democratic. Columbus in the middle is pretty evenly divided. Since the Republicans seem to control the state government, I highly suspect that the state was intentionally providing inadequate voting places to Democratic areas. Best case, it was accidental, but regardless, the vote should not have been certified, and there should have been a re-vote because Democratic areas had to endure more difficult voting procedures than Republican areas, on average.

    Granted, Bush still won by a considerable number of votes in the popular vote, so the general will of the people was heard (unlike in 2000). But it was still pretty dirty what happened in Ohio in 2004.


  27. VerbalKint says:

    #16 I have not yet been officially informed that I am on Jake’s ignore list, nor have I requested it. Quite the opposite, I have requested that Jake read each and every one of my posts.


  28. bob (not the hacker) says:

    re 22

    and didn’t karl rove either commit voter or tax fraud when he voted in texas in 2006? Yup, it another case of republicans accusing dems of crimes they commit.


  29. Laura Bush says:

    I for one would like to see Jake’s “ignore” list. Kind of like the honor of being on Nixon’s enemies list…with a lot less prestige, of course.


  30. chimpeach says:

    Let’s get the terms straight here!

    Election fraud and voter fraud are not the same thing. Election fraud is a REAL problem, having to do with insecure electronic voting machines, lack of paper trails, the use of decertified machines, partisan political operatives running their states’ elections, and Republican members of Congress blocks attempts to correct the situation because the incidents of election fraud have overwhelmingly benefitted their party (see: Florida ‘00 and Ohio ‘04).

    Voter fraud involves a voter who either attempts to vote more than once in an election or votes fraudulently by using a false identity or providing false information on a voter registration. It exists, but in such small and insignificant numbers that it doesn’t merit the use of underfunded U.S. Attorneys’ resources to pursue it. If it were so important, why isn’t the U.S. Attorney for the South District of Florida pursuing the highest profile case of voter fraud in the state, that being Ann Coulter?

    Voter fraud as an issue of feigned importance to Republicans is nothing more than a weak rationalization for requiring a photo ID to vote, thereby making it more difficult for seniors, the poor, and minorities to take part in elections. The purpose is to discourage likely Democratic voters. That’s all it is and Karl Rove knows damn well it is.


  31. gummitch says:

    Voter fraud as an issue of feigned importance to Republicans is nothing more than a weak rationalization for requiring a photo ID to vote, thereby making it more difficult for seniors, the poor, and minorities to take part in elections. The purpose is to discourage likely Democratic voters. That’s all it is and Karl Rove knows damn well it is.

    Comment by chimpeach

    Tack that one to the refrigerator door. Nicely summed up, chimpeach.


  32. null says:

    ELECTION FRAUD NEWS:
    VOTER SUPPRESSION & DISENFRANCHISEMENT

    http://electionfraudnews.com/resources.htm


  33. Cynicon Implant says:

    OK, everyone who thinks that Chimpy stole the 2000 election, please reread the quote from above: “[T]he notion of widespread voter fraud, as these prosecutors found out, is itself a fraud. Firing a prosecutor for failing to find wide voter fraud is like firing a park ranger for failing to find Sasquatch. Where fraud exists, of course, it should be prosecuted and punished. … Yet evidence of actual fraud by individual voters is painfully skimpy.”

    Repeat after me, moonbats, “Gore really did lose, Gore really did lose…”

    Way to debunk that myth, TP!!

    bwahahahahaha!


  34. Ben B says:

    Yes, good point about election fraud vs voter fraud. In my scenario above, there was no actual voter fraud (at least none that anyone has seriously alleged).


  35. TripMaster Monkey says:

    Comment by Cynicon Implant — March 29, 2007 @ 1:36 pm

    Cynicon, please refer to chimpeach’s earlier post for exactly how you’re missing the point.

    Kthx.


  36. Dr. Matt says:

    The only problem with the voting process is that there isn’t a IQ administered. It’s clear that reich-wingers do not have the capability of making a clear and informed decision on their own.


  37. chimpeach says:

    #33 Cynicon Implant

    Thank you for illustrating why we need to get the terms straight. It’s important to draw the distinctions. Otherwise, right-wing morons like yourself, not knowing the difference between the two, will mistakenly think that TP debunked “election fraud”, when it was only “voter fraud” that they were talking about. And then the right-wingers will get all goofy and make asses of themselves.


  38. TripMaster Monkey says:

    chimpeach sez:

    And then the right-wingers will get all goofy and make asses of themselves.

    Too late, chimpeach.

    About six years too late.


  39. Liberty Lover says:

    Yet evidence of actual fraud by individual voters is painfully skimpy.”

    — except by Ann Coulter and that has been documented.


  40. ckerst says:

    And yet we have proof that Ann Coulter voted in a district she does not live in and there was no prosecution. They don’t seem to be looking very hard at voter fraud.


  41. Raymond Funamoto says:

    When DEMOCRATS register Voters LEGALLY, repugnant-repubs SCREAM “VOTER FRAUD”!!!!!!!
    When repugnant-repubs COMMIT VOTER FRAUD and DEMOCRATS point it out, they SCREAM “UNFAIR CALUMNY! SOUR GRAPES! WE’RE ONLY EXERCISING OUR GOD-GIVEN RIGHT TO USE DIEBOLD(tm) CHEATING MACHINES! THIS IS PART OF THE Rovian POLITICAL STRATEGY!”
    repugnant-repub rightwingnut crank fudge-pachyderms ARE F*CKING HYPOCRITICAL HYENA-SHITS AND SEWER-RAT VERMIN!!!!!!


  42. American Dreamer says:

    The distinction between voter fraud and election fraud is an extremely important one. The first – an illegal attempt by an individual to cast ballot(s) he/she is not legally entitled to cast.

    The second- attempts to disenfranchise voters or to tamper with election results.

    There actually have been convictions in Ohio for election fraud.

    http://commondreams.org/views07/0320-23.htm

    No sensible person could possibly believe this was a single isolated incident.


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