The real voter fraud Republicans would rather not talk about
Republican governors and legislatures have pushed voter ID laws in more than two dozen states, and the party has long claimed that voter fraud lurks in the shadows of elections won by Democrats. This despite the fact that Republicans pushing voter ID have struggled to come up with actual examples of voter fraud and in more candid moments, some have admitted the laws are more about trying to elect Mitt Romney than about fraud at all.
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The myth of widespread voter fraud hit a low water mark three years ago, when ACORN, a non-profit that registered mostly poor, largely black voters, was stripped of its federal funding after a false story surfaced accusing the organization of supporting prostitution. But despite the rights obsession with the idea of voter fraud, the fact is that since 2000, there have been just 10 cases of in-person voter fraud (in which a person shows up at the polls pretending to be someone else, tries to vote in a state they dont live in, or attempts to vote twice.) In fact, statistics show you are more likely to be struck by lightning than for there to be an instance of voter fraud in any election. But that doesnt mean election fraud doesnt exist. But unfortunately for the GOP, the documented cases have largely been among their own.
Here are some of the most recent scandals.
1. Phantom voters
The Republican National Committee has fired a firm used for several election cycles by Republicans in swing states to register voters. From NBC News First Read:
Election officials in six Florida counties are investigating what appears to be hundreds of cases of suspected voter fraud by a GOP consulting firm that has been paid nearly $3 million by the Republican National Committee to register Republican voters in five key battleground states, state officials tell NBC.
But the veteran GOP consultant, Nathan Sproul, who runs the firm, strongly defended his companys conduct, saying it has rigorous quality controls and blamed the alleged fraud on the actions of a few bad apples, workers who were hired to register Republican voters for $12 an hour and then tried to cheat the system.
The allegations of suspected voter fraud committed by Strategic Allied Consulting of Tempe, Arizona spread Thursday to counties throughout Florida. At the same time, the Republican National Committee said it had severed its ties to the firm altogether.
The firm, under the name Lincoln Strategies, received approximately $70,000 from the Mitt Romney campaign last year, according to federal election filings by the Romney campaign. The New York Times reported on Saturday that the number of Florida counties now reporting suspicious voter registrations forms linked to the firm has grown to ten.
By the way, as Joshua Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo.com explains, registering phantom voters isnt the same as voter fraud, since these non-existent voters will never show up at the polls. But it is fraud, and criminal.
2. Selective registration
This was not the first time Nathan Sproul was accused of having ties to voter/election fraud. Back in 2004, Sprouls company was accused of sending out canvassers to register people to vote, and then shredding the Democratic registrations, while only turning in those applications that requested registration as a Republican. (Read more about Sprouls history at ThinkProgress.) And it seems that Sprouls firm may have modified its one-party registration strategy. Strategic Allied Consulting has been dropped by the Colorado Republican Party after a viral Youtube video emerged showing a young woman who worked for the firm, registering only Romney voters at a Safeway supermarket in Denver.
Safeway voter registration 1 - YouTube
PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO ^^^
3. Petition fraud
Disgraced Republican congressman and short-lived presidential candidate Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan abruptly resigned from the House amid a scandal over four aides who falsified names on petitions to place McCotters name on the ballot for re-election in 2010. The aides now face a slew of misdemeanor and felony charges. One of the aides has already pleaded no contest.
4. Address / registration fraud
Right wing columnist and firebrand author Ann Coulter was accused of committing voter fraud by falsely using her parents Connecticut address to vote, despite having changed her official state of residence to Florida. The case was ultimately dismissed, but similar allegations Coulter deliberately voted in the wrong precinct in Florida were simply never pursued by state officials.
5. Robofraud
Last year, a senior aide to Marylands Republican then-governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., along with a consultant hired by Ehrlich, were indicted on charges of conspiracy to violate election laws and influencing votes through fraud, for a scheme in which more than 110,000 automated robocalls were placed to mostly African-American, Democratic voters in Maryland, telling them to relax and not to bother showing up to vote on election day in 2010, because the states Democratic governor, Martin OMalley, had already been elected. The campaign manager, Paul Schurick, was convicted and sentenced to just one month home detention and community service.
6. Absentee ballot fraud
Currently two lawsuits in Miami-Dade County are seeking to invalidate last months mayors and property appraisers elections, due to allegations of falsified absentee ballots by so-called bolateros, or ballot collectors, who among other things, allegedly collected ballots supposedly filled out by senior citizens with Alzheimers. Miami has in the past seen mayoral elections thrown out over absentee ballot fraud. But absentees, which are a strong suit of the Florida GOP at election time, were not included in comprehensive election overhaul legislation that, among other things, slashed the early vote period (used more by Democrats) from 14 days to 8. Meanwhile, the absentee ballot fraud phenomenon is not limited to the sunshine state.
The real voter fraud Republicans would rather not talk about | theGrio | Page 2
i drive by that billboard everyday going to work. These rethugs don't give a flying fukk about morals, the constitution, or American families. They just want $ and votes