Every few years the Republicans come out screaming about voter fraud. Anyone who has really looked at this knows it's basically BS. The reality isn't that there aren't people out there that might like to vote fraudulently, it's that there isn't a good way to actually do it. You just can't really cast enough ballots to move an election. Talking Points Memo has a really good breakdown/summary of the current ACORN mess.
Vote registration fraud is a limited and relatively minor problem in the US today. But it is principally an administrative and efficiency issue. It is has little or nothing to do with people casting illegitimate votes to affect an actual election. That's the key. What you're hearing right now from Fox News, the New York Post, John Fund and the rest of the right-wing bamboozlement chorus is a just another effort to exploit, confuse and lie in an effort to put more severe restrictions on legitimate voting and lay the groundwork to steal elections.
I was talking to my girlfriend about this the other day. I don't think the people running the republican party really believe in the voter fraud. They just see it as a convenient way to whip up the base and also pass laws that restrict voting for the poor and minorities. The base I think actually buys into the whole scam, but then, the republican base isn't known for its keen intellect.
Leave a comment