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THE ACORN RAID.
I don't really have an opinion as to whether or not ACORN is guilty of registration fraud, but given the hysteria on the right over this issue it's worth pointing out that registration fraud and voter fraud are two distinct things. What people refer to as registration fraud can be as simple as filling out a form incorrectly. It's certainly true that you can fill out a form for a potted plant or your dog.
What is far more difficult and rare is actually getting a registration card for your plant or your dog and then showing up to vote more than once on Election Day. Fortunately registration fraud is far more common than voter fraud, since the latter is practically nonexistent, and without it, the former is basically meaningless. A far greater threat to fair elections are the kind of voter intimidation and caging schemes that we've seen applied in past elections, and that some organizations are aggressively fighting this time around.
--A. Serwer
COMMENTS (3)
The real registration fraud goes the other way. Many more people are denied the right to vote. This hits home for me because I wasn't allowed to vote int the 2000 election. I registered five months before the election. I called every month to see if I was registered yet. They kept telling me that I would receive a letter of verification in the mail any day now. A day after the registration deadline, I got a letter saying that I had been denied with no explanation as to why. I have a pretty good idea, though. My last name (Foster) is considered to be a black name in Texas, and I lived in a black neighborhood. The state of Texas surely didn't want me voting. They thought I was black. That situation was certainly registration fraud, but it was the government that was committing it.
Posted by: fostert | October 8, 2008 3:16 PM
I have never understood why registration is not automatic. Get a SS number, turn 18 and your registered. It would also be a good idea to return full rights to individuals who have finished serving time (including parole). If tearing a tag off a mattress can be a felony, there needs to be a re-evaluation of the system.
From the other side, what is the big deal with picture ID for voting? I have to show ID to buy alcohol or drive a car. Also get rid of the dead people still on the voter registration list.
Posted by: james | October 9, 2008 4:46 PM
The big deal with picture ID for voting is all the feeble old people in nursing homes, handicapped people who can't get around easily, poor people with no cars, and the like, who get handed a serious obstacle by the picture ID requirement. I would have thought everyone on this site would have heard about the elderly retired nuns in Indiana who couldn't vote in the primary. And it's going to be Republicans arguing that maybe we'd be better off if people like that didn't vote.
Posted by: Virgil E Vickers | October 10, 2008 7:52 PM