After 8 years of listening to the massive whining from Democrats and their supporters about Bush having stolen the 2000 election, calling him the pResident, then claiming the GOP stole the 2004 election, issues that have never stopped being a cause to make Liberals wacko, we get this from Cynthia Tucker at the Baltimore Sun (she is also the editorial page editor for the Atlanta Democrat Journal-Constitution)
The base of the Republican Party – a dwindling but still significant group – clings to a handful of pseudo-facts that don’t hold up to serious scrutiny but that still occupy a central place in GOP ideology. Those include the assertion that Saddam Hussein represented a threat to the United States, that affirmative action in lending led to the mortgage crisis and that voter fraud is a serious problem in modern elections. In campaign seasons such as this, when victory may turn on a handful of votes, none of those claims is more important to Republican activists than overhyped allegations of voter fraud.
During the last decade, GOP-dominated state legislatures around the country have used assertions of mischief at the ballot box to push through harsh voter ID laws, requiring voters to present state-sponsored photo identification cards when they go to the polls. Republican strategists have also pushed prosecutors to go after allegedly fraudulent voters.
Those GOP strategists know better: One study after another has shown that voter fraud is, at worst, extremely rare. And the sort of in-person fraud that would be prevented by stiff voter ID laws is virtually nonexistent. But Karl Rove and his minions also know this: Voter ID laws can be used to disenfranchise a few hundred or a few thousand voters who are more likely to vote Democratic, usually poor or elderly voters who don’t have driver’s licenses. In close races, shaving off 1 or 2 percentage points is all you need to claim victory.
Are you snickering and chuckling right now? Democrats whined beyond belief about fraud, all the while registering the homeless, foreigners, illegal aliens, pets, dead pets, dead people, and felons, not to mention registering to vote in multiple states. This is a central point in many liberals’ world, with tons of threads at the Democratic Underground, Brad Blog, Daily Kos, etc. The Democrat Party, the Kerry camp, and now the Obama camp deployed massive amounts of lawyers all over the country because they were worried about cheating. But, hey, it is a GOP only issue, you know.
Plus, we got a Karl Rove and Saddam Hussein mention!
All the GOP has tried to do is respond to the whining by Democrats, as well as the reality of the real voter fraud perpatraded by Democrats, with common sense. Having to show an ID is apparently completely out of bound for the Democrats, which should let you know what’s in their heads. The Supreme Court has upheld needing ID to vote, BTW, Cynthia.
Ah, but meanwhile, let’s hear from someone who know a bit better then an editorial writer,
Our nation may be on the brink of repeating the 2000 Florida election debacle, but this time in several states, with allegations of voter fraud, intimidation and flawed voting machines added to the generalized chaos that sent Bush v. Gore to the Supreme Court for overtime.
“If you think of election problems as akin to forest fires, the woods are no drier than they were in 2000, but many more people have matches,” says Doug Chapin, editor of the nonpartisan Electionline.org.Â
The article itself is written by John Fund, who wrote “Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy.” I reckon he knows a bit on the subject.
And, what Cynthia missed was that the Baltimore Sun just ran an editorial called “Voter Beware” on the issue of fraud, which a reader took issue with, since it didn’t bother to mention ACORN.
And I guess she missed this
and
More Dead, Underage And Fictitious Voter Registrations in Indiana, From ACORN
Nothing to see, move along. But, heck, in Democrat World, having a split ballot is almost voter fraud. It certainly is an issue to the Democrats, when, as we saw in Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004, Democrat voters are just not smart enough to follow directions in filling the ballots out.
Oh, BTW, Democrats have controlled both branches of Congress since 2007, and had control of the Senate till january 2003. What have they done to help reduce fraud? It’ll never go away, nor will the dirty tricks, that is part of politics.
