The Success of the Voter Fraud Myth

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Hendricks Dewayne <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: September 20, 2016 at 5:07:31 AM EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The Success of the Voter Fraud Myth
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> The Success of the Voter Fraud Myth
> By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
> Sep 19 2016
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/opinion/the-success-of-the-voter-fraud-myth.html>
>
> How does a lie come to be widely taken as the truth?
>
> The answer is disturbingly simple: Repeat it over and over again. When faced with facts that contradict the lie, 
> repeat it louder.
>
> This, in a nutshell, is the story of claims of voting fraud in America — and particularly of voter impersonation 
> fraud, the only kind that voter ID laws can possibly prevent.
>
> Last week, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that nearly half of registered American voters believe that voter 
> fraud occurs “somewhat” or “very” often. That astonishing number includes two-thirds of people who say they’re voting 
> for Donald Trump and a little more than one-quarter of Hillary Clinton supporters. Another 26 percent of American 
> voters said that fraud “rarely” occurs, but even that characterization is off the mark. Just 1 percent of respondents 
> gave the answer that comes closest to reflecting reality: “Never.”
>
> As study after study has shown, there is virtually no voter fraud anywhere in the country. The most comprehensive 
> investigation to date found that out of one billion votes cast in all American elections between 2000 and 2014, there 
> were 31 possible cases of impersonation fraud. Other violations — like absentee ballot fraud, multiple voting and 
> registration fraud — are also exceedingly rare. So why do so many people continue to believe this falsehood?
>
> Credit for this mass deception goes to Republican lawmakers, who have for years pushed a fake story about voter 
> fraud, and thus the necessity of voter ID laws, in an effort to reduce voting among specific groups of 
> Democratic-leaning voters. Those groups — mainly minorities, the poor and students — are less likely to have the 
> required forms of identification.
>
> Behind closed doors, some Republicans freely admit that stoking false fears of electoral fraud is part of their 
> political strategy. In a recently disclosed email from 2011, a Republican lobbyist in Wisconsin wrote to colleagues 
> about a very close election for a seat on the State Supreme Court. “Do we need to start messaging ‘widespread reports 
> of election fraud’ so we are positively set up for the recount regardless of the final number?” he wrote. “I 
> obviously think we should.”
>
> Sometimes they acknowledge it publicly. In 2012, a former Florida Republican Party chairman, Jim Greer, told The Palm 
> Beach Post that voter ID laws and cutbacks in early voting are “done for one reason and one reason only” — to 
> suppress Democratic turnout. Consultants, Mr. Greer said, “never came in to see me and tell me we had a fraud issue. 
> It’s all a marketing ploy.”
>
> The ploy works. During the 2012 election, voter ID laws in Kansas and Tennessee reduced turnout by about 2 percent, 
> or about 122,000 votes, according to a 2014 analysis by the Government Accountability Office. Turnout fell the most 
> among young people, African-Americans and newly registered voters. Another study analyzing elections from 2006 
> through 2014 found that voting by eligible minority citizens decreased significantly in states with voter ID laws and 
> “that the racial turnout gap doubles or triples in states” with those laws.
>
> There are plenty of shortcomings in the American voting system, but most are a result of outdated machines, 
> insufficient resources or human error — not intentional fraud. All of these are made only worse by shutting down 
> polling places or eliminating early voting hours, measures frequently supported by Republican legislators.
>
> [snip]
>
> Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>



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