Bipartisan Voting Fraud

[_Bob Loblaw]

A Republican contractor is accused of throwing Democratic voter registration forms into the trash. Congressman Jim Moran (D-Virginia) is outraged:

http://www.nbcwashington.com/blogs/firs ... 79271.html

Meanwhile, Moran's son (and campaign field director) conspiring to commit voter fraud:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 77qP2Nai8#!

I thought voter fraud never happens, or something.

[_EAllusion]

Voter registration fraud is distinct from in-person voter fraud - a.k.a. voter fraud. It's the latter that is very rare.

[_Bob Loblaw]

Voter registration fraud is distinct from in-person voter fraud - a.k.a. voter fraud. It's the latter that is very rare.

How would one know? If, say, the guy in the video had succeeded in registering his list of inactive voters and had sent people to vote in their place, how would the polling place know if there were any in-person fraud? Not trying to be difficult, just wondering.

[_EAllusion]

Researchers are unable to even uncover more than a handful of voter fraud allegations in any given election. The logic is essentially that people slip up at least a certain % of the time, yet that rate of voter fraud in the criminal justice system is essentially zero even with election watchers all over the place. In your example, there are independent groups that pour over voter lists and cross-check them. That's why we are able to catch the more common voter registration fraud as often as we do. Obviously not everyone is getting caught, but some people are.

On a personal note, I know someone who got caught in (relatively benign) voter fraud. She claimed to be her sister because she didn't have her ID to register. She wouldn't have been caught if not for the fact that her sister also happened to vote in that election for the first time ever. This should happen from time to time in voter fraud attempts, and it almost never does. This implies that it is very, very rare.

The rarity makes sense when you consider that voter fraud carries a substantial penalty, but only yields one vote. It's like committing an armed robbery of a bank for a penny.

[_Bob Loblaw]

Here's the thing: Moran was instructing the guy how to commit in-person fraud by forging utility bills. This wasn't a case just of registration fraud but planned in-person fraud. Again, if the person had the utility bills and a list of people who don't vote, the likelihood of getting caught is pretty small.

[_EAllusion]

Hey, they found an example of actual voter fraud:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/0 ... 68999.html

There you go Bob. Though this is still incredibly rare as best anyone can tell.