Critics of voter ID and other laws cracking down on voter fraud claim they’re unnecessary because fraud is nonexistent. For instance, Brennan Center attorneys Michael Waldman and Justin Levitt claimed last year: “A person casting two votes risks jail time and a fine for minimal gain. Proven voter fraud, statistically, happens about as often as death by lightning strike.”
Well, lightning is suddenly all over Cincinnati, Ohio. The Hamilton County Board of Elections is investigating 19 possible cases of alleged voter fraud that occurred when Ohio was a focal point of the 2012 presidential election. A total of 19 voters and nine witnesses are part of the probe.
Democrat Melowese Richardson has been an official poll worker for the last quarter century and registered thousands of people to vote last year. She candidly admitted to Cincinnati’s Channel 9 this week that she voted twice in the last election.
This is how Channel 9′s website summarized the case:
According to county documents, Richardson’s absentee ballot was accepted on Nov. 1, 2012 along with her signature. On Nov. 11, she told an official she also voted at a precinct because she was afraid her absentee ballot would not be counted in time.
“There’s absolutely no intent on my part to commit voter fraud,” said Richardson. . . .
The board’s documents also state that Richardson was allegedly disruptive and hid things from other poll workers on Election Day after another female worker reported she was intimidated by Richardson. . . .
During the investigation it was also discovered that her granddaughter, India Richardson, who was a first time voter in the 2012 election, cast two ballots in November.
Richardson insists she has done nothing wrong and promises to contest the charges: “I’ll fight it for Mr. Obama and for Mr. Obama’s right to sit as president of the United States.”
But, of course, as you know there is no voter fraud. Pay no attention to that lightning coming out of Ohio.
claim they’re unnecessary because fraud is nonexistent
As an example of someone claiming it is nonexistent:
Proven voter fraud, statistically, happens about as often as death by lightning strike.
This is the type of groundbreaking journalism that wins Peabody awards, folks. Keep an eye on this rising star... John Fund is going to be a household name in no time.
"Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead." ~Charles Bukowski
Voter fraud is likely happening in California where the Democrats recently gained a super-majority in both the State Assembly and the State Senate there.
Get out of the bubble already, and stop making up excuses as to why you guys represent a minority and can't win these "landslide" victories your pundits keep predicting. It has nothing to do with voter fraud. Every investigation on the subject has found that it doesn't exist. At least not to any degree that would justify the legislative measures Republicans were pushing, which were just their way of suppressing Democrat votes.
So we have 19 allegations of voter fraud in Ohio, of which there is a greater than zero chance one will prove to be true in a way that voter ID could plausibly stop, though the one cited case by the article is not such an example.
Yes, that level of voter fraud justifies unequally burdening hundreds of thousands of voters in a way that coincidentally strongly favors the political party pushing the ID laws.
A total of 19 voters and nine witnesses are part of the probe.
Wow, this is it. The smoking gun. 19 votes that MAY have been cast fraudulently.
Bcspace, you don't rig an election by voting twice. (Would you risk going to jail to cast ONE more vote?) A much better way to distort the electoral process is by disenfranchisng voters, or coming up with new ways to allocate electoral votes so that the majority doesn't win.
And we know who's doing that...
"The great problem of any civilization is how to rejuvenate itself without rebarbarization." - Will Durant "We've kept more promises than we've even made" - Donald Trump "Of what meaning is the world without mind? The question cannot exist." - Edwin Land
Voting twice under the same name isn't something that is prevented by voter ID. Voter ID is supposed to make it a little more difficult to vote under multiple registered voter names. And yes, a single vote is of incredibly low value in an election. Risking serious penalties for it is idiotic, which is why voter fraud is very rare. If you're trying to rig an election, election fraud or now standard voter caging and suppression tactics Republicans sadly now habitually use and cheer on are the way to go.
Considering that she voted twice for President in a crucial battleground State, her two votes for President were worth a whole lot more in this Presidential election, then someone who voted for President only once either in Colorado or Texas.
The Country of Mexico has an National Voter ID Law.
Brackite wrote:Considering that she voted twice for President in a crucial battleground State, her two votes for President were worth a whole lot more in this Presidential election, then someone who voted for President only once either in Colorado or Texas.
So two times next to nothing? A single vote in the Ohio presidential election represented virtually no influence on the national outcome. Her case wouldn't be prevented by voter ID. She voted using her own name each time. Her story of stupidly trying to make sure her vote was really counted is plausible. She was caught easily because of that. Increasing the ID requirement while she votes with her own name each time doesn't change anything.
The Country of Mexico has an National Voter ID Law.
The subtext here seems to be, "See, even backwards, Mexican filled Mexico has voter ID, so we should too!" Unfortunately, the other subtext is that the US should be modeling its election system on Mexico. Why? Who knows. You don't say. Apparently the fact that Mexico does something is supposed to be sufficient to persuade us that the United States should too. That's not much of an argument.
