Posted on 10/27/2004 4:11:39 PM PDT by rhema
If anyone's expecting to go to bed early on Nov. 2, they should read "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy," by John Fund. The intrepid Wall Street Journal columnist has done his homework in detailing how partisan politics is undermining our elections.
One problem is that we make voting too easy. Indeed, Mexico has a more secure voter-registration system than we do. Voters there must show a photo ID and be verified with an electronic thumbprint before they can vote.
How well does the Mexican system work? It resulted in the 2000 election of Vicente Fox, "the first opposition party candidate to be elected president in seventy years," Fund notes.
How does the U.S. system compare? Horribly.
The biggest obstacle to any sensible reform is the fundamentally different way in which Democrats and Republicans look at elections.
"Democrats gravitate to the view that the most important value is empowering people to exercise their democratic rights," Fund writes. "Republicans tend to pay more attention to the rule of law and the standards and procedures that govern elections."
While both goals are laudable, Democrats do significant damage by favoring turnout over legitimacy. For instance, a proposal in California argued that illegal aliens should be allowed to vote in school board elections because their children attend public schools. In the 2002 South Dakota Senate race, Democratic Party employee Maka Duta forged signatures on registration forms and absentee ballots.
"If I erred … I erred on the side of angels," she said.
"In other words, doing the devil's work of forging voter signatures is somehow understandable given her angelic goal of increasing voter turnout," Fund rightly notes.
Democrats have also done significant damage by continuing to perpetuate the twin myths that millions of blacks were disenfranchised in the 2000 election and that the election was illegally given to George Bush by the Supreme Court.
Charges of black disenfranchisement in Florida in 2000 "have proved baseless," Fund writes, and Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno agrees with him. But that hasn't stopped even John Kerry from demagoguing on the issue.
As for the Supreme Court "giving" the election to Bush, "Such assertions are simply not supported by the facts," Fund writes. Indeed, an examination of the Florida recount by USA Today, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe and the New York Times — even using counts most favorable to Gore — all found that George Bush won Florida.
But what's most disturbing is that the Motor Voter Law, which has been widely hailed a success, is widely used to commit voter fraud. Under the law, states must register anyone applying for a driver's license or welfare benefits, offer mail-in registration (with no ID requirement), and it forbids government workers from challenging new registrants.
Registration has soared under Motor Voter, but Fund thinks maybe a little too much. Rolls in many cities now exceed the Census population of those 18 and older. In Philadelphia, the population declined by 13 percent but voter rolls rose by 24 percent. In California, mail-in forms were used to register fictitious people — or pets! — who then voted by absentee ballot.
It's too bad the prospects for voting reform are so dim, because it wouldn't be that hard to do. Simply requiring that voters show ID would go a long way toward stemming voter fraud. Democrats argue that it would intimidate non-English speakers and effectively disenfranchise people — particularly minorities. But as Fund correctly notes, in 1997 the FDA mandated that retailers demand ID for cigarettes, but the same year the Justice Department said Louisiana couldn't ask the same from voters.
Fund isn't in favor of provisional balloting, which is this year's hot topic and basically allows anyone to walk up to the polls and vote, but holds those votes until they can be validated. What would work better is a central registration office in each state. That way, someone from St. Paul walking into a polling place in Bemidji could be quickly verified.
While these are sensible proposals, Fund believes it'll take a debacle bigger than Florida 2000 to push any meaningful reform.
"Should 'anything goes' continue to be ballot bywords, the nation may wake to another crisis even bigger than the 2000 Florida folly," Fund writes. "Perhaps then it will demand to know who subverted the safeguards in its election laws."
In other words, put on an extra pot of coffee next Tuesday. It could be a long night.
Why is it that I am the only one who is concerned about this?
Exactly. And the Motor Voter Act is a big part of the problem. Get rid of that first, before we start in with newfangled technologies and rules. And we certainly don't need to be emulating Mexico.
Democrats.
They have a blue zone because they can control the vote and add as necessary in a tight race.
We do need reform. Showing ID at the polls would help but that won't stopped the registered dog or cat from voting absentee.
"...That way, someone from St. Paul walking
into a polling place in Bemidji
could be quickly verified. .."
- - -
I just don't understand how these 'provisional' ballots are supposed to work.
In this hypothetical case,
would the voter from St. Paul get to vote on the local issues on the Bimidji ballot?
Could a large number of folks from the city rush out to a
rural area and overwhelm the local voters on local issues?
It's sad - and another reason why perhaps the voting procedure/rules needs to be moved to the federal level whenever the year comes to select a President - that way we would have a standard that is even and the same in every state. It would, in my opinion, make every vote equal in an election where the President is selected -
The president serves as leader to the whole nation - so why not have federal guidelines that all states have to follow -
Just as defending the meaning of marriage - we are now faced with another issue - The Socialist Democrats are destroying everything American - and using every tactic to do it -
The race card.
Just a Canadian perspective,
I just heard a news segment on American ex-patriots living in Canada voting in this election - the guide with the ballot is 300 pages long - how complicated can it be to mark a ballot?
The voting system is Canada is so simple, I'm sure we'd be happy to give you advice - we have the same system nationwide that is used in all elections, municipal, provincial and federal - all you do is mark an X beside the candidate on a paper ballot, it is easy to read, anyone can mark an X, and they are tabulated at the end of the polling by some sort of machine/counter.
And this voter registration stuff - weird - the government has a special agency called Election Canada which prepares the voters list, again for all elections, once you are on you are on, for example election comes up, I get a card in the mail several weeks before the election date, it has the election date and my polling station. All I have to do is bring the card with me. If you aren't on the voters list the ennumerators go door to door for those addresses they have no voters listed or you can go to the government and get put on the voters list. None of this stuff with private groups trying to register voters where it is clear all the problems are. And I think you can be added to the voter's list if you show up with proper ID, I can't remember. I have no recollection of any problems with fraud, recounts in very close ridings but that is it.
The penalty for voting out of precinct could be in-ability to vote anything but statewide/national races.
You and I both carry Social Security Cards, Credit Cards, etc.
Why not a state issued Voter Card?
As electronic voting technology becomes trustworthy (which it certainly is NOT now) you could show up at any polling place and use your State Voter Card and have the system retrieve the proper ballot for you? Pie in the sky? No, happens every day on the internet today with Bank Accounts worth far more than one single vote.
There are three things needed to issue a reliable voter card.
1) appear in person to apply for the card.
2) Provide more than one form of government id with a
national clearinghouse (computerized) to make sure
its not duplicated.
3) Present card (and ID) to vote.
Fool proof? No. But way better than what we have today where any clown can vote?
Yost is a Pioneer Press editorial writer. Write him at myost@pioneerpress.com or at the Pioneer Press, 345 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55101.
2 Party Dictatorship, enough said.
Quote:" I just heard a news segment on American ex-patriots living in Canada voting in this election - the guide with the ballot is 300 pages long - how complicated can it be to mark a ballot?"
In truth that's the way it is most places in the US.
Maybe 10 races or Issues to decide National / State / Local / and ballot issues. Two minutes in the booth and you'r out.
Your problem in Canada is 1/10th the problem we have in the States in terms of size, and number, but somehow elections always come out just fine in both countries.
Hype. Fear-Mongering, and Fraud. That's what you are hearing today.
What author Yost may mean is that someone from St. Paul who's trying to vote illegally in Bemidji after casting a vote in St. Paul could be readily identified as a fraud.
what is preventing us? appearing as though we are disenfranchising the less fortunate... stupidest reason ever... how is asking for identification disenfranchising anybody? seriously... don't send me posts about how it's not fair to dead people, felons, illegals... there is nothing legitimate that prevents us from making needed changes...
Quote:"
It's sad - and another reason why perhaps the voting procedure/rules needs to be moved to the federal level whenever the year comes to select a President -"
Wrong Wrong Wrong.
WE the PEOPLE control elections thru our STATE governments.
not the FEDERAL government controlling elections. That's just wrong and dangerous on so many levels that I can't begin to address here.
The problem is just this:
No State in the Union lets you Get a Job, Board a Plane, or Drive a Car without proper ID and qualification. So why should you be allowed to VOTE by filling out a form pushed into your face by some street walker?
When a majority of the citizenry gets to the point
that they no longer have full faith and confidence
in the manner in which we select our leaders,
SOMETHING will happen.
When will that time be?
Perhaps as early as Nov. 3, 2004.
What will that something be?
Say hello to the national ID card.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.