Voter Fraud – A Myth or Reality?

I recently read that former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell criticized North Carolina’s voter ID law last Thursday and claimed voter fraud did not exist in a speech! He said , “You can say what you like, but there is no voter fraud”. He noted, “How can it be widespread and undetected?” I beg to differ with Secretary Powell. We all remember about the rabid Obama supporter and poll worker in Ohio who was recently sentenced to five years in prison for multiple counts of voter fraud?  In addition, don’t we all recall during last fall’s presidential election, the liberal left invited international observers to monitor potential voter suppression, and these same observers were stunned by a lack of fraud prevention controls? Even the liberal leaning European countries have more effective controls over their voting process than we do!

Requiring some official form of identification  to vote just makes good sense since these forms of identification are needed for every aspect of our daily life. Also, it is important to acknowledge that fraud in absentee ballots and voter registration are more prevalent than in voting. Voter ID supporters frequently cite ACORN (Association for Community Organization and Reform Now) as evidence that voter fraud is a problem. This group, which endorsed Barack Obama in 2008, became the target of conservative activist James O’Keefe, who produced videos that suggested ACORN employees were encouraging criminal behavior. The scandal resulted in at least 22 convictions in seven states and the collapse of the organization in 2010 after Congress and private donors pulled their funding of this group.

There is more fraud in absentee ballots and voter registration than any other categories. Previous analysis has shown 491 cases of absentee ballot fraud and 400 cases of registration fraud since 2000. Needless to say, a required photo ID at the polls would not have prevented these cases.

“The one issue I think is potentially important, though more or less ignored, is the overuse of absentee balloting, which provides far more opportunity for fraud and intimidation than on-site voter fraud,” said Daniel Lowenstein, a UCLA School of Law professor.

It is clear from the evidence above that more control over the voting process is worth the effort to ensure the integrity of the voter registration and voting processes.