A solution in search of a problem

by | Apr 4, 2014 | Editor's Blog, NC Politics, Voting Rights | 8 comments

And there you have it: More outrage in Wingnut World. A new report postulating large amounts of potential voting fraud has conservatives giddy. Before the conversation on this report even begins, several points must be established.

This legislature has no credibility on voting issues. Take Thom Goolsby, who called the report’s claims “outrageous,” “criminal,” and “wrong.” Goolsby is a white conservative from Alabama–a profile more associated with disenfranchisement than any other group. There’s no reason for people of good will to assume he and the other white, Southern reactionaries hailing this report have honest motives.

Further, the allegations they so confidently endorse are less damning when put into perspective. For example, the 35,750 figure simply represents people with the same name and birthday as one of millions of voters. I happen to have the same name as America’s top conspiracy theorist; does that prove that I voted in Texas? And given the number of transplanted voters in NC, it’s not surprising that 765 could have forgotten to cancel their previous registrations. That their information is documented in another state doesn’t prove they voted there, too.

Even if they all did, however, it still wouldn’t legitimize HB 589. Most of that law’s provisions don’t even pretend to fight voter fraud. Shrinking early voting, eliminating same day registration, et cetera, have nothing to do with verifying identities. They simply obstruct ballot access for the 4,504,000 voters the report doesn’t question.

Despite newfound hysteria, then, voter suppression remains a solution in search of a problem. It’s just that the search has intensified.

 

8 Comments

  1. BattleDem

    The republican controlled Board of Elections took over a year to come up with an incomplete ‘report’ that was spiced up with large numbers that only showed half the story, used a republican-owned company (Interstate Crosscheck) to supply the numbers, and provided no proof of voter fraud. What a ‘story’.

    • Thomas Ricks

      if a conservative is speaking, a conservative is lying.

  2. Alex Jones

    @PeteKaliner: I was invoking the possibility, per Kim Strach of BoE, that some people got left on the rolls elsewhere and were counted by accident. That seems at least as likely as a voter driving across the country to commit a felony.

    @Paleotek: I agree, they’ll probably find a few. But not very many. This type of investigation has a weak track record, to say the least.

    • Pete Kaliner (@PeteKaliner)

      Driving across the country? Absentee ballot can accomplish the intended outcome. So, could someone voting in the place of the person who moved away.

      As for the “possibility” of 765 people with same first name, last name, DATE of birth, and last four SSN…. sure… it’s possible there were 1,500 people that . Just not very probable.

      Also, your reply is reframing your initial premise – which was that these could be people who forgot to cancel their registrations and didn’t vote. The report states these 765 DID vote.

      • Thomas Mills

        So how does shortening early vote, denying students the use of state-sponsored ID cards or even voter ID prevent this type of fraud?

      • Alex Jones

        Apparently, you misunderstood my premise. What I meant by “doesn’t prove they voted there” was that they, themselves, may not have actively cast votes. In other words, that the votes in the report were the result of administrative errors. The Board of Elections’ executive director suggested that possibility.

        Your second paragraph contradicts your third. First you claim I’m saying the 765 were different voters who share most of the same info as NC residents. Then you acknowledge that I think they were the same people and got left on the rolls in their old states.

        As far as your first paragraph goes, are you aware that HB 589 LOOSENED absentee voting rules? And if you honestly think someone voted in the place of the person who moved away, you have a far more active imagination than I could ever hope for.

  3. Paleo Tek

    Developing sound public policy is hard. Shooting from the hip is not a good way to write laws. And The Law Of Unintended Consequences has a way of coming around to bite.

    I believe this report is actually capturing some real voter fraud. Certainly not all of it, probably less than half, but I think there’s a kernel of real fraud exposed here, The true irony of the situation is that this kind of fraud is almost certainly perpetuated more by Republican voters than by Democrats. Time will tell, but here’s why I think this:

    What they’re seeing is Snowbird Fraud. My bet is that these are older, more affluent voters who are wealthy enough to own a second home, and want their political influence in both locations. Gee, older more affluent voters, that sounds like the Republican base.

    So let’s see a good representation of the faces attached to these alleged frauds, along with ages and party affiliations. This is not in-person impersonation fraud. Poor people don’t have residences in two states. If snowbirds want to commit the crime of voter fraud, they should face the consequences.

    Of course, if this is Republican voter fraud, what we’ll hear from the angry voices on the right is …crickets…

  4. Pete Kaliner (@PeteKaliner)

    “And given the number of transplanted voters in NC, it’s not surprising that 765 could have forgotten to cancel their previous registrations.”

    Of course, this could be the case.
    And, of course, it doesn’t explain why the records show these 765 voted in multiple states in the 2012 election.

Related Posts

GET UPDATES

Get the latest posts from PoliticsNC delivered right to your inbox!

You have Successfully Subscribed!