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Voter Fraud Deniers Ignore the Facts

Barack Obama and Eric Holder should stop attacking states for protecting the integrity of America's elections

June 13, 2012

About Cleta Mitchell:

Cleta Mitchell is president of the Republican National Lawyers Association.

Twelve thousand noncitizens registered to vote in Colorado; apparently 5,000 of those voted in 2010. A recent report in North Carolina by James O'Keefe's Project Veritas (of ACORN-undercover expose` fame) compared records of registered voters to prospective jurors disqualified due to noncitizenship, but who then voted in North Carolina in 2010. The State of Florida is suing the Department of Homeland Security to obtain a list of noncitizens in order to purge the state's voter rolls before the 2012 election, and was just sued in return by the Barack Obama-Eric Holder Department of Justice with a lawsuit for purging its rolls, which is required by federal law.

[Peter Roff: Obama Administration's Texas Decision Invites Voter Fraud]

Despite the steady reports of election fraud cases, updated regularly on the Republican National Lawyers Association "Vote Fraud Map," there persists a left-wing, Democratic Party-led drumbeat of "vote fraud deniers," who ignore the cases and complain loudly that there is no vote fraud.

And since there is no vote fraud, there is no need to try to prevent it, according to the liberal mantra.

It is a federal crime for an illegal alien to register to vote or to vote in U.S. elections. Yet, rather than enforcing federal law, the Obama-Holder Department of Justice is intent upon punishing states that purge their rolls or enact laws requiring voter ID.

[Washington Whispers: ACLU Leader Says Voter ID Law Akin to Jim Crow-Era Law]

The Obama-Holder Department of Justice ignores the facts. Tennessee recently enacted a voter photo identification requirement. Its experience in its March primary demonstrates the fallacy of liberal opposition to voter ID. There were 645,775 votes cast in the Tennessee primary, and only 266 persons did not show a photo ID at the polls (including liberal activists protesting the law by appearing at the polls without a photo ID). Those 266 individuals were allowed to vote provisionally and if they returned with their photo ID, their ballots were counted. 112 of them did so, leaving only 154 voters of the 645,775 who did not return with a photo ID. That represents .023 percent of the total primary voters.

In America today, a photo ID is required to buy beer or cigarettes, get married, get on an airplane, or enter the Department of Justice to meet with Eric Holder.

Voter and election fraud does exist in America today. The Obama-Holder Department of Justice should be aggressively seeking to ensure the integrity of America's elections, instead of throwing punches at the states who are trying to do the department's job.

 

Tags:
elections,
fraud,
voters
Other Arguments
#1
#2

Yes — Voter fraud schemes can swing elections, and voter identification is a common-sense answer

STEVEN GREENHUT, Vice President of Journalism at the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

#4

No — Voter suppression is the real fraud in the U.S. election system

WENDY WEISER, Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice

#5
#6

No — Claims of fraud are a smokescreen that allows suppression of minority voting rights

HOWARD SIMON, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida

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