Democrats Dismiss Voter-Fraud Worries, but Reality Intrudes

Surprise: 'Non-Existent' Voter Fraud Strikes Again, in Four States

Literally every time I write about voter fraud, or a judge up-ends a popular and democratically-enacted voter ID law, lefties come out of the woodwork to insist that such measures amount to racist "voter suppression," cynically masquerading as a policy solution to a problem that doesn't exist in reality. While some on the Right dooverplay the threat and extent of fraud -- an impulse that can feed counter-productive, conspiratorial thinking -- the notion that it's a totally fake problem is just patently false. Liberals must be challenged aggressively every time they make this claim: Fraud absolutely exists, and they're apparently willing to tolerate it. Why?Setting aside the new examples for a moment, feel free to go back and check out these examples from Florida, North Carolina, California, and Ohio -- among many others. I needn't remind you that three of those are battleground states. Now, onto the latest instances, as flagged and summarized at the Daily Signal:

Kentucky:
Ruth Robinson, the former mayor of Martin, Kentucky, was sentenced to 90 months’ imprisonment on a variety of charges that included vote buying, identity theft, and fraud. With specific regard to the election charges, Robinson and co-conspirators James “Red” Robinson and James Steven Robinson threatened and intimidated residents of Martin in the run-up to the 2012 election, in which Robinson was seeking re-election. The cabal targeted residents living in public housing or in properties Robinson owned, threatening them with eviction if they did not sign absentee ballots the Robinsons had already filled out.

Texas:
Guadalupe Rivera and Graciela Sanchez illegally “assisted” absentee voters in Rivera’s 2013 re-election bid for city commissioner. Rivera won the election by 16 votes, but the result was invalidated after a judge determined that 30 absentee ballots had been submitted illegally. Rivera pleaded guilty to one count of providing illegal assistance to a voter and was sentenced to one year of probation and a $500 fine.

Iowa (this woman should move to Virginia):
Erin Venessa Leeper registered and voted in a 2015 school board election. As a convicted felon, however, she was ineligible to do so, and pleaded guilty to perjury last May. She was ordered to pay a $750 fine, plus $240 in court costs, and was sentenced to a suspended five-year prison term and two years of probation.


Wisconsin:
Robert Monroe pleaded no contest to 13 counts of voter fraud, making him the worst duplicate voter in state history, according to Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf...Monroe will serve up to a year in jail, in addition to a suspended three-year prison sentence, five years’ probation, 300 hours of community service, and a $5,000 fine.


Click through for more details. The Heritage Foundation has compiled a database of hundreds of fraud cases nationwide -- and those only count the people who were caught. Requiring that voters prove that they are who they say they are is common sense. The concept enjoys lopsided support across a wide ideological spectrum. Voter ID laws aren't a silver bullet to stop all fraud, obviously, and elements of some legislation sometimes push too far in ways that deserve scrutiny. But in general, they represent a reasonable and sensible safeguard against illegal voting, and claims of discriminatory and disparate racial impact are overblown. The Left's effective pro-fraud stance is both wildly unpopular and wrong. This is a worthwhile and winnable political fight to wage -- and if the courts overreach on this front by flouting clear Supreme Court precedent, they should be criticized harshly. Pointing to robed lawyers overturning overwhelmingly-supported voter integrity laws is a fairly straightforward method of illustrating and attacking judicial activism. Public opinion has historically constrained the courts on a number of occasions, plus it's a potent election issue. I'll leave you with these flashbacks:












http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guyben...t-voter-fraud-strikes-in-four-states-n2206947
 
Four in Five Americans Support Voter ID Laws, Early Voting
by Justin McCarthy

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • 63% of Americans support automatic voter registration
  • Democrats (85%) most likely to favor early voting
  • Republicans overwhelmingly support voter ID laws (95%)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As partisan-fueled court battles over state voting laws are poised to shape the political landscape in 2016 and beyond, new Gallup research shows four in five Americans support both early voting and voter ID laws. A smaller majority of 63% support automatic voter registration.

Americans' Support for Election Law Policies
In general, do you favor or oppose each of the following election law policies?

Early voting, which gives all voters the chance to cast their ballot
prior to Election Day
Favor: 80%
Oppose: 18%
Requiring all voters to provide photo identification at their voting
place in order to vote
Favor: 80%
Oppose: 19%
Automatic voter registration, whereby citizens are automatically
registered to vote
Favor: 63%
Oppose: 34%
GALLUP, AUG. 15-16, 2016


These data come from an Aug. 15-16 Gallup poll.

While providing early voting opportunities and requiring voters to show photo identification at polling stations are popular among a majority of Americans, both are contentiously debated by party leaders and are being contested in state courts. Most recently, a federal judge in Ohio ruled against limiting early voting, saying the move would discriminate against black voters. There are electorally strategic reasons as to why each major political party has a stake in the two contested policies.

Majorities of Democrats and Republicans support early voting, but the option finds more favor among Democrats (85%) than Republicans (74%). Early voting typically benefits Democratic candidates, who have performed well electorally among early voters in many states that allow the option. Blacks and lower-income Americans -- key Democratic support blocs -- disproportionately opt to vote early.

Americans' Support for Election Law Policies, by Party
Do you favor or oppose each of the following election law policies? (% Favor)
Early voting Photo ID requirement Automatic voter registration
% % %
Republicans 74 95 51
Independents 80 83 58
Democrats 85 63 80
GALLUP, AUG. 15-16, 2016


Studies have shown that voter ID laws reduce voting among blacks and young adults, who tend to vote Democratic. Many Republican leaders and Republican state legislatures have worked to put them into law. While majorities of Republicans and Democrats favor voter ID laws, Republicans (95%) overwhelmingly support them. Democratic support is more tepid, at 63%. GOP-led states have been the most active proponents of voter ID laws. Republicans who have championed these laws claim they prevent voter fraud, while opponents argue that there are too few cases to justify the legislation.

Meanwhile, a majority of U.S. adults (63%) also favor automatic voter registration, whereby citizens are automatically registered to vote when they do business with the Department of Motor Vehicles or certain other state agencies. This policy, which Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton advocated about a year before her party included it in its official 2016 platform, has been implemented in five states. Although Democrats (80%) are more likely than Republicans (51%) to favor the idea, in April, the Republican-controlled legislature of West Virginia made the state the third to enact automatic voter registration.

Majorities Among Racial Groups, Regions Support Election Laws

Though many of the arguments for early voting and against voter ID laws frequently cite minorities' voting access, nonwhites' views of the two policies don't differ markedly from those of whites. Seventy-seven percent of nonwhites favor both policies, while whites favor each at 81%. Nonwhites are, however, more likely to support automatic voter registration (71%) than are whites (59%).

More than four in five residents of the Midwest, South and West, regions where at least half of states have early voting, support the policy. The East, where the policy is favored least (71%), is unique in that only the District of Columbia and two states -- Maryland and West Virginia -- have a formal process of early voting.

But some states in the region offer alternatives to formal early voting. Three other Eastern states -- Maine, New Jersey and Vermont -- have what the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) refers to as "in-person absentee" voting. This is a less formal process of early voting in which a voter can apply in person for an absentee ballot and immediately cast that ballot before an election. In Massachusetts, early voting is allowed in even-year elections. The region's most populous states, New York and Pennsylvania, have no form of early voting.

Voter ID laws are most popular among residents living in the South (84%) and Midwest (84%), the regions in which eight of the strictest state voter ID laws are enforced, according to the NCSL. Nationally, election laws requiring voter identification exist -- with some variation of the requirement -- in 34 states, 33 of which are in effect for the 2016 election. West Virginia's law goes into effect in 2018.

Americans' Support for Election Law Policies, by Race and Region
Do you favor or oppose each of the following election law policies? (% Favor)
Early voting Photo ID requirement Automatic voter registration
% % %
Whites 81 81 59
Nonwhites 77 77 71
East 71 73 69
Midwest 83 84 56
South 82 84 60
West 81 78 66
GALLUP, AUG. 15-16, 2016


Automatic voter registration is most popular in the East (69%) and West (66%), the only regions in which states have enacted it -- including Oregon and California in the West, and Connecticut, Vermont and West Virginia in the East.

The number of states offering automatic voter registration could increase nearly seven-fold, however. In 2016, 29 states and the District of Columbia have considered measures that would put in place some form of the policy.

Majority of Republicans View Voter Fraud as a 'Major' Problem

The survey also asked Americans about their general concern that ineligible voters would cast votes, and that eligible voters would be kept from casting theirs. Americans are fairly split on their degree of concern about votes being cast by people who, by law, are not eligible to vote. More than a third view it as a major problem (36%), while nearly as many view it as either a minor problem (32%) or not a problem at all (29%).

A majority of Republicans (52%) perceive voter fraud as a major problem, which is reflected in the policy stances of many GOP state governors. By contrast, just 26% of Democrats expect ineligible persons voting to be a major problem this year. Southerners (42%) are more likely than those in other regions to view it as a major problem. The South is the most Republican region in the country, and the only region where some variation of a voter ID law is in effect in every state.

Concerns About Voter Fraud and Eligible Voters Not Being Allowed to Vote
In this year's election, do you think each of the following will be a major problem, a minor problem or not a problem at all across the country? (% Major problem)
Votes being cast by people not eligible to vote Eligible voters not being allowed to cast a vote
% %
U.S. adults 36 32
Republicans 52 22
Independents 33 31
Democrats 26 40
Whites 37 25
Nonwhites 35 46
East 34 35
Midwest 34 26
South 42 32
West 33 32
GALLUP, AUG. 15-16, 2016


The poll finds a bit narrower partisan gap over the issue of eligible voters not being allowed to cast a vote. Four in 10 Democrats, versus two in 10 Republicans, say keeping eligible voters from voting is a major problem. Mirroring these partisan attitudes, nonwhites are more likely than whites to say it is a problem.

Bottom Line

Despite widespread public support for early voting and voter ID laws -- including majority support among partisans on both sides -- the two parties' leaders often have strong preferences for one and not the other. The political squabbling over efforts to pass or restrict these laws in many states is therefore not representative of public opinion.

A smaller majority of Americans favor automatic voter registration, which could become more popular in the future as more states become acquainted with it. This is likely, as dozens of states have considered the policy in 2016.

In sum, Americans want easier processes for registering to vote and casting their ballots, as well as stronger checks against fraud.

Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Aug. 15-16, 2016, with a random sample of 1,013 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

View complete question responses and trends.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/194741/four-five-americans-support-voter-laws-early-voting.aspx
 
The number of Republicans who are accidentally telling the truth about voter-ID laws continues to grow. Right Wing Watch reported yesterday:
Jim DeMint, the former South Carolina senator and Tea Party firebrand who is now the president of the Heritage Foundation, became the latest in a string of conservatives to admit that restrictive voting laws such as voter ID requirements are an attempt to help Republicans win elections, telling a St. Louis radio host yesterday that voter ID laws help elect “more conservative candidates.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/accidental-republican-candor-about-voter-id-laws


Oh, but this another one of those facts that will called "Kool Aid" by the rabid righties.
 
futurecurrents said:
The number of Republicans who are accidentally telling the truth about voter-ID laws continues to grow. Right Wing Watch reported yesterday:
Jim DeMint, the former South Carolina senator and Tea Party firebrand who is now the president of the Heritage Foundation, became the latest in a string of conservatives to admit that restrictive voting laws such as voter ID requirements are an attempt to help Republicans win elections, telling a St. Louis radio host yesterday that voter ID laws help elect “more conservative candidates.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/accidental-republican-candor-about-voter-id-laws


Oh, but this another one of those facts that will called "Kool Aid" by the rabid righties.
More...

Yet at the same time Democrats have admitted that their expansion of early voting to be over many weeks and placement of early voting locations strictly in Democratic neighborhoods is only done to tilt the elections in many states for Democratic wins.

While in parallel the Democrats have admitted they do everything possible to hobble state election boards from pursuing voter fraud complaints.
 
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https://www.reddit.com/r/HillaryFor...s_is_what_a_stolen_election_looks_like_24_of/
 
Americans Affirm Voter ID Laws
By Jan LaRue
If photo ID laws are the bane to minority voting rights that leftists and assorted federal judges claim, you’d expect the public to agree. Not even close.

Eighty percent of Americans, white and nonwhite across party lines support photo ID laws, according to a Gallup poll taken Aug. 15-16:

Nonwhite: 77%
Republicans: 93%
Independents: 83%
Democrats: 63%
Last July, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that Texas’ “strict photo ID law” discriminated against or disproportionately affected black and Latino voters who allegedly face hardships in obtaining the necessary documents, which include any of the following:

Election identification certificate
Dept. of Public Safety personal ID card
U.S. military ID
U.S. citizenship certificate
U.S. passport
License to carry a concealed handgun issued by the Department of Public Safety
The National Conference of State Legislatures website provides detailed information on each state’s voter ID law as of Aug. 19.

While waiting in line to vote in 2014, in one of the most conservative counties in Texas, I observed a diverse group of adults of all ages and various income brackets, including whites, blacks, Latinos, and Asians, some disabled, produce a photo ID and proceed to vote without the slightest hitch.

While writing this, I got a phone call from a doctor’s office, advising me to bring my photo ID to my appointment. This is becoming oppressive. I had to show my photo ID last week to get a mammogram and to obtain a prescription for a controlled substance a few weeks ago.

Have they not learned from the Obama administration that health care is a right? Is it because I’m a woman? Hillary, call the foundation. Your check’s in the mail.

Back to Gallup. Thirty-six percent of respondents think that voter fraud will be a “major problem” across the country. Apparently, they didn’t poll the 5th Circuit.

Back in 2008, six of nine U.S. Supreme Court justices, including John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy, who could find invidious discrimination among the Muppets, concluded that Indiana’s photo ID requirement was closely related to Indiana's legitimate state interests in preventing voter fraud. The slight burden the law imposed on voters' rights did not outweigh these interests, which the Court characterized as "neutral and nondiscriminatory."

Contrary to claims of opponents, minority voter participation has increased in states with photo ID laws.

Nonetheless, President Obama’s Department of Justice, the ACLU, and a host of leftist organizations continue their crusade against photo ID laws, which they liken to images of KKK thugs with billy clubs menacing a polling place in Dixie, circa 1960.

But when it came to billy-club-armed New Black Panthers menacing a Philadelphia precinct in 2008, not to worry. Obama’s DOJ dismissed the voter-intimidation case against the Panthers in 2009, as recounted by J. Christian Adams, one of the DOJ attorneys who prosecuted the case and resigned in protest when it was dismissed.

As an aside, catch the irony when the Panther with a billy club asks a reporter for his ID. It’s just so special.

Speaking of felons, Hillary Clinton’s former consigliere, Terry McAuliffe, governor of Virginia, is on a mission to restore the voting rights of more than 200,000 felons in time for the November election. He claims to be reviewing each of their cases individually, after the Virginia Supreme Court held that he violated the Virginia Constitution by issuing an executive order covering 206,000 ex-felons. According to McAuliffe:

"These individuals are gainfully employed, they send their children and their grandchildren to our schools, they shop in our grocery stores and they pay taxes. I am not content to condemn them for eternity as inferior, second-class citizens."

It matters not to McAuliffe if any of them are dead, committed murder or rape, are behind in spousal or child support, are wanted for a new crime, here illegally, or belong to a criminal gang. By the way, McAuliffe says he doesn’t have the constitutional authority to restore their right to own a firearm.

Here’s a sticky wicket for McAuliffe mentioned by John R. Lott, a crime research expert. Article II, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution states that voting rights can’t be restored unless civil rights are restored:

No person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote unless his civil rights have been restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority.

How long before a McAuliffe-favored-felon seeks a court order restoring his right to own a gun?

Tell us, Governor. Will you disenfranchise them or arm them? Maybe Gallup can take a poll of Virginians.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/08/americans_affirm_voter_id_laws.html
 
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