Another Republican Myth dies a horrible, tragic death...

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Cypress

Well-known member
April 12, 2007

In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud

By ERIC LIPTON and IAN URBINA

WASHINGTON, April 11 — Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections, according to court records and interviews.

Although Republican activists have repeatedly said fraud is so widespread that it has corrupted the political process and, possibly, cost the party election victories, about 120 people have been charged and 86 convicted as of last year.

Most of those charged have been Democrats, voting records show. Many of those charged by the Justice Department appear to have mistakenly filled out registration forms or misunderstood eligibility rules, a review of court records and interviews with prosecutors and defense lawyers show.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/w...&ex=1176955200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print
 
Hmmmm.... I wonder if this would effect the "he stole Ohio" crowd. It seems that it also kills a lefty "myth" as well.
 
This voter fraud BS has always been a big diversion to deflect attention away from actual, election fraud.

Cypress said:
April 12, 2007

In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud

By ERIC LIPTON and IAN URBINA

WASHINGTON, April 11 — Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections, according to court records and interviews.

Although Republican activists have repeatedly said fraud is so widespread that it has corrupted the political process and, possibly, cost the party election victories, about 120 people have been charged and 86 convicted as of last year.

Most of those charged have been Democrats, voting records show. Many of those charged by the Justice Department appear to have mistakenly filled out registration forms or misunderstood eligibility rules, a review of court records and interviews with prosecutors and defense lawyers show.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/w...&ex=1176955200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print
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Damocles said:
Hmmmm.... I wonder if this would effect the "he stole Ohio" crowd. It seems that it also kills a lefty "myth" as well.
Click to expand...


that's a different issue.

Voter fraud, in this context, refers to people misreprenting themselves, or pretending to be someone else at the polling place. Perhaps even trying to vote two or three times.

The allegations in Ohio and elsewhere, were election fraud. Where the political, or party, apparatus intentionally cleansed voter rolls, and intentially tried to depress turnout. In effect, intentionally disenfranchising voters.
 
Cypress said:
that's a different issue.

Voter fraud, in this context, refers to people misreprenting themselves, or pretending to be someone else at the polling place. Perhaps even trying to vote two or three times.

The allegations in Ohio and elsewhere, were election fraud. Where the political, or party, apparatus intentionally cleansed voter rolls, and intentially tried to depress turnout. In effect, intentionally disenfranchising voters.
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And historically, there has always been far more election fraud in this country, than there has been voter fraud.

Still is.
 
Darla said:
And historically, there has always been far more election fraud in this country, than there has been voter fraud.

Still is.
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Yes.

In fact, I think it's pretty easy to walk on the edge of the law, and depress voter turnout in constituencies that aren't likely to vote for you, without actually crossing the legal threshold and actually breaking the law.


I think in many cases, its hard to prove criminal wrongdoing, in these types of cases.
 
IHateGovernment said:
There's going to be high turnout. Democrats vote on Wednesday.
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Exactly.

Or, an election official can move a polling place at the last minute, so when people show up, it's not there.

In order to prove criminal wrong doing, you'd have to show that the precinct official knowingly intended to disenfranchise voters. But, it would be easy for the official to credibly claim that "traffic problems", or some such nonsense, was the reason they had to move the polling place.
 
I know for a fact that no matter how long before the election they notify the voters of the change there is a large amount of people that show up at the wrong place.

We consolidated the precincts so that we only use a third of the polling places, and have been doing it for two elections now. I gaurantee at the next election we'll still have about 5% that come in to the wrong polling place and say, "This is where we always have voted!"
 
"I gaurantee at the next election we'll still have about 5% that come in to the wrong polling place and say, "This is where we always have voted!""

Yes... it is called the idiot factor.... but of course the government is to blame for the voters stupidity.
 
Superfreak said:
"I gaurantee at the next election we'll still have about 5% that come in to the wrong polling place and say, "This is where we always have voted!""

Yes... it is called the idiot factor.... but of course the government is to blame for the voters stupidity.
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This actually happened to me last election. They changed the polling place -- which had been at the local high school half a block from my house for about 20 years, apparently -- AFTER the sample ballots had been printed. That means our sample ballots had the wrong polling address on them. Not that I looked, you understand: I thought I knew where the poll was located. I learned all of this after the fact.

Bottom line is that, on election night, dozens of people were wandering around at the old polling place, completely confused and, in many cases, pissed off. I know for a fact that at least half a dozen went home in disgust. I was pissed off enough to go home, check the county's web site, find the revised location and go back out to tell everyone milling around the old polling place.

In other words, it doesn't just happen to stupid people. :)
 
In other words, it doesn't just happen to stupid people.
//
Nope , because apparently we have some stupid people running the elections.

When I lived in FL, My polling place was in a church!
 
uscitizen said:
In other words, it doesn't just happen to stupid people.
//
Nope , because apparently we have some stupid people running the elections.

When I lived in FL, My polling place was in a church!
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Yeah, that always kind of bugs me. At my last home actually in San Francisco itself, my polling place was in the local Congregationalist church's basement. They had the good graces to cover up all of the religious sloganeering and iconography with blankets, sheets and paper though.
 
OrnotBitwise said:
This actually happened to me last election. They changed the polling place -- which had been at the local high school half a block from my house for about 20 years, apparently -- AFTER the sample ballots had been printed. That means our sample ballots had the wrong polling address on them. Not that I looked, you understand: I thought I knew where the poll was located. I learned all of this after the fact.

Bottom line is that, on election night, dozens of people were wandering around at the old polling place, completely confused and, in many cases, pissed off. I know for a fact that at least half a dozen went home in disgust. I was pissed off enough to go home, check the county's web site, find the revised location and go back out to tell everyone milling around the old polling place.

In other words, it doesn't just happen to stupid people. :)
Click to expand...
However, sample ballots are not the official notification. At least not here. Anyway, the idea that a Democratically controlled county changed the polling places to make it harder for Democrats to vote is preposterous. The State doesn't run things at that level. County officials set such things. Saying that the officials at Dade County want democrats to have a hard time to vote is simply ridiculous.

In our county we still go back to unused sites and put up signs with the new polling place, and will again even though it is six years since we used them.

People don't take to change well.

Notification is sent in the form of postcards with the address. Often people will bring them in to "prove" it says the wrong place and when we point out the address they are stunned. They are almost always wrong, I call it "customer mentality". When people are not responsible for things they leave their common sense in their car.

They'll come into a place that has huge blinking neon signs showing them where the restroom is and ask people where the restroom is, they'll pass within two feet of a sign informing them of something and say that you posted no signs...

You get the picture.
 
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