This piece started out as a diatribe against Politico, after they published an article with a misleading headline, and content intending to convey some sort of urgency for a "problem" that is not a problem. But given the number of other “Media” outlets that did the same thing, it’s morphed into something else. Check out the Politico piece, with the striking headline “Report: 1.8 million dead registered to vote.” But realize this story was all over “the media” yesterday, including a number of liberal blogs and other outlets.
"The media" keeps on feeding the right wing’s meme; that us “lib’rulls” are trying to steal the government, so that we can install a Marxist regime, and take all the money from the rich and “redistribute” it to the poor. One way we’re supposedly trying to accomplish our overall “agenda” is by committing “voter fraud,” as exemplified by those reprobates at ACORN. Surely you remember ACORN; they’re the group that committed so much “voter fraud,” Andrew Breitbart, James O’Keefe and Hanna Giles were able to shut them down.
We have to work harder to fight that, because it's untrue and unfair, and even if people don't believe individual stories, they contribute to the overall meme the right wing is selling. This is the reason I smack people like Greenwald, Hamsher and Moore so hard; they help perpetuate this meme, which helps keep right wingers employed in government.
Before you read the first paragraph of the Politico story, remember Journalism 101. The first paragraph of any news story is supposed to summarize the content of the entire story. This is because most readers check out the first paragraph in order to know whether to read on.
The United States’s voter registration system is in chaos — with about 24 million registrations are no longer valid and nearly 2 million dead people still on voter rolls, according to a new report Tuesday.
That sure sounds dire, doesn’t it? Oh, my goodness! How can we have a system in which “nearly 2 million dead people” are allowed to vote?
Do you really wonder why so many people think “voter fraud” is a huge problem, when it isn’t.
There’s only one small problem with having 1.8 million (which really isn’t “nearly 2 million,” anyway) dead voters on the rolls, and that is, it makes it harder for the precinct looking up your registration on Election Day to find you. The only time it could possibly be considered “voter fraud” is if those dead folks were actually showing up to vote. As many of you know, my father passed away in late November, and may still be registered to vote in Arizona. But unless someone shows up claiming to be him, with his exact physical address at the ready (good luck with that!), voter fraud in his name is impossible.
The actual study referenced by this story (and a number of others) comes courtesy of the Pew Center on the States, and it can be accessed here. Strange thing; the report itself actually cites these figures to make the case that states need to upgrade their registration standards, not to insinuate that the voting system may be rigged because dead people vote. In actuality, the Pew Report doesn’t suggest voter fraud of any kind, a fact Politico saved until its fourth paragraph. But Politico isn't the only outlet trumpeting this “problem,” and insinuating "voter fraud" as a major problem. Following is a small sample of the articles dealing with this report:
ABC News: 24M Voter Registrations Invalid, Pew Reports
New York Times: Voter Rolls Are Rife With Inaccuracies, Report Finds
CBS News: Study: Voter Rolls Deeply Flawed
Las Vegas Sun: Pew report finds errors in voter registrations -- including dead people.
New York Daily News: 1.8 MILLION dead people still registered to vote in the U.S., study says
And my favorite: Investor’s Business Daily: Why Do Democrats Want to Protect Voter Fraud?
Each one of those stories sensationalizes the Pew Report’s findings somewhat, and warns us of the possibility that such inaccuracies could lead to dire consequences. The first paragraph of the New York Times piece above reads:
The nation’s voter registration rolls are in disarray, according to a report released Tuesday by the Pew Center on the States. The problems have the potential to affect the outcomes of local, state and federal elections.
Not to any significant degree. And certainly not any more than it has affected any past elections.
The IBD editorial asks the following question in its first paragraph:
A new study finds that nearly 2 million dead people remain on voter registration rolls. So tell us again why Democrats oppose voter ID laws that would help prevent these errant registrations from being exploited?
Two reasons, IBD; there’s no problem, and brandishing identification will do little more than bog down the process and discourage others from voting at all, because it'll be slowed to a crawl. But then, isn’t that the right wing’s intent? The only way they can win is by bringing down turnout.
We can be reasonably certain that the dead voters won’t show up at the polls, much as those “fake people” supposedly “registered” by ACORN never actually showed up at the polls in 2008. Someone may register “Mickey Mouse,” but that doesn’t mean “Mickey Mouse” will actually vote. Even in those states that don’t require voters show identification, poll workers can challenge a registration if “Mickey” does show up.
People move, they register in their new state, and don’t bother to cancel their voter registration at their previous place of residence. I suppose those few folks who moved to a different home in the same neighborhood could potentially vote twice, but that number is probably very low, and there is a likelihood that someone at the old precinct will remember them and that they moved, so that’s pretty risky. And most people put in changes of address with the Postal Service, so the Registrar will eventually catch up and remove that name from the rolls. I can’t imagine most people would want to risk federal prison to cast an extra vote in a place where they no longer live. Might a few people? Perhaps. But it would take a lot more work and expense than it’s worth for most people (irrational is the word that comes to mind, as you'll see in a minute).
Basically, we’re talking about imperfect record keeping, not a potentially massive fraud that could possibly push an election in one direction or another. "Voter fraud" is largely a non-issue; a fact that needs to be pushed a hell of a lot harder than stories about dead registered voters and people registered in both California and Illinois. If you don’t believe voter fraud is a non-issue, let me refer you to some actual experts:
Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law – “The Truth About Voter Fraud”
Summary
• Fraud by individual voters is both irrational and extremely rare.
• Many vivid anecdotes of purported voter fraud have been proven false or do not demonstrate fraud.
• Voter fraud is often conflated with other forms of election misconduct.
• Raising the unsubstantiated specter of mass voter fraud suits a particular policy agenda.
• Claims of voter fraud should be carefully tested before they become the basis for action.
Also read Salon, from October 2008: “Behind the GOP’s voter fraud hysteria”
Again; when you see or hear about claims of “voter fraud,” walk away laughing. And when “journalists” try to even imply that an imperfect registration system can lead to massive “voter fraud,” make that journalist tell you exactly why. If they simply say it, and offer no support for the contention, you know they're lying to you.
In this case, the claim is made in most of the above articles that the inability to get mail cold lead to “voter fraud.” Okay, how many people do you imagine get that sample ballot in the mail, spread it out before them, and study it in the first place?
There were 320 stories on this report on a Google News search, and let's face it; Google News isn't exactly LexisNexis. Why don’t we spend less time complaining and worrying about the non-issue of “voter fraud” and look at the only tragically significant number in the Pew Report:
Meanwhile, researchers estimate at least 51 million eligible U.S. citizens are unregistered, or more than 24 percent of the eligible population.
That is the most significant number in this study. We need to get more of these people registered and voting. We also need to make sure those who are registered show up at the polls on election day, and cast a vote. If we can get more people registered, and more people voting in every election day, progressives can’t lose. The number one strategy
But every time you say, or even imply, that registering to vote, and showing up at the polls is in some way a futile exercise and might not count, you discourage potential voters from showing up at the polls, and help the right wing in their quest to win the only way they know how; depress the turnout.
Stop helping them win. “Voter Fraud” has little impact on elections; certainly less impact on elections than depressing turnout. So stop it.
