Legal Commentary

Voter Suppression and Disenfranchisement, Not Fraud, Are the Real Issues

By Jeralyn

Two great resources for voter suppression and disenfranchisement information are the Brennan Center for Justice and Election Protection.

Their experts say the real issue is not fraud, but voter suppression and disenfranchisement.

Actual cases of voter fraud are minimal to non-existent. Here's a 2007 Demos report (pdf). [More...]

From an email I received from Brennan today (no link yet.)

Here is a quick update on voting rights and voter disenfranchisement stories from around the country. As voter fraud and ACORN stories have taken front stage the past few days, it is important to keep in mind that studies have consistently shown voter fraud (the actual voting more than once) incidents to be minimal to non-existent.

The issue is a diversion from the real issue of massive voter purges in which millions of voters could be disenfranchised. We need a system in which registration drives and the crush of new applications to be processed before Election Day are replaced by a more standard and logical process.

• Michigan: Yesterday, a federal judge ordered Michigan Secretary of State Terry Lynn Land to restore over 1,500 Michigan voters to the rolls. The ruling was that the voters were illegally purged either as a result of their voter ID cards returned as undeliverable, or because they applied for a driver’s license in another state.

• With early voting beginning across the country, officials are seeing record breaking turnout in Illinois and Montana, Washington State officials predict the highest Election Day turnout in 60 years, and Minnesota has seen new voter registrations skyrocket.

• ACORN. Read some of the more level-headed responses to allegations of voter fraud here, here, here, and here.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on October 14, 2008 (boomark / email).