Zaroc Stone
2008-08-11 01:36:17 UTC
The Right Way to Report Voter Fraud
Posted by Erin Ferns and Nathan Henderson-James, Project Vote at 5:00 PM on
August 8, 2008.
Behind accusations of voter fraud are efforts to stop underserved minorities
and young people from voting.
We spend a lot of time in these news updates showing how charges of voter
fraud are used to discredit voter participation efforts and prime the pump
for voter suppression efforts, such as the passage of voter ID bills,
pushing for proof of citizenship, engaging in draconian voter purge efforts,
and imposing sever restrictions on voter registration drives. We have also
spent a lot of time carefully delineating the politics behind these efforts,
starting with our March 2007 report The Politics Of Voter Fraud and
continuing on in these diaries to name but two venues.
What is striking about how the process of disenfranchisement and voter
suppression works is how much it relies upon the media to repeat and amplify
the breathless and hyperbolic accusations of so-called voter fraud against
voter registration drives. If journalists were to spend any time at all
investigating the sensational claims -- often made by people with a direct
partisan interest in the outcome of an election -- they would find that the
accusations are mostly taken out of context, are limited to a few instances,
and have never, ever, been proven to have resulted in any fraudulent vote
being cast.
Sadly, the history of this issue shows that it has been bereft of this kind
of basic journalism, even through the 2006 mid-term elections. This is
important because haphazard reporting of partisan claims of voter fraud
without checking the facts is how the media helps these voter suppression
efforts. These stories not only deter potential voters from getting on the
rolls, but, as noted above, inspire bad election reforms aimed at
disenfranchising voters, particularly those that are currently
underrepresented in the electorate.
A prime example of this kind of lazy journalism in recent weeks comes from
Las Vegas where local reporters simply repeated accusations of fraud made by
the Clark County clerk against ACORN without even bothering to contact ACORN
to see how their drive was being managed.
The group's registration drive has reached one million voters nationwide
[Full disclosure -- it is run under a Joint Effort Agreement with Project
Vote. -ed.] and, according to one article, election officials see "rampant
fraud" in the 2,000 - 3,000 cards submitted by the group each week in Las
Vegas. This week, the Associated Press reported that the state set up a
"voter fraud task force" to look for "election irregularities and instances
of questionable voter registration and intimidation," directly citing issues
with voter registration drives. Neither of these Nevada reports provided the
facts of voter fraud, what it is and how it relates to the voter
registration process. Most importantly, neither reports cite real examples
of the intentional casting of an illegal ballot -- the real definition of
voter fraud -- in the state.
However, it may be that the hard work Project Vote and others -- including
the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, DEMOS, and the
Advancement Project -- have engaged in over the past few years debunking the
voter fraud myth is beginning to change the way journalists approach these
stories.
This week, several publications broke this trend by debunking recent
Virginia GOP allegations of widespread voter fraud as a result of massive
voter registration drives that primarily target youth, low income and
minority communities -- constituencies that have a long history of being
underrepresented on the voting rolls and in the voting booth.
Since the beginning of the year, an unprecedented 147,000 people -- "almost
half under the age of 25" -- registered to vote in Virginia, according to
Monday's Washington Post lead editorial. Pointing to a recent incident where
three members of the Community Voting Project were arrested for falsifying
voter registration cards, Republican Party chairman, Del. Jeffrey Frederick
of Prince William County claims widespread voter fraud is a hidden agenda in
voter registration drives.
Remarkably, however, this time the press decided to investigate this
inflammatory accusation. This charge is "utterly baseless" and is
"unsupported by election officials, police or prosecutors," the Post notes
in the editorial. In fact, the Post described the accusation as an exercise
in "fear mongering" by Frederick, amplified by his allegations that citizens
who register with these drives are also vulnerable to identity theft, a
claim that amounts to nothing more than "a classic attempt to suppress
votes," the Post editorialized.
Bob Bauer, at his Web site, www.MoreSoftMoneyHardLaw.com, takes the critique
one step further, looking at both the accusations and the Post's coverage.
"And the Post omits mention of another feature of Fredericks' suppression
gambit," wrote election law attorney. "He also called for an
'investigation,' well understanding that his words would creep into the
press on his remarks and filter out into the electorate."
In a prime example of the kind of journalism that should happen as a matter
of course when these kinds of serious allegations are made, a Virginia
reporter for the Danville Register & Bee reached out to local registrars to
get a real idea of the voter registration process and how unlikely it is to
lead to voter fraud.
"'It's not easy to falsely register somebody,' said Pittsylvania County
Registrar Jenny Saunders, who explained that in addition to the registrar
going over the application for obvious errors (like missed questions),
there's a statewide database all applications are checked against."
Partisans out for political gain perpetuate fear about the integrity of the
election system, something that the media often picks up unfiltered. "In
fact," the Post wrote, "it is groundless accusations and cynical
fear-mongering such as Mr. Frederick's that are injecting the real venom,
and the true threat, into the elections.
Below are some important facts to consider when writing (or reading) reports
on voter registration fraud.
Voter Registration Drives Rev up in Presidential Election Years
The fact that young people and minorities are expanding the voting rolls
this year does not indicate that something is awry with voter registration
drives. Indeed, most large-scale drives target those populations least
represented in the electorate.
Further, in high interest election years, especially presidential, more
people are motivated to help register voters or get registered themselves.
Stories about so-called voter fraud should be evaluated in terms of the
number of cards thought to be fraudulent versus the total number of cards
the registration drive is gathering. In Virginia, a handful of fake cards
were found in a drive that could register more than 30,000 people.
Voter Registration Fraud Does Not Lead to Voter Fraud
"We have the checks and balances ... to makes sure the wrong person doesn't
get registered and the right person does," said Va. election official,
Saunders in the Register & Bee.
Further, professionally-run drives expect almost a third of all applications
to be duplicates or incomplete, no matter how well-trained the canvasser or
volunteers are. This does not mean they are all illegal. However, the
registrar is required to ensure all applications contain accurate
information "including whether the applicant is a citizen, their Social
Security number, date of birth, full name, valid residence, whether they've
been convicted of a felony, or whether they have been determined mentally
incapable ... If any of that is left off ... the application is denied,"
according to the Register & Bee. Note: Not all states require Social
Security number information to be filled out on a voter registration card.
For more information on your state's requirements on registering to vote,
visit ProjectVote.org.
Allegations of Voter Fraud are Often Motivated By Partisan Gain
"If you're not winning at the ballot box, try your chances in the
registrar's office, or in court," the Virginia Pilot editorialized.
"[That's] [h]ardly democratic."
Following the success of voter registration drives that have increased
registration among low income, minority and young people, almost all claims
of rampant voter fraud have come from Republican leaders, despite lack of
substantiation of a real problem. The most vicious, and corrupt efforts made
were part of what has become the U.S. AttorneyGate scandal that subsequently
exposed the widespread politicization of the Department of Justice and led
to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. All of that
unraveled because former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias refused to make false
accusations of voter fraud against ACORN's 2004 voter registration drive in
New Mexico.
The fact is, between 2002 and 2005 -- when the Department of Justice carried
out the most intensive investigation of voter fraud in U.S. history -- only
24 people were convicted of illegal voting nationwide. However, partisans
still made public allegations and the press, in many instances, ran these
claims with out real evidence. Armed with these published anecdotes and
buoyed by manufactured public outcry about the possibility of their votes
being canceled out by illegal voters, legislators fought to pass laws that
disenfranchise certain classes of voters. As a result, states like Indiana
and Georgia have implemented some of the most draconian voter ID laws
despite the lack of any evidence of actual voter fraud.
Reporters practicing ethical and rigorous journalism should recognize that
merely using the "rhetorical hand grenade" of voter fraud -- without an
explanation of how voter registration and elections are administered or an
investigation into the evidence of voter fraud -- is the real threat to
democracy.
Quick Links:
Minnite, Lorraine. "The Politics of Voter Fraud."
Project Vote. March 2007.
In Other News:
A voting penalty after the penalty -- Birmingham Press-Register
Annette McWashington Pruitt watched her 18-year-old son graduate from high
school this May. She proudly tells people that he is going into the Navy,
following in the footsteps of his older brother (who is serving in Iraq) and
his grandfather (who was in the Air Force).
Voting Rules Create Land of Disenchantment: Advocacy groups are battling New
Mexico's strict voter registration laws as election looms -- Miller-McCune
Jo Ann Gutierrez-Bejar remembers volunteering for the annual voter
registration drive in Albuquerque, N.M. She remembers the camaraderie as the
group of usually 30 to 40 volunteers headed out in the morning, clipboards
in hand, to knock on doors and register new voters.
Denogean: 97-year-old voter can't prove she's a citizen: On deathbed, father
told her to vote Democratic -- The Tucson Press
Shirley Freeda Preiss of Surprise is one ticked-off little old lady. And who
can blame her? The 97-year-old retired schoolteacher and onetime traveling
showgirl has voted in every presidential election since 1932 when she cast a
ballot for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But thanks to the state's voter
identification requirements, it's looking unlikely that she'll be able to
vote in the upcoming presidential election.
Posted by Erin Ferns and Nathan Henderson-James, Project Vote at 5:00 PM on
August 8, 2008.
Behind accusations of voter fraud are efforts to stop underserved minorities
and young people from voting.
We spend a lot of time in these news updates showing how charges of voter
fraud are used to discredit voter participation efforts and prime the pump
for voter suppression efforts, such as the passage of voter ID bills,
pushing for proof of citizenship, engaging in draconian voter purge efforts,
and imposing sever restrictions on voter registration drives. We have also
spent a lot of time carefully delineating the politics behind these efforts,
starting with our March 2007 report The Politics Of Voter Fraud and
continuing on in these diaries to name but two venues.
What is striking about how the process of disenfranchisement and voter
suppression works is how much it relies upon the media to repeat and amplify
the breathless and hyperbolic accusations of so-called voter fraud against
voter registration drives. If journalists were to spend any time at all
investigating the sensational claims -- often made by people with a direct
partisan interest in the outcome of an election -- they would find that the
accusations are mostly taken out of context, are limited to a few instances,
and have never, ever, been proven to have resulted in any fraudulent vote
being cast.
Sadly, the history of this issue shows that it has been bereft of this kind
of basic journalism, even through the 2006 mid-term elections. This is
important because haphazard reporting of partisan claims of voter fraud
without checking the facts is how the media helps these voter suppression
efforts. These stories not only deter potential voters from getting on the
rolls, but, as noted above, inspire bad election reforms aimed at
disenfranchising voters, particularly those that are currently
underrepresented in the electorate.
A prime example of this kind of lazy journalism in recent weeks comes from
Las Vegas where local reporters simply repeated accusations of fraud made by
the Clark County clerk against ACORN without even bothering to contact ACORN
to see how their drive was being managed.
The group's registration drive has reached one million voters nationwide
[Full disclosure -- it is run under a Joint Effort Agreement with Project
Vote. -ed.] and, according to one article, election officials see "rampant
fraud" in the 2,000 - 3,000 cards submitted by the group each week in Las
Vegas. This week, the Associated Press reported that the state set up a
"voter fraud task force" to look for "election irregularities and instances
of questionable voter registration and intimidation," directly citing issues
with voter registration drives. Neither of these Nevada reports provided the
facts of voter fraud, what it is and how it relates to the voter
registration process. Most importantly, neither reports cite real examples
of the intentional casting of an illegal ballot -- the real definition of
voter fraud -- in the state.
However, it may be that the hard work Project Vote and others -- including
the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, DEMOS, and the
Advancement Project -- have engaged in over the past few years debunking the
voter fraud myth is beginning to change the way journalists approach these
stories.
This week, several publications broke this trend by debunking recent
Virginia GOP allegations of widespread voter fraud as a result of massive
voter registration drives that primarily target youth, low income and
minority communities -- constituencies that have a long history of being
underrepresented on the voting rolls and in the voting booth.
Since the beginning of the year, an unprecedented 147,000 people -- "almost
half under the age of 25" -- registered to vote in Virginia, according to
Monday's Washington Post lead editorial. Pointing to a recent incident where
three members of the Community Voting Project were arrested for falsifying
voter registration cards, Republican Party chairman, Del. Jeffrey Frederick
of Prince William County claims widespread voter fraud is a hidden agenda in
voter registration drives.
Remarkably, however, this time the press decided to investigate this
inflammatory accusation. This charge is "utterly baseless" and is
"unsupported by election officials, police or prosecutors," the Post notes
in the editorial. In fact, the Post described the accusation as an exercise
in "fear mongering" by Frederick, amplified by his allegations that citizens
who register with these drives are also vulnerable to identity theft, a
claim that amounts to nothing more than "a classic attempt to suppress
votes," the Post editorialized.
Bob Bauer, at his Web site, www.MoreSoftMoneyHardLaw.com, takes the critique
one step further, looking at both the accusations and the Post's coverage.
"And the Post omits mention of another feature of Fredericks' suppression
gambit," wrote election law attorney. "He also called for an
'investigation,' well understanding that his words would creep into the
press on his remarks and filter out into the electorate."
In a prime example of the kind of journalism that should happen as a matter
of course when these kinds of serious allegations are made, a Virginia
reporter for the Danville Register & Bee reached out to local registrars to
get a real idea of the voter registration process and how unlikely it is to
lead to voter fraud.
"'It's not easy to falsely register somebody,' said Pittsylvania County
Registrar Jenny Saunders, who explained that in addition to the registrar
going over the application for obvious errors (like missed questions),
there's a statewide database all applications are checked against."
Partisans out for political gain perpetuate fear about the integrity of the
election system, something that the media often picks up unfiltered. "In
fact," the Post wrote, "it is groundless accusations and cynical
fear-mongering such as Mr. Frederick's that are injecting the real venom,
and the true threat, into the elections.
Below are some important facts to consider when writing (or reading) reports
on voter registration fraud.
Voter Registration Drives Rev up in Presidential Election Years
The fact that young people and minorities are expanding the voting rolls
this year does not indicate that something is awry with voter registration
drives. Indeed, most large-scale drives target those populations least
represented in the electorate.
Further, in high interest election years, especially presidential, more
people are motivated to help register voters or get registered themselves.
Stories about so-called voter fraud should be evaluated in terms of the
number of cards thought to be fraudulent versus the total number of cards
the registration drive is gathering. In Virginia, a handful of fake cards
were found in a drive that could register more than 30,000 people.
Voter Registration Fraud Does Not Lead to Voter Fraud
"We have the checks and balances ... to makes sure the wrong person doesn't
get registered and the right person does," said Va. election official,
Saunders in the Register & Bee.
Further, professionally-run drives expect almost a third of all applications
to be duplicates or incomplete, no matter how well-trained the canvasser or
volunteers are. This does not mean they are all illegal. However, the
registrar is required to ensure all applications contain accurate
information "including whether the applicant is a citizen, their Social
Security number, date of birth, full name, valid residence, whether they've
been convicted of a felony, or whether they have been determined mentally
incapable ... If any of that is left off ... the application is denied,"
according to the Register & Bee. Note: Not all states require Social
Security number information to be filled out on a voter registration card.
For more information on your state's requirements on registering to vote,
visit ProjectVote.org.
Allegations of Voter Fraud are Often Motivated By Partisan Gain
"If you're not winning at the ballot box, try your chances in the
registrar's office, or in court," the Virginia Pilot editorialized.
"[That's] [h]ardly democratic."
Following the success of voter registration drives that have increased
registration among low income, minority and young people, almost all claims
of rampant voter fraud have come from Republican leaders, despite lack of
substantiation of a real problem. The most vicious, and corrupt efforts made
were part of what has become the U.S. AttorneyGate scandal that subsequently
exposed the widespread politicization of the Department of Justice and led
to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. All of that
unraveled because former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias refused to make false
accusations of voter fraud against ACORN's 2004 voter registration drive in
New Mexico.
The fact is, between 2002 and 2005 -- when the Department of Justice carried
out the most intensive investigation of voter fraud in U.S. history -- only
24 people were convicted of illegal voting nationwide. However, partisans
still made public allegations and the press, in many instances, ran these
claims with out real evidence. Armed with these published anecdotes and
buoyed by manufactured public outcry about the possibility of their votes
being canceled out by illegal voters, legislators fought to pass laws that
disenfranchise certain classes of voters. As a result, states like Indiana
and Georgia have implemented some of the most draconian voter ID laws
despite the lack of any evidence of actual voter fraud.
Reporters practicing ethical and rigorous journalism should recognize that
merely using the "rhetorical hand grenade" of voter fraud -- without an
explanation of how voter registration and elections are administered or an
investigation into the evidence of voter fraud -- is the real threat to
democracy.
Quick Links:
Minnite, Lorraine. "The Politics of Voter Fraud."
Project Vote. March 2007.
In Other News:
A voting penalty after the penalty -- Birmingham Press-Register
Annette McWashington Pruitt watched her 18-year-old son graduate from high
school this May. She proudly tells people that he is going into the Navy,
following in the footsteps of his older brother (who is serving in Iraq) and
his grandfather (who was in the Air Force).
Voting Rules Create Land of Disenchantment: Advocacy groups are battling New
Mexico's strict voter registration laws as election looms -- Miller-McCune
Jo Ann Gutierrez-Bejar remembers volunteering for the annual voter
registration drive in Albuquerque, N.M. She remembers the camaraderie as the
group of usually 30 to 40 volunteers headed out in the morning, clipboards
in hand, to knock on doors and register new voters.
Denogean: 97-year-old voter can't prove she's a citizen: On deathbed, father
told her to vote Democratic -- The Tucson Press
Shirley Freeda Preiss of Surprise is one ticked-off little old lady. And who
can blame her? The 97-year-old retired schoolteacher and onetime traveling
showgirl has voted in every presidential election since 1932 when she cast a
ballot for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But thanks to the state's voter
identification requirements, it's looking unlikely that she'll be able to
vote in the upcoming presidential election.