Voter fraud
Voter fraud is the crime of a voter submitting a ballot he or she is not entitled to cast. Although it is hard to quantify the amount of voter fraud, it has been estimated at 2000 cases in the 2000, 2004, and 2008 elections combined. However, it is difficult to gauge the exact number, and many cases may go undiscovered or unreported [1] It can change the outcome of a close election.
Even areas not known for voter fraud have unexplained discrepancies between voter registration lists and estimates of the number of eligible voters. In Indiana, for example, one expert estimated that there were 1.3 million more names on the registration rolls than there were eligible voters in the state.[Citation Needed]
One of the causes of the rise in voter fraud was pinpointed to have occurred around “Democratic National Committee v Republican National Committee," overseen by Carter-appointed district activist judge Dickinson R. Debevoise, in 1981 during the gubernational elections in New Jersey, due to a lawsuit filed against the RNC and Republican-controlled senate at the time for apparently driving away minorities from the polls, allegedly being against the 1965 Civil Rights Act. The resulting provision barred the GOP from enforcing voter integrity or enforcing voter fraud. The resulting provision, called the Consent Decree, was ratified in 1982, and was later modified in 1987 to define "ballot security policies" as "ballot integrity, ballot security, or other efforts to prevent or remedy voter fraud."[2][3]
Voter fraud may have been a major factor in Barack Hussein Obama's victory in the 2008 campaign for the Democratic nomination for president,[4] and is also alleged to have helped his successful 2012 presidential campaign.
Types of voter fraud
Types of voter fraud include (in order of commonness)[1]
Type of fraud | Description | Number of cases since 2000 (source: [1]) |
---|---|---|
Absentee ballot fraud | A voter fraudulently obtains and submits absentee ballots (in some cases those belonging to other voters). | 491 |
Registration fraud | Fake names are submitted to be added to voter registration rolls. | 400 |
Ineligibility fraud | An ineligible person (such as one under 18 or, in some states, a convicted felon) casts a ballot. | 263 |
Double voting | One voter casts a ballot in two or more jurisdictions. | 150 |
Impersonation fraud | One voter votes in the name of another voter. | 10 |
Voter ID laws are usually designed to only prevent impersonation fraud, although in some cases they may make it more difficult to commit ineligibility fraud or double voting.
See also
ACORN -- organization involved in a controversy where false voter registration forms created by workers were forwarded by the organization to state election authorities in accordance with federal law
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Voter Fraud: Hard to Identify", The Wall Street Journal
- ↑ http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2012/11/15/why-the-gop-will-not-do-anything-about-vote-fraud/#comment-246126
- ↑ http://politichicks.tv/column/heres-why-the-rnc-has-been-so-silent-about-rampant-voter-fraud/#aejyKzSQ6R63guAO.99
- ↑ http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/obama-voter-fraud/2008/10/27/id/326134