Disgrace (McCain/GOP idiotic voter fraud scam)

[ProSense]

Disgrace

By Josh Marshall

I always used to think former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO) was a respectable guy. So why is he prostituting himself for the McCain campaign phony 'vote fraud' scam. Just disgraceful.

Let's be clear about what this is. These are random stories about fake vote registrations. The Drudges and Fox scoundrels of the world seem to think that if someone fills out a voter registration card for Mickey Mouse, that Mickey Mouse might show up and cast a vote they're not entitled to cast. It doesn't and there is zero evidence of any voter fraud or anything that would make voter fraud more likely. The level of lying, bad faith or at best ignorance of the people making these claims is really beyond imagining. This isn't vote fraud. There's no evidence of vote fraud. Nothing. This is an effort of a losing political party to a) lay the groundwork for challenging their defeat at the polls b) lay the groundwork to pass laws to make it harder for poor people and minorities to vote.

For more on this scam, see this earlier post.

This scam was exposed in 2007.

Nashawna Prude, 9, with a family photo that includes her grandmother, Kimberly, second from left, , jailed for
more than a year for voter fraud.

In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud

By ERIC LIPTON and IAN URBINA
Published: April 12, 2007

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.

In Miami, an assistant United States attorney said many cases there involved what were apparently mistakes by immigrants, not fraud.

In Wisconsin, where prosecutors have lost almost twice as many cases as they won, charges were brought against voters who filled out more than one registration form and felons seemingly unaware that they were barred from voting.

One ex-convict was so unfamiliar with the rules that he provided his prison-issued identification card, stamped “Offender,” when he registered just before voting.

more

[tekisui]

1. That's what I have been wondering.

73 registrations for one man, he cannot show up 73 times to vote. It is still just one name.

ACORN has been checking themselves, this is how the RWers even have a story.

[ErinBerin84]

2. David Shuster

just discussed this with NBC's senior investigative journalist and someone from Portfolio magazine, and everyone pretty much agreed that this just shows McCain's desperation, and that anyone who equates voter registration fraud with voter fraud on behalf of the Obama campaign is probably already voting for McCain.

[fugop]

3. Thank God!

I have been seething over this, because the media kept pushing the McCain/GOP lines about voter fraud, and their idiotic "low-information" voters are morphing that into actual voter fraud rather than registration fraud. I find myself screaming that Mickey Mouse has to SHOW UP and vote, and any registration drive is going to have errors. I'm relieved that finally someone is putting that out. These right-wing vote suppressors drive me CRAZY!

[unpossibles]

5. tell me about it.

Here in Cincinnati, I've seen plenty of people repeating the nonsense.

[Window]

4. Exactly.

[ProSense]

6. That includes the cast of Fox Noise. n/t