[EL] Philly voter fraud report

Fri Jul 20 12:22:30 PDT 2012

On the anecdotal front, I have a friend (call the friend X) who moved to Pennsylvania to take full-time, non-temporary employment under a contract that provides substantial job security. X has had difficulty convincing the department of motor vehicles and other agencies that X has become a resident. X is living temporarily in an executive apartment/hotel while looking for a home to buy. Thus X does not have a utility bill in X's name. I wonder how many people of lesser means live in housing where utilities are included in rent so that they do not have a utility bill to show, and who have only cell phones so that they do not have a regular home phone bill to show to the department of motor vehicles and is having difficulty getting a Pennsylvania drivers' license. X thinks that a letter from X's employer may work, but is not  yet sure. X wonders whether X and X's spouse will be able to vote.

Mark S. Scarberry
Professor of Law
Pepperdine Univ. School of Law

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Adam Bonin
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 11:53 AM
To: 'Justin Levitt'; law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Philly voter fraud report

This is the more significant pretrial move in Pennsylvania: the Department of State has announced plans for a new form of voter photo ID:

The new voter photo identification cards are scheduled to be available at PennDOT's Drivers License Centers beginning the last week of August. The identification cards can be issued to registered voters who may not have all of the documents necessary to obtain a non-driver's license photo ID from PennDOT, primarily a birth certificate.
The IDs, which are free, will be issued to voters for a 10-year period and can only be used for voting purposes. For Pennsylvania-born voters, PennDOT will still use the process of confirming birth records electronically with the Pennsylvania Department of Health to issue non-driver's license photo IDs for voting.
When requesting these IDs, voters will need to affirm they do not possess any other approved identification for voting purposes. They will be asked to provide two proofs of residence, such as a utility bill, along with their date of birth and Social Security number, if the customer has an assigned number. PennDOT will validate the voter registration status with the Department of State while the voter is in the PennDOT office. Upon confirmation of this information, the voter will be issued the voter card before leaving the PennDOT facility.
These cards will be issued by PennDOT up to and through Election Day, Nov. 6, 2012, and thereafter.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/secretary-of-commonwealth-announces-new-voter-id-card-2012-07-20

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu]<mailto:[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu]> On Behalf Of Justin Levitt
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 2:41 PM
To: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
Subject: [EL] Philly voter fraud report

The report out of Philadelphia may be "unscientific" -- in the sense that its sample of canvassed precincts wasn't random -- and I suspect that the timing is not accidental.  But it does appear to be an attempt to document irregularities with real research and primary documentary evidence.  Though it's important to conduct careful investigation<http://www.truthaboutfraud.org/pdf/Investigator%27s%20Guide%20to%20Voter%20Fraud.pdf> before making allegations of fraud (as I would hope it would be important to investigate before alleging any criminal activity), the sort of sleuthing seen in the Philly report is quite rare.  Moreover, the policy recommendations in the report are actually (largely) related to the investigative findings, which is another rarity.  If a fraction of the allegations of fraud did a fraction of this degree of research first, we'd all be much better informed.

Justin
On 7/20/2012 9:31 AM, Rick Hasen wrote:
"Even Shoddy Schmidt Report Shows 'Voter Fraud' Is a Fake Problem"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=37200>
Posted on July 19, 2012 1:04 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=37200> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Keystone Politics<http://www.keystonepolitics.com/2012/07/even-shoddy-schmidt-report-shows-voter-fraud-is-fake-problem/>: "I think the correct way to understand why Al Schmidt was willing to put his name on this hilariously unscientific "study" on voting irregularities<http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/nakedcity/Schmidt-says-fraud-Singer-says-stunt-over-report-on-Philly-voting-irregularities.html> in Philly is that conservative politicians, pundits and blog trolls needed a passable comeback to the overwhelming evidence that voter fraud is a fake thing<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/19/is-voter-fraud-a-fraud.html>."
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9> | Comments Off

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