[EL] How strange. I've written about and called for reform of absentee ballots for years

[Ryan J. Reilly]

Link is here:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/john_fund_republicans_voter_id.php


--
Ryan J. Reilly <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-j-reilly/>
Justice Reporter
The Huffington Post
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On Fri, Feb 8, 2013 at 11:25 AM, John Fund <johnfund99 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Rick (whose book I read and found much to agree with in)  says he would
> take my concerns about voter fraud more seriously if I and others  "started
> a serious push to eliminate the use of absentee ballots."
>
> That is strange. No one serious calls for ELIMINATING absentee ballots.
> They are needed by old people, bedridden people, military voters, expats
> and people who travel a great deal. In "Who's Counting: How Fraudsters and
> Bureaucrats Put Your Vote At Risk," my co-author an I call for absentee
> ballot REFORM and vigorously. The chapter is entitled "Absentee Ballots:
> the Tool of Choice for Vote Thieves."
>
> Indeed, I have gotten into hot water with some Republicans for criticizing
> some state legislatures that have not passed comprehensive anti-fraud
> efforts that include Photo ID, absentee ballot reform and cleaning up voter
> rolls despite the federal strictures on that activity.
>
>  As the liberal Talking Points Memo wrote last August:
>
> Fund said that many voter ID laws “take some provisions to curb absentee
> ballot fraud,” with a few exceptions. But he confessed that Democrats had a
> point when they say that Republicans focus on voter ID because of a
> potential electoral advantage.
>
> “I think it is a fair argument of some liberals that there are some people
> who emphasize the voter ID part more than the absentee ballot part because
> supposedly Republicans like absentee ballots more and they don’t want to
> restrict that,” Fund said. “But the bottom line is, on good government
> grounds, we have to have both voter ID laws and absentee ballot laws.”
>
> Just last Wednesday, my co-author and I were in Raleigh, North Carolina on
> a panel with two liberal opponents of Photo ID laws. We all agreed that
> absentee ballot fraud was a real problem, however the two opposing
> panelists declined to endorse any specific legislation to combat it despite
> a clear invitation to do so.
>
> --- On *Fri, 2/8/13, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu>
> Subject: Re: [EL] Voter fraud? What voter fraud!?! Nothing to see here,
> people. Move along.
> To: "Joe La Rue" <joseph.e.larue at gmail.com>
> Cc: law-election at uci.edu
> Date: Friday, February 8, 2013, 10:44 AM
>
>  I don't know any serious person studying this issue who says there is no
> election fraud.  The vast majority of the relatively small number of cases
> involve either election officials committing fraud, or voters, candidates,
> and others committing absentee ballot fraud.
> The problem is that the supposed cure---voter id---does not stop these
> main types of fraud.
> If John Fund and others started a serious push to eliminate the use of
> absentee ballots, then I would take their concerns about voter fraud much
> more seriously. But it is not a part of the antifraud measures proposed and
> adopted by those who claim this is a major problem.
>
> On 2/8/13 7:35 AM, Joe La Rue wrote:
>
> This is not directed at Rick, who has candidly acknowledged that voter
> fraud does, sometimes, happen.  But there are others who say that "voter
> fraud" is nothing but an invention of those who want to suppress voters by
> requiring photo ID.  Worse, some say that it is an invention to keep
> minorities from voting.  Well, for all who say that voter fraud never,
> ever, happens, here's another example of that "non-existent" phenomenon.
> http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/340174/voter-fraud-never-happens-keeps-coming-back-john-fund
>
> Joe
> ___________________
> *Joseph E. La Rue*
>  cell: 480.272.2715
> email: joseph.e.larue at gmail.com<http://mc/compose?to=joseph.e.larue@gmail.com>
>
>
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> --
> Rick Hasen
> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
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