[EL] How strange. I've written about and called for reform of absentee ballots for years
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Fri Feb 8 08:32:52 PST 2013
Thanks for the correction John about your views. Good to know there is
some common ground. It is notable that in the Republican/ALEC push to
take anti-fraud measures, limiting the use of absentee ballots was never
part of any serious discussion. And it remains so to this day. Instead
we have a heavy push for state voter id laws, which do very little, if
anything, to address election official fraud and absentee ballot fraud.
The mismatch makes me question the motives of those pushing these laws.
On 2/8/13 8:25 AM, John Fund 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
>> </mc/compose?to=joseph.e.larue at gmail.com>
>>
>>
>> CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message, including any
>> attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and
>> may contain confidential and privileged information or otherwise
>> be protected by law. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or
>> distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended
>> recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy
>> all copies of the original message.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Law-election mailing list
>> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu </mc/compose?to=Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
>> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>
> --
> Rick Hasen
> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
> 949.824.3072 - office
> 949.824.0495 - fax
> rhasen at law.uci.edu </mc/compose?to=rhasen at law.uci.edu>
> http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
> http://electionlawblog.org
>
>
> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> </mc/compose?to=Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>
--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20130208/b76dc788/attachment.html>
View list directory