Subject: Re: [EL] Check out FOXNews.com - Citizens' Group Helps Uncover Alleged Rampant Voter F
From: Jason Rylander
Date: 9/25/2010, 10:57 AM
To: "JBoppjr@aol.com" <JBoppjr@aol.com>
CC: "election-law@mailman.lls.edu" <election-law@mailman.lls.edu>

Voter registration fraud and voter fraud are two different things.  One doesn't necessarily lead to the other.  If those 24,000 phantom voters had shown up at their precinct en masse, you'd think people would have noticed. 

A similar thing happened here in Arlington, VA this year.  A strange coalition of public safety unions, the GOP, and the Green Party attempted to get a change-of-government referendum on the ballot to oust the Democratic county leadership.  They hired out of state petition gatherers in violation of Virginia law.  Their roster included local convicted felons who were themselves ineligible to solicit signatures..  Arlington residents living in a homeless shelter attested to petitions that on their face could not have been circulated by them on the days indicated.  Nearly a third of signatures gathered ended being tossed once the voter registrar became aware of these abnormalities.  The registrar notified the police and Commonwealth's attorney, but alas no arrests have been made.  That's unfortunate.  Of course in the Arlington case, most (but not all) of the actual signatures were legit, it was the mode of solicitation that broke the law.  Still.

The fact is when groups pay people to collect signatures, be it for referenda or for registration, some people will commit fraud (and the problem may not just be limited to paid circulators).  Registrars should really catch examples as egregious as the one in this article. Eternal vigilance is indeed the price of liberty.

But the interesting thing is there is not one sentence in this article suggesting that any person voted multiple times, or voted despite being ineligible, or that the outcome of any election was ever in doubt as a result. 

It's a nice slight of hand that the GOP attempts every election season to cast doubt on the validity of America's elections, but registration irregularities do not necessarily lead to fraudulent votes being cast.  Are such incidents problematic?  Sure.  Can we conclude from this that organized efforts are underway to steal elections?  Not remotely (and in fact it would be a rather difficult conspiracy to carry out in practice).

So, Mr. Bopp, when you get some evidence of actual VOTER fraud, your sarcasm will be warranted.  Until then ...

Regards,
Jason Rylander*

*licensed in DC and Virginia



On Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 1:14 PM, <JBoppjr@aol.com> wrote:
Click here: FOXNews.com - Citizens' Group Helps Uncover Alleged Rampant Voter Fraud in Houston
 
Don't bother reading this article, because we have been assured that there is no such thing as voter fraud. It is a figment of the GOP's imagination.  No, it is really an effort at voter suppression. In any event, it is Bush's fault (it is Houston after all).  Jim Bopp

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