Since I have read the book, let me respond in part to Mr. Zall's point. (I encourage you all to read Lori's book, which is meticulously researched and powerfully argued. A polemic lacking in evidence it is not)
Mr. Roland is correct that Dr. Minnite's book focuses on fraud committed by voters -- specifically, registration when one is not entitled to register, or voting when one is not eligible, or in the name of another.
One sensible purpose of doing so is that laws are often proposed and enacted that make it harder to vote, because it is believed that they will reduce election fraud. To use the most significant trend, the only type of election fraud that Voter ID laws can combat is voter impersonation, one particular type of voter fraud. So it is important to know, what risk are we facing of voter impersonation? How often does voter impersonation occur?
Since we know that requiring voters to show up at the polls with particular kinds of ID will inevitably mean that some eligible registered voters will not be able to produce ID and will not be able to cast their vote, we need to weigh the potential disenfranchisement. The brief Zall links to above names two New Mexico residents who say they were denied their right to vote, and refers to four other unidentified persons who claim to have been impersonated. Laws prohibiting impersonation exist to protect them; the brief notes that there were no prosecutions but does not say why. Since I imagine the lawyers in the Crawford case, and the amici, made Herculean efforts to find examples of voter impersonation, I admit I am underwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem as they were able to identify it.
And how many people were denied their right to vote because they did not comply with new voter ID laws in IN and elsewhere?
Here in NY, where a signature serves to identify me at the polls, I have not heard complaints of people who have showed up to vote to find that their twin had already voted in their place.
On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 1:49 PM, Jon Roland
<jon.roland@constitution.org> wrote:
Without reading the book, it seems to be focused almost entirely on
fraud in the casting of ballots, which my investigations indicate is
indeed rare, and neglects fraud in the counting of ballots, which my
investigations indicate is not at all rare. The original concerns about
vote fraud were about counting, beginning in modern times with the book
Votescam
by James and Kenneth Collier, and brought to public attention with the
hanging chads of the 2000 Florida counting crisis. Of course before
that were allegations of ballot stuffing in places like Duval County,
Texas, but it would seem that by 1970 or so those who sought to steal
elections found it was easier and safer to do so at the counting stage
than at the casting stage.
Of course, many people would like voters to pass a test that would
exclude everyone except their fellow partisans, and perhaps everyone
except themselves. Imagine if every voter were required to accurately
recite key facts about every candidate on the ballot, his or her
positions on the issues, and the constitutional constraints on those
positions. Think of all the money we could save if only one person
could qualify to vote under such a system.
-- Jon
----------------------------------------------------------
Constitution Society http://constitution.org
2900 W Anderson Ln C-200-322 Austin, TX 78757
512/299-5001 jon.roland@constitution.org
----------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
election-law mailing list
election-law@mailman.lls.edu
http://mailman.lls.edu/mailman/listinfo/election-law
--
Margaret Groarke
Director, Peace Studies Program
Associate Professor, Government
Manhattan College
4513 Manhattan College Parkway
Bronx, NY 10471
718-862-7943 (office)
718-862-7943 (office)