Posted: Thursday, September 19, 2013 12:00 am
Individual liberty and personal responsibility are hallmarks of our Republican principles. The integrity of elections is essential to the preservation of liberty, and is the foundation of our constitutional form of government. Voters must have confidence in our political processes; that election officials will uphold and abide by election law, and that the will of the people will not be subverted through illegal voter activity.
Unfortunately, incidents of voter fraud and official corruption are well-documented in American elections. There are numerous examples of successful prosecutions of corrupt election officials and perpetrators of both voter registration fraud and voting fraud. In 2008, the Minnesota senate race that provided the 60th vote needed to pass ObamaCare, was decided by only 300 votes; yet there is significant evidence that over 1000 felons voted illegally in that election. Some 200 have already been convicted, with additional prosecutions pending. The recount itself was corrupt, as Judges allowed election officials to violate the Minnesota recount statute in the treatment of rejected absentee ballots.
Just this year, a sheriff and county clerk in West Virginia pleaded guilty to stuffing ballot boxes with enough fraudulent absentee ballots to change the outcome of the local election.
Public confidence in the integrity of our elections is at an all-time low. In the Cooperative Congressional Election Study of 2008, 62% of American voters said they thought that voter fraud was common.
Voter fraud takes on many forms: voter impersonation, fictitious voters, absentee ballot fraud, abuse of the infirmed or elderly, multiple voting, and many others. It is critical that the processes of registration and vote-casting include safeguards sufficient to minimize such abuses. Most Americans believe it is reasonable for individual voters to bear some responsibility for adequately identifying themselves as legitimate voters.
A photo ID requirement is a simple and effective safeguard against most forms of voter fraud, and requires only minimal effort by the voter. Photo IDs are required for so many common activities in our society that nearly every eligible voter already has one. For those who don't, most states that require a photo ID (Virginia included) have made them both free and remarkably easy to obtain.
Despite this, Democrat pundits generally oppose these sensible voter ID laws. They contend the laws are an attempt to suppress minority votes, and that a significant number of minority voters are incapable of obtaining proper photo IDs. This argument is not only paternalistic, it’s not supported by actual experience. Georgia and Indiana have had the strictest voter ID laws in the nation since 2006. They’ve since been through two federal elections and numerous local elections in which minority and Democrat turnout has actually increased.
Another effective weapon against voter fraud is a clean and accurate voter registration database. States should periodically purge their rolls of convicted felons, the deceased, those who have relocated, or simply unverifiable registrations. A new Virginia law effective July 1st, 2013 requires the State Board of Elections to “cooperate with other states and jurisdictions to ... compare voters, voter history, and voter registration lists to ensure the accuracy of the voter registration rolls, to identify voters whose addresses have changed, to prevent duplication of registration ... and to determine eligibility of individuals to vote in Virginia.” In Culpeper alone, this cross check has identified 320 voter registrations where the voter is also registered in another state.
In spite of this overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Democrats insist that voter fraud is not a problem. I wonder what they are afraid of.
Al Aitken is the Chairman of the Culpeper County Republican Committee.
Replies
Where-ever you have a demonRAT, you will have voter fraud.
You are right. I ditto that!!!!
This would be a good time to re-institute the "adobe wall" system of punishment for the crimes committed. Semper Fi! Gunny
The "adobe wall" system. Such a nice way of saying firing squad! Funny!
It worked! Semper Fi!