A lot has been written during this presidential campaign about the supposed intelligence, or lack of, on the part of Trump supporters. The two clueless women arrested for voter fraud in Iowa and Florida need to be reminded about glass houses and stones. Oops!
19
The gop strategy: if you can't beat them, cheat them.
42
Pandering to its readers, advocating ad nauseam for the Clintons, it's no "myth" the NYT has been a street-thug stomping Trump and his "deplorables".
Nonetheless, to think at this point Hillary has had the Sovietized broadcast media of New York City in her corner since day one, the DNC plantation system of "minority" voters, Hollywood's 1950s legacy Marxists and "celebrities current" with "Big Names", Karl Rove and fellow RNC Politburo members one with the DNC, the entire Obama administration to include his "Justice" Department, save a few in the FBI, the EU even UN princes, and a very large percentage of the electorate that could care about the treasonous Clinton crime syndicate moving into the White House once again, and still Trump is nearly dead-even with the DNC's FBI Surprise Medusa.
Even the NYT Editorial Board and its "reporters" and "columnists" having churned out relentless propaganda attacks after savage propaganda attacks have got be standing now at their high-rise New York City windows looking down into the streets of America in panicked awe of this man. He should have been destroyed by now, yet still there he is doing battle with their favorite.
Has all the makings of a surprise victory on the horizon and that is why the savaging of Trump and his supporters must continue and why Obama is now genuflecting, pleading, and begging for his 2008 base to vote, not for Hillary, but to save his "legacy" from turning to dust Wednesday morning–his greatest fear.
Nonetheless, to think at this point Hillary has had the Sovietized broadcast media of New York City in her corner since day one, the DNC plantation system of "minority" voters, Hollywood's 1950s legacy Marxists and "celebrities current" with "Big Names", Karl Rove and fellow RNC Politburo members one with the DNC, the entire Obama administration to include his "Justice" Department, save a few in the FBI, the EU even UN princes, and a very large percentage of the electorate that could care about the treasonous Clinton crime syndicate moving into the White House once again, and still Trump is nearly dead-even with the DNC's FBI Surprise Medusa.
Even the NYT Editorial Board and its "reporters" and "columnists" having churned out relentless propaganda attacks after savage propaganda attacks have got be standing now at their high-rise New York City windows looking down into the streets of America in panicked awe of this man. He should have been destroyed by now, yet still there he is doing battle with their favorite.
Has all the makings of a surprise victory on the horizon and that is why the savaging of Trump and his supporters must continue and why Obama is now genuflecting, pleading, and begging for his 2008 base to vote, not for Hillary, but to save his "legacy" from turning to dust Wednesday morning–his greatest fear.
10
Don't whine - Vote!
14
"Democracy itself is on the ballot in 2016."
So true!
So true!
20
Is anyone really fooled by the actual vote rigger's complaint that their opponents are rigging the election? To borrow recent and eloquent Obama quote - "C'MON MAN!"
That "voter-protection" is needed in this country - the supposed shinning example of democracy worldwide - is shameful.
Republicans in power need to be "repealed and replaced" with individuals who take democracy and the Constitution seriously and not a power-play.
That "voter-protection" is needed in this country - the supposed shinning example of democracy worldwide - is shameful.
Republicans in power need to be "repealed and replaced" with individuals who take democracy and the Constitution seriously and not a power-play.
28
So where are the "moderate" Republicans who should be condemning the racially motivated voter suppression efforts of their radical colleagues? Why, they're either completely silent, or they're busy condemning the failure of moderate Muslims to condemn "radical Islamism," of course.
32
Maybe there really are fraudulent voters. Not just the two Republicans arrested in Iowa and Miami, but liberals! Maybe they're hiding in the basement of the Watergate Hotel, with Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, and a big feed sack full of yellow cake from Niger, furiously sending partisan emails on a private server, calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment!
Be afraid! Be very afraid!
Be afraid! Be very afraid!
16
What about the Harrisonburg 19? Somehow you missed that story.
4
Thank you Reverend Barber. You are doing an invaluable service here in NC. Much respect for your work.
18
Great article and thank you for all the hard work you and your group is doing to keep voting fair.
I hope the marchers in Chatham County were taking photos of the harassing onlookers. Let's see how they like it.
I hope the marchers in Chatham County were taking photos of the harassing onlookers. Let's see how they like it.
15
This election has shown that progressive liberal Marxist democrats would do just about anything to win an election. Democratism is all about lying and cheating to get what you want. Democrats are less concerned about voting rights than they are about preserving their opportunities to cheat and rig elections. Democratism is the new communism and it may even be more vile. You folks make Americans sick.
10
The problem with this "idea" of election fraud is two fold.
One: It does occur .. but in numbers so small as to be insignificant in a national election. I'm going by the few small studies completed.
Two: Many believe it does occur .. this is the greater harm. How many times in the past 16 years have we heard Democrats tell the world that the 2000 election was stolen? We throw around terms and expect them not to stick .. they stick. Now it's the republicans turn?
We attack the FBI, DoG when it fits our narrative -- don't like a ruling from the Supreme Court ... attack the justices.
40+ percent of the our fellow citizens will vote for the losing candidate on Tuesday ... What are the winners going to do?
One: It does occur .. but in numbers so small as to be insignificant in a national election. I'm going by the few small studies completed.
Two: Many believe it does occur .. this is the greater harm. How many times in the past 16 years have we heard Democrats tell the world that the 2000 election was stolen? We throw around terms and expect them not to stick .. they stick. Now it's the republicans turn?
We attack the FBI, DoG when it fits our narrative -- don't like a ruling from the Supreme Court ... attack the justices.
40+ percent of the our fellow citizens will vote for the losing candidate on Tuesday ... What are the winners going to do?
4
Is anyone discussing the fact that voter ID laws are a violation of the 24th amendment's prohibition against poll taxes?
6
Comey has publicly insisted that his agents are apolitical. Asked last year whether politics might color the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation, the FBI chief was indignant.
“If you know my folks, you know they don't give a rip about politics," Comey told reporters.
“If you know my folks, you know they don't give a rip about politics," Comey told reporters.
5
Rigged voting?
Yeah, and notice that EVERY judge's decision against vote rigging, vote tampering, and voter intimidation is against REPUBLICAN!
Every.Single.Decision!
Yeah, and notice that EVERY judge's decision against vote rigging, vote tampering, and voter intimidation is against REPUBLICAN!
Every.Single.Decision!
11
It bothers me that the voter suppression tactics introduced in North Carolina are the same voter confirmation practices Connecticut has been following for the 25 years I have lived here. When I show up at the polls standard practice, again for 25 years, has been to ask for my drivers license. Maybe the NYT is incapable of identifying voter suppression when implemented by a Democrat administration. Maybe the NYT is overly biased in both is reporting and its opinion.
9
If Trump and the GOP are accusing the Dems of something bad, you can pretty much bet that they are guilty of it themselves. This has been their M.O. for a long time, but Trump has now honed it to perfection.
16
Ann Coulter was TWICE charged with voter fraud for voting in the wrong district, once in Florida, where she managed to run out the statute of limitations with the help of a law enforcement officer she was dating at the time, and a second time in Conn, where there is no statute of limitations but the case was dismissed.
12
And yet Obama said in an interview with Al Sharpton yesterday that voter suppression isn't a big deal. "Most of these laws are not preventing the overwhelming majority of folks who don't vote from voting. Most people do have an ID. Most people do have a driver's license. Most people can get to the polls. It may not be as convenient, it may be a little more difficult...The reason we don't vote is because people have been fed this notion that somehow it's not going to make a difference."
If this is true, why have the NAACP and the ACLU and the Democratic Party been forced to go to court to get Republicans to stop voter suppression? Why did a Wisconsin DMV official tell an 18-year-old girl trying to get a voting ID that she had to get her ORIGINAL birth certificate from Illinois, even though that requirement had been declared invalid by a court? Why is Wisconsin - run by Republicans - being hauled into court repeatedly for not obeying court orders on voter IDs?
Those are just the examples of voter suppression that make the news. Obama himself in a speech noted that sometimes one person can make the difference in an election, yet here he is on national television saying apathy is the big problem. In reality, I think a lot of people don't vote because they've been intimidated by the onerous process of registering and ID and the knowledge that they may not be allowed to vote at all.
If this is true, why have the NAACP and the ACLU and the Democratic Party been forced to go to court to get Republicans to stop voter suppression? Why did a Wisconsin DMV official tell an 18-year-old girl trying to get a voting ID that she had to get her ORIGINAL birth certificate from Illinois, even though that requirement had been declared invalid by a court? Why is Wisconsin - run by Republicans - being hauled into court repeatedly for not obeying court orders on voter IDs?
Those are just the examples of voter suppression that make the news. Obama himself in a speech noted that sometimes one person can make the difference in an election, yet here he is on national television saying apathy is the big problem. In reality, I think a lot of people don't vote because they've been intimidated by the onerous process of registering and ID and the knowledge that they may not be allowed to vote at all.
10
By "rigged elections", the primary concern is media bias and even overt collusion. There is far less concern about ballot box stuffing, dead people voting, etc.. The way that the issue presented by Trump is twisted to something easier to refute is, itself, evidence of his concern about media manipulation.
Also, it should be noted that "voter suppression" should include the encouragement of early voting by the Hillary campaign, knowing full well that her popularity is slipping because of Wikileaks revelations that are devastating and almost certainly factual. Of course, only Trump is advertising the possibility of RECASTING your vote is many states. The will of the voters is important, indeed.
Also, it should be noted that "voter suppression" should include the encouragement of early voting by the Hillary campaign, knowing full well that her popularity is slipping because of Wikileaks revelations that are devastating and almost certainly factual. Of course, only Trump is advertising the possibility of RECASTING your vote is many states. The will of the voters is important, indeed.
5
Covert racism? It's blatant, and it always has been.
I always bounce between laughter and annoyance when GOP mouths, trying desperately to deny their hard-line racism, proclaim 'We're the Party of Lincoln."
In name only. Even in grade school, we learned how the two parties had switched platforms.
I always bounce between laughter and annoyance when GOP mouths, trying desperately to deny their hard-line racism, proclaim 'We're the Party of Lincoln."
In name only. Even in grade school, we learned how the two parties had switched platforms.
19
Possible fraud should always be a high concern in a democracy, regardless of who may perpetrate it. we all want a fair election.
I just played the game on NYT promoted regarding "the voter suppression trail". What a travesty to promote something as banal as this on a sophisticated paper like the NYT. I am ashamed the publisher permits such.
I just played the game on NYT promoted regarding "the voter suppression trail". What a travesty to promote something as banal as this on a sophisticated paper like the NYT. I am ashamed the publisher permits such.
4
Both sides accuse the other. Both sides cheat if they can.
2
In the 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections 57% and 59% of white Americans voted white McCain/Palin and then white Romney/Ryan. Yet the imaginary Kenyan Luo Arab Muslim socialist usurper moved into "their" White House along with his chocolate colored family. Romney is not even a Christian and his dad was born in Mexico in a polygamous family.
The "fraud" is black African Americans having the right to vote as though they were divinely naturally created equal to a white person with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Republican Party is the party of a majority of white Americans. An aging shrinking fearful and hateful demographic misled by Donald Trump and David Duke .On November 9th we will know how much of a Confederate ethnic sectarian white supremacist red neck Uncle Sam still is.
The "fraud" is black African Americans having the right to vote as though they were divinely naturally created equal to a white person with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Republican Party is the party of a majority of white Americans. An aging shrinking fearful and hateful demographic misled by Donald Trump and David Duke .On November 9th we will know how much of a Confederate ethnic sectarian white supremacist red neck Uncle Sam still is.
8
And I fought in Vietnam for this? Again, as many have said, Republicans cannot win on their "ideas" and must rig the vote. On this Trump is correct, but for the wrong Party. The seeming tiny minority of Republican voters that still care about democracy and their county should be appalled.
15
Voter fraud is not a material issue, meaning that there is so little of it that it just does not impact our elections.
Voter fraud, however, is a moral issue; it's worthy of discussion. The Republicans have outplayed the Democrats on this one. The task at hand is to acknowledge this as a moral issue and then pay careful attention to voter-suppression tactics. Voter suppression is absolutely a material issue.
Voter fraud, however, is a moral issue; it's worthy of discussion. The Republicans have outplayed the Democrats on this one. The task at hand is to acknowledge this as a moral issue and then pay careful attention to voter-suppression tactics. Voter suppression is absolutely a material issue.
2
Photo ID requirements are overkill - and ineffective in preventing voter fraud anyway. The real potential for fraud is in absentee voting. The number of people registered to vote in more than one location is likely in the hundreds of thousands, and according to an article in Slate, various studies have identified at least a few thousand who did vote twice in prior elections.
And now that states are finally trying to clean up voter registration databases of people who are dead, have moved, or who have duplicate registrations, this is called "voter suppression."
And now that states are finally trying to clean up voter registration databases of people who are dead, have moved, or who have duplicate registrations, this is called "voter suppression."
4
Actually there are three cases of voter fraud, not two. The third is Trump's campaign manager illegally registering in Florida to avoid California taxes.
14
The truth behind both voter suppression and election fraud is that the base of the Republican Party believes that it has the god given right to stay in power. It is the result of their recognition that power cannot be retained without a sufficient number of voters. They do not believe in majority rule unless they *are* the majority. Demographics have been going against the Christian right Republican base for some time now. The only way they can retain power is to lie cheat and steal, therefore the attempts at both suppression of others' votes and multiplying their own votes. It is the end result they are concerned with, not the means, and their goal is the continuance of patriarchy by any means. In their world god has ordained white males as all powerful and they simply cannot and will not accept any other power structure. First a black man, and now a woman? That god of theirs is more than willing to excuse criminality and even violence in the name of their beliefs.
17
I am a white male furious to learn of such voter suppression tactics in this day and age and after almost 8 years of an Obama presidency, but I am even more outraged by what appear to be large numbers of Afro-American individuals and communities that according to the news are sitting on their hands and not going to the polls to support Hilary Clinton, a person who despite losing to Obama in a heated contest, got herself up, dusted herself off and fought with all her heart to help Obama get elected. I don't understand this phenomenon.
28
William Barber speaks the truth. He should be appointed our national preacher in chief.
2
Scan your front page and see the obvious bias. No wonder your readership is down as are your sinking profits. Hillary and your support for the lying and thieving Clintons is the fraud so transparent that the Grey Lady is no longer the paper of record. It is an echo chamber..
6
What isn't myth: Several of Chris Christie's top officials were convicted on all counts of fraud and conspiracy and stated that Christie knew about what they were conspiring to do. Roger Ailes resigned after sexual harrassment allegations. Christie and Ailes are two of Trumps top advisors.
20
Depriving someone of their vote is as un-American as it gets.
12
This editorial just points up how many hypocritical true Christians and true evangelicals are. Where is their moral compass, their conscience, their true Christian believes? Trump certainly is NO Christian.
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What would Jesus do? I'm not entirely sure, but he sure wouldn't vote for Trump.
15
The Mormons have this one right.
3
This op-ed opened my eyes as well as brought tears to them. Hard-hitting and heartfelt.
7
The Republicans "crowing" about voter fraud is analogous to "The Emperor's New Clothes." Everyone knows it's a lie, including them, but they keep on with the charade because they realize it's one of the few things they have left in their dwindling tool box that they can use. Their view? If you can't win on the merits of your argument and position, then do whatever you need to including lying and cheating to win.
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Think of Clinton and think of fraud. Nothing else.
10
You wish, Chris. The Con Don has her beat by a million miles.
27
In broward fl, my 18 yo son tried to vote in the dem primary. The poll worker said he needed a picture id with signature from State of Florida. My son didn't have one yet. He said we could use a bank card signature. My son didn't have a bank account either. I asked if he could use a provisional ballot. The guy answered yes, but it wouldn't be counted unless he went down to the clerk's office later and signs something or other. My son didn't vote, as we were not going to be going downtown to see the clerk. Since then I found out that they match the signature on record with one he provides...but I don't see why the signature can't be turned in along with the provisional ballot. Even though it's not quite as draconian as some states, and whatever the purpose, this is voter suppression in Florida. In this case, my son wanted to vote for Bernie Sanders.
6
Why "...were you not going to be going downtown to see the clerk"? It's wonderful that your son wanted to vote, and that you went with him so he could. But why didn't he vote? Because you were going to be put out by having to go to the clerk's office sometime in the future? Unless you have a really good legitimate reason why you couldn't get there, you and your son neglected your civic duty: in this case voting in the most important election in decades. I hope you voted at least.
2
The dead person myth is especially lacking in logic. If you are trying to link this cleanup to voter fraud, you will have some work to do. How would someone go about taking advantage of the “dead people on the voter rolls?
They would have to know that a particular voter was dead. They would have to know that the person’s name has not been purged from the list kept by the Registrar of Voters. Depending on the election, they might have to know the deceased voter’s party registration. They would have to know the deceased voter’s address well enough to rattle it off as if it were their own, in order to avoid suspicion.
There may be some situations in which they would need to convincingly forge the person’s signature while the poll worker watches.
Even with all this, the plan can go awry if the poll worker or a nearby voter knew the deceased voter. The fraudulent voter will be found out.
If the fraudulent voter has to fill out a provisional ballot, the signature will be matched to the one on file at the Registrar’s office. If it doesn’t match, the ballot will not be counted, and a criminal investigation may be initiated.
Someone convicted of voter fraud can end up behind bars for years.
This seem to me to be an awful lot of effort and risk for the sake of getting a single additional vote for your candidate.
They would have to know that a particular voter was dead. They would have to know that the person’s name has not been purged from the list kept by the Registrar of Voters. Depending on the election, they might have to know the deceased voter’s party registration. They would have to know the deceased voter’s address well enough to rattle it off as if it were their own, in order to avoid suspicion.
There may be some situations in which they would need to convincingly forge the person’s signature while the poll worker watches.
Even with all this, the plan can go awry if the poll worker or a nearby voter knew the deceased voter. The fraudulent voter will be found out.
If the fraudulent voter has to fill out a provisional ballot, the signature will be matched to the one on file at the Registrar’s office. If it doesn’t match, the ballot will not be counted, and a criminal investigation may be initiated.
Someone convicted of voter fraud can end up behind bars for years.
This seem to me to be an awful lot of effort and risk for the sake of getting a single additional vote for your candidate.
13
and then there is the reality. It is very easy to find out how hasn't voted in a while and to cross reference that with local obituaries. The real question is why registrars don't monitor the obituaries, just like the banks do, and proactively maintain voter roles. I haven't visited a single town hall that hasn't had access to the local papers and the obituaries contained within.
1
For you there is just your own reality.
2
Multiple dead voters have voted in Colorado...revealed by investigation by the Colorado Sec of State.
The Washington State shooter is an illegal who has voted for several years.
Plenty of fraud. You just need someone to effectively investigate it.
The Washington State shooter is an illegal who has voted for several years.
Plenty of fraud. You just need someone to effectively investigate it.
1
I'm seriously scared. Between Comely pressing his thumb on the scale, the media's devotion to Trump and boredom with Clinton, and that we had Florida and the Supreme Court throwing the election 12 years ago, all bets are off as to whether this election will be "fair".
7
The article should have been entitled: "Fraud and the Myth of Electing Republicans."
3
Isn't it interesting that the party that is, and has been, talking the loudest about voter fraud, etc., is the one that seems to have the most members engaging in voter fraud?
You have to wonder, what other things are Republicans accusing Dems of, that they're doing themselves?
You have to wonder, what other things are Republicans accusing Dems of, that they're doing themselves?
4
The voter ID laws are a solution seeking a problem that doesn't exist in any large numbers.A study by Loyola University showthat between 2000-2014 there were just 31 confirmed cases of voter fraud out over a billion votes cast.Although suppose that these unnecessary attempts to block specific groups from voting is election fraud.
3
If you believe in secret ballots, other than in extreme cases, or in voters being required to show ID, then, according to the Left, you are a "racist," a term applied so easily to anyone who disagrees with the Left that it has lost all meaning. Indeed, being called a "racist" by someone on the Left has come to be a sort of badge of courage and honesty.
7
Anyone know of a country that will accept decent seniors that just have SS. Trump has let the hatred out of the closet.
5
Democrats and the Myth of Voter Suppression.
7
The Republicans know that voter fraud is occurring because they are the ones doing it.
9
The ideal of the Trumpists is to go back to the origins of this country - when only White, Christian, Property Owning, Whites could vote. No others need apply.
(Or perhaps, if charitable, the "others" would get 3/5 of a vote.)
(Or perhaps, if charitable, the "others" would get 3/5 of a vote.)
3
I'm beginning to think Trump is correct—somewhat— regarding a 'rigged' election. Or not rigged, but inappropriately influenced. The FBI is leaking innuendo everywhere, which is debunked, but the damage is already done. Comey should be thrown out on his ear when the election is over. He is in no way non-partisan, and he either gives a wink and a nod to his employees regarding leaks, or (to be more generous) they take their cues from his behavior—even if he didn't intend the result. I am old enough to remember J. Edgar Hoover. This whole FBI mess is a bit familiar.
13
The worst ploy for the worst actors among us is to accuse others of the behaviors they routinely accept and employ for themselves. The second worse ploy is to lie through their teeth, relentlessly but plaintively.
Our worst ploy is to vote for them.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
Our worst ploy is to vote for them.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
18
Hans Von Spakavsky, an expert in the field of election law and systemic fraud, had documented very carefully clear evidence of voter fraud across the country. He sometimes writes for National Review among other magazines and blogs.
He recently wrote that there is 100% certInty that Democrat Party operatives have registered illegal immigrants. And it grows every year, as more illegal immigrants pour into America.
He recently wrote that there is 100% certInty that Democrat Party operatives have registered illegal immigrants. And it grows every year, as more illegal immigrants pour into America.
5
I did not see that coming
1
Election fraud has been around for a long time. I remember when JFK's father bought the election for him. And there was election fraud in New Hampshire when Obama ran against Hillary Clinton in the primaries. It is alive all right and ballot images will be necessary in this election.
4
Rush would be proud.
3
Republican lawmakers supporting Trump freely acknowledge that Trump's appeal is that he represents change. They acknowledge that Trump is a symbol for the degree to which Americans are disgusted by Washington.
Immediately after acknowledging that many people would sooner elect an egomaniacal buffoon than anyone who remotely represents the status quo, those same lawmakers launch into a tirade about holding impeachment proceedings for a President to-be, and allowing the Supreme Court to attrit without replacements, for as long as it takes until a Republican President can be elected, if necessary.
How stupid do you have to be to not understand that it's precisely that kind of bull@&$* that people are disgusted with?!
Immediately after acknowledging that many people would sooner elect an egomaniacal buffoon than anyone who remotely represents the status quo, those same lawmakers launch into a tirade about holding impeachment proceedings for a President to-be, and allowing the Supreme Court to attrit without replacements, for as long as it takes until a Republican President can be elected, if necessary.
How stupid do you have to be to not understand that it's precisely that kind of bull@&$* that people are disgusted with?!
9
We've had at least 15 years of this nonsense, these lies about this and many other things. I'm not mad about it anymore. The world, and our country, is moving on. People can threaten to bring out their guns, say digusting things, whatever. We're moving on. You can get on board or stamp your feet, whatever. We're moving on.
4
Trump and his supporters know the only way they can get elected is to disenfranchise as many minority voters as possible.
11
Racism, pure and simple.
Republicans continue to insist on voter fraud and rigged systems at their own peril in national elections. Rather, they should look at their own post-election autopsy in 2012 and figure out how to change their policies to appeal to a broader electorate: Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, Jews. America is more than just disgruntled white Americans.
Attacking the right to vote will just drive away the voters they need to attract and destine them to the fate of the Whigs.
Republicans continue to insist on voter fraud and rigged systems at their own peril in national elections. Rather, they should look at their own post-election autopsy in 2012 and figure out how to change their policies to appeal to a broader electorate: Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, Jews. America is more than just disgruntled white Americans.
Attacking the right to vote will just drive away the voters they need to attract and destine them to the fate of the Whigs.
6
I am beginning to believe that most Republicans are evil.
8
Not enough people vote. This is the issue we should focus on by a factor of 10^7.
2
What did you expect from a Republican led state that wants to get involved in which bathroom one uses. They are racing to the bottom which is really a shame as North Carolina used to be a shining star.
4
The Republicans are scared they cannot win honestly, so they are trying dishonest means to win.
7
It isn't voter fraud, it's voter suppression.
Gwinnett Co. Georgia has over 900,000 registered voters, white and African American and democrat. Republicans closed every polling station except one in a rural area which they placed in a police station.
So, if you have no car, are elderly or disabled you're not likely to get there to vote. If you get there imagine how long the lines will be and how long it will take to vote.
Also, misleading public announcements were made claims taxes, tickets, child support and alimony must be paid before you vote.
It's voter suppression, not voter fraud.
Gwinnett Co. Georgia has over 900,000 registered voters, white and African American and democrat. Republicans closed every polling station except one in a rural area which they placed in a police station.
So, if you have no car, are elderly or disabled you're not likely to get there to vote. If you get there imagine how long the lines will be and how long it will take to vote.
Also, misleading public announcements were made claims taxes, tickets, child support and alimony must be paid before you vote.
It's voter suppression, not voter fraud.
18
Voter fraud in the scope necessary to throw a national election is non existent
the GOP is enabling those who want to deny citizens their right to vote
'nuff said
the GOP is enabling those who want to deny citizens their right to vote
'nuff said
7
Purging mislabeled felons is going on in Arkansas this year. About 20% of the list to be purged in my county were errors. Luckily Democrats and the ACLU have been on it, and some county clerks seem offended. I don't know why Republicans are bothering in Arkansas since the whole state has flipped their way. Maybe it's just practice in case things ever get close. They know how well suppressing the black vote worked for them in 2000.
7
Voter fraud is absolutely real. But it's not Democrats practicing it, it's Republicans.
Voter ID laws.
Closing DMVs and polling places (where you get the ID) in Democratic counties.
Armed "poll watchers" attempting to intimidate voters--see the guy in Loudon County, Virginia with a .357 blocking people from entering the polling place till they took his flyer and, when rejected scoffing "Who are you voting for, Crooked Hillary Clinton?"
Sending out flyers to registered voters in NC, and seeing which are returned then challenging their registration to a sympathetic GOP-run county election board (see the 100 year old lady story).
Throwing away registrations of voters who register Democratic.
And, the old stand-by, gerrymandering that makes Pennsylvania (which is Democratic) and Ohio (which is 50-50) look strongly Republican.
Yeah, there's voter fraud, by Republicans who can't win honestly.
Voter ID laws.
Closing DMVs and polling places (where you get the ID) in Democratic counties.
Armed "poll watchers" attempting to intimidate voters--see the guy in Loudon County, Virginia with a .357 blocking people from entering the polling place till they took his flyer and, when rejected scoffing "Who are you voting for, Crooked Hillary Clinton?"
Sending out flyers to registered voters in NC, and seeing which are returned then challenging their registration to a sympathetic GOP-run county election board (see the 100 year old lady story).
Throwing away registrations of voters who register Democratic.
And, the old stand-by, gerrymandering that makes Pennsylvania (which is Democratic) and Ohio (which is 50-50) look strongly Republican.
Yeah, there's voter fraud, by Republicans who can't win honestly.
5
When someone votes in the name of a deceased voter, when a non-citizen votes, when someone votes in the name of a person who is registered but doesn’t vote, someone causes a traffic jam to make it difficult for commuters to get home in time to vote, you have voter fraud. When one party busses in persons who are severely mentally challenged, and “assists” them with making voting decisions, you have voter fraud.
When votes are cast by computer or machine, and no permanent paper record is made of the vote, then voter fraud should be presumed. Why? Because it cannot be disproved.
Despite articles like this one, many Americans believe that voter fraud is widespread, that big city Democrats treat voter fraud as sport, and that voter fraud has been going on for a very long time.
The NYTimes itself has published many an article about stolen elections and voter fraud, and the perpetrators invariably have helped Democrats.
Anyone who doubts this can research how votes in Texas and Illinois were counted in 1960, to help elect John Kennedy instead of Richard Nixon. Or you can read the New York Times about Lyndon Johnson's first Senate race. In both instances, you will find absurd examples of election fraud in different locations where more votes were cast than there were people registered to vote.
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/11/us/how-johnson-won-election-he-d-lost....
When votes are cast by computer or machine, and no permanent paper record is made of the vote, then voter fraud should be presumed. Why? Because it cannot be disproved.
Despite articles like this one, many Americans believe that voter fraud is widespread, that big city Democrats treat voter fraud as sport, and that voter fraud has been going on for a very long time.
The NYTimes itself has published many an article about stolen elections and voter fraud, and the perpetrators invariably have helped Democrats.
Anyone who doubts this can research how votes in Texas and Illinois were counted in 1960, to help elect John Kennedy instead of Richard Nixon. Or you can read the New York Times about Lyndon Johnson's first Senate race. In both instances, you will find absurd examples of election fraud in different locations where more votes were cast than there were people registered to vote.
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/11/us/how-johnson-won-election-he-d-lost....
3
It almost seems like governor McCrory and other N.C. Republicans can't stop themselves. They are determined to demonstrate why voting rights legislation was necessary in the first place.
In-person voter fraud is a myth--like Donald Trump's great wealth and "tremendous success".
In-person voter fraud is a myth--like Donald Trump's great wealth and "tremendous success".
4
This is the only hope the GOP has to win presidential elections these days, by rigging the election. Oh the irony
3
What about the fraud committed in the swing state of Ohio in 2004? Voting machines broke down in poor Democratic districts but in Republican districts they worked just fine. We got W. for a second term. Yes that was rigged by the Republicans.
3
Anyone who wants to understand why voter fraud is a bogus issue should serve as a poll worker. Working an election - even a school board election - will give you the insight to understand just why Republican claims of voter fraud are pure fiction.
In Minnesota, voters defeated a Republican sponsored constitutional amendment to impose a voter ID requirement.
In Minnesota, voters defeated a Republican sponsored constitutional amendment to impose a voter ID requirement.
2
It's sad, and it may enrage them, but they really are the party of racist bigots. Moderate and sensible Republicans should come to the Democratic party and the GOP wither and vanish.
Somebody with sense, and at least trying to be fair minded needs to govern. Bigotry is not the answer.
Somebody with sense, and at least trying to be fair minded needs to govern. Bigotry is not the answer.
4
The myth of election fraud by fanatical Trump zealots is just another one of their crazed conspiracy theories they cling to in their desperate hopes of denying what they fear is happening. Their America is changing, for the better. There is nothing wrong with being P.C. It's just another way of politeness, of treating your neighbor with respect. I know it's such a cliche to mimic the phrase "we're stronger together" but it's true, we are, and there is nothing this great country can't solve, nothing, if we pull together as one for all. God Bless America and our next President Hillary Clinton.
DD
Manhattan
DD
Manhattan
6
It may not be widespread, but it isn't a myth - I've witnessed it. Three years ago I was picking up my absentee ballot at the Board of Elections in NYC. A woman in front of me picked up hers, and then asked for the ballots of two neighbors who she said couldn't come. They gave her three ballots - I watched her fill out all three.
4
Of the 2 billion votes cast in recent years it is estimated the number of fraudulent votes is in the 100s. Nothing is ever zero, there will always be cheaters. This is simply meaningless and insignificant.
6
Brent Staples's op-ed (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/05/opinion/the-election-that-obliterated-... doesn't allow comments, so let me note here, since the two pieces are intimately related, that it's small comfort the NYT is belatedly pulling back the curtain on both conservative rhetoric and the press's complicity in this terrible election cycle. The stories about voter fraud, like all the other half-hearted efforts to unpack the euphemisms of politicians and the polite press, seem exercises in belaboring the obvious. All Donald Trump's candidacy actually did is dispense with the dog whistle and, as his supporters have said over and over, simply say what they were always already thinking. Blaming Trump for this decline in civility has the effect of implicitly condoning the euphemisms that the press, including the NYT, has also deployed. The truth is that the NYT has long balked at complete candor. Rather than a rupture with civility, Trump is the current logical end point of a raft of spectacularly candid utterances by many conservatives, including Bill O'Reilly's election-night eulogy of white majorities just four years ago. The NYT editors need to grow up, trust in their readers' intelligence, and report not only what people actually said but also what they actually thought. If Trump's campaign fulcrums greater press accuracy, then maybe some good can come from this awfulness.
2
When a Maryland politician votes in both Florida (where she has a second home) and in Maryland where she is a resident, that is voter fraud. When in the 2008 democrat primary in NV a young man admits on national TV that he voted for now Pres Obama close to 100 times, that is voter fraud. When my friend in TX goes to vote, the precinct worker tells her that she already voted when she knows she did not, there is a fraud. When ballots are found in the trunk of an election official's car in MN, that is fraud. To categorically insist that it does not happen is denying reality. Does it happen in massive amounts? Not likely, but it does happen. I have no problem with voters having to show identification when they go to vote if it helps to keep the process honest.
5
The bad guys are always accusing others of doing the very thing that they, themselves, are doing. Republicans can't win without cheating.
11
Namurrican racism renewal started following a slow parabolic curve from the moment Barack Obama got elected. He should have been savvy enough to see it would happen.
He is no cause of racial, social and sexist dissension, just a catalyst.
A catalyst is a change-facilitating agent. He wanted to be a catalyst; but one facilitating change in the other direction!
The second-term chemical reaction reconverting latent, potential cheap street-level racism (delegating lynchings of unarmed persons to on-duty cops, e.g.), as well as institutional and administrative racism (false claims of voter fraud, district gerrymandering, refusing commercial service to clients in the public marketplace, instrumentalising/perverting religion, e.g.) left the slow-growth curve behind for exponential increase instead.
Not least due the entry into the race of the pig-faced play-doh man, ready to appeal to every bigotry and lowest common denominatorn to "glorify" himself.
I nonetheless remain hopeful that when Barack hands over power on 20 January, which I figure he WILL do with grace and dignity, the steam will drain from the cylinders, the fire under the boiler will be damped and the loco motive (pun!) find itself suddenly unfueled.
As Bob Marley (who used to manipulate folk dictums as easily as Psalms) once observed:
"Reflexes had the better of me
And what is to be must be
Every day the bucket goes to the well
I say, one day the bottom a-go drop out
One day the bottom will drop out..."
He is no cause of racial, social and sexist dissension, just a catalyst.
A catalyst is a change-facilitating agent. He wanted to be a catalyst; but one facilitating change in the other direction!
The second-term chemical reaction reconverting latent, potential cheap street-level racism (delegating lynchings of unarmed persons to on-duty cops, e.g.), as well as institutional and administrative racism (false claims of voter fraud, district gerrymandering, refusing commercial service to clients in the public marketplace, instrumentalising/perverting religion, e.g.) left the slow-growth curve behind for exponential increase instead.
Not least due the entry into the race of the pig-faced play-doh man, ready to appeal to every bigotry and lowest common denominatorn to "glorify" himself.
I nonetheless remain hopeful that when Barack hands over power on 20 January, which I figure he WILL do with grace and dignity, the steam will drain from the cylinders, the fire under the boiler will be damped and the loco motive (pun!) find itself suddenly unfueled.
As Bob Marley (who used to manipulate folk dictums as easily as Psalms) once observed:
"Reflexes had the better of me
And what is to be must be
Every day the bucket goes to the well
I say, one day the bottom a-go drop out
One day the bottom will drop out..."
A political party that supports voter suppression is a party that has lost it's relevance, integrity, and moral compass. Period.
7
It has never been about eliminating phantom voters, but rather to quash eligible voters who don't share their views. I remember how gleeful the R's were in PA when they thought they had eliminated 600,000 otherwise eligible voters (presumably D's), even as the state court announced there were zero verifiable cases of fraud.
12
Which is worse - voter fraud or disenfranchisement of minority voters? Not much question about that. There is a lot of insanity going around.
4
Sinclair Lewis was prescient in his mid-1930s book, "It Can Happen Here." Fascists decide who's guilty and then make up crimes to obliterate them. This has been the Republican strategy. If Trump is elected and Republicans control Congress, the United States will become a fascist country. Lewis's satire will become reality.
11
Election fraud is a term that would certainly cover the recent collusion between the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democrat National Committee. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was forced to resign just before the recent democrat convention because of this collusion -- which was all designed to destroy Mr. Sanders from ever winning the nomination. This fraud was certainly deepened when Mrs. Clinton was fed the questions that were going to be asked at a town hall style debate. Did Mrs. Clinton refuse to accept the cheating when she was given the questions in advance? No, she did not. And you can bet your bottom dollar that this is only the very tip of the iceberg. Mrs. Clinton is crook. Her two faced approach to the campaign is a fraud. And so is, by and large, the Democrat National Committee for supporting her in such a dishonest manner. Her personal enrichment while she was secretary of state is further proof that she cares little to actually serve the people. She serves herself. The people harmed the most by this dishonesty are poor people, those whose needs are very precariously met to begin with. Too bad Mr. Barber seems obvious to this fact. His foolish embrace of the democrat party harms the very people he is suppose to help.
6
Another Left Wing Conspiracy theory. Bernie received far fewer votes in the primaries than Clinton. There was no need for fraud by the DNC because Bernie never had the delegates to win.
6
The operatives of the one-time Party of Lincoln (now, some sort of seditious gumbo composed of pasty old white men, who offer aid and comfort to our enemies only as a hobby) are good at one thing: spinning yarns.
Election fraud, the stacked Liberal media...these are obloquy, all cut from the same bolt of cloth. These are myths, fabrications, and thorough lies, woven into a fabric their base craves as an addict craves a fix.
This, the Newspaper of Record, has always employed columnists who have raised hackles with Liberals (capitalization intentional) like me. While I have agreed with very little written by these individuals, nevertheless their presence within the pages of The Times is a necessary one, because it puts the lie to the contention that the entire spectrum of thought is not given the representation that is its due, and on a daily basis in these pages.
Being The Newspaper of Record for a society as complex as ours is not an easy job. While all schools of thought are represented here, it is done with the understanding that not all ideas possess equal intellectual and moral currency. This public duty, this squaring of accounts, is why editorials exist.
This is what The Times does, daily, to counterbalance the wishful thinking, mythmaking, and calumny existing in every political campaign with calm and reason. The day that this process receives universal acclaim will mark the day that The New York Times abdicates its fearsome responsibility to our society.
Election fraud, the stacked Liberal media...these are obloquy, all cut from the same bolt of cloth. These are myths, fabrications, and thorough lies, woven into a fabric their base craves as an addict craves a fix.
This, the Newspaper of Record, has always employed columnists who have raised hackles with Liberals (capitalization intentional) like me. While I have agreed with very little written by these individuals, nevertheless their presence within the pages of The Times is a necessary one, because it puts the lie to the contention that the entire spectrum of thought is not given the representation that is its due, and on a daily basis in these pages.
Being The Newspaper of Record for a society as complex as ours is not an easy job. While all schools of thought are represented here, it is done with the understanding that not all ideas possess equal intellectual and moral currency. This public duty, this squaring of accounts, is why editorials exist.
This is what The Times does, daily, to counterbalance the wishful thinking, mythmaking, and calumny existing in every political campaign with calm and reason. The day that this process receives universal acclaim will mark the day that The New York Times abdicates its fearsome responsibility to our society.
1
Thank you for your leadership and dedication to justice and equality. The true voter suppression efforts described here are disgraceful. It should be required reading for the Roberts Supreme Court which gutted the hard-won Voting Rights Act. It is inspirational that a 100-year-old woman could cast votes for the first black president and the first woman president. Despite the obstacles and hate mongering, progress is being made.
3
The true conservatives are the liberals who aim to conserve America’s voting freedoms, hard won over generations who fought for basic civil rights against America's hypocrites.
The Gop ‘conservatives’ are really rw radical extremists who aim to tear down what America did achieve, that once made the US a role model for the world. This is now even clearer with the 2016 election.
Now the US is behind the advanced democracies in rights for all. Somehow they manage to have greater voting protections, and also higher turnout, without a US Constitution.
The Gop ‘conservatives’ are really rw radical extremists who aim to tear down what America did achieve, that once made the US a role model for the world. This is now even clearer with the 2016 election.
Now the US is behind the advanced democracies in rights for all. Somehow they manage to have greater voting protections, and also higher turnout, without a US Constitution.
3
We should regard the GOP's anti-voter initiatives as the equivalent of the Germans' reliance on contrived "Polish" atrocities in 1939 that were used as a pretext to launch WWII. Twisted and irredeemably evil, but how many Republicans consider themselves truly worthy Christians who are doing God's work in the polling places--by excluding those unworthy from exercising their electoral rights?
5
Voter fraud is mostly a myth, with the exception of people like that Terri person Iowa, who was apparently both uneducated enough to believe the Trump lies and lacking enough in impulse control to take action by voting twice. Republicans have become masters of the Big Lie. Say it often enough, and people believe you. The American people have been defrauded by Republicans. That's the truth, plain and simple.
8
Arrest, indict, try, convict and sentence enemies of democracy.
We send soldiers to die to defend democracy.
Are we willing to even live for democracy?
We send soldiers to die to defend democracy.
Are we willing to even live for democracy?
3
Democracy must be cultivated every single day. The temptation to win by any means possible has to be met with persistent vigilance and action. Maybe a way to proceed is to require all eligible citizens to vote as they do here in Brazil. This may help eliminate the endless local rule challenges and also maximize participation thereby giving greater validity to election results. Of course this will never happen because it's easier to win by gerrymandering, suppressing, deceiving than by earning the respect and votes of the majority. Of course those who do not vote by their own choice have no right to complain.
2
If you're going to stoop to lying about darned well everything, cheating might as well come along for the ride.
As a matter of survival the GOP has had to suppress its conscience, though we see, from its nominee down through the rank and file, the psychosis that's moved in to fill the vacuum manifests itself in bursts of vulgar nonsense.
Less a conscience, compounded by a child's sense of consequence, fantastical notions take root then flourish. Similar to Dark Ages obsessions with dragons, the post-modern GOPPER suspects some terrible beast beneath every bed: something called an Obama that seeks to destroy the nation; or the Clinton, some class of shadowy fairy who will come for all their guns. Indeed sailing off the edge of the right wing's political flat earth will spell catastrophe for Great White Dominion. And never mind the sea to the left, where they believe unquestioned, without a jot of irony, that the "unknown" is teaming with all sorts of monsters: voter fraud, climate change, economic recovery, women's rights - and gawd help us all! - the Dirty Brown Ogre of Immigration!
In the land of make believe the classic ending does not state that "they'll all live angrily ever after." But that's what lying and cheating will buy you.
Tragically large swaths of America someday will be subject to a Second Enlightenment, gnashing teeth, pain and bloodshed; the truth that the planets revolve around the sun, and not beneath the Oaf God they pray to as their saviour.
As a matter of survival the GOP has had to suppress its conscience, though we see, from its nominee down through the rank and file, the psychosis that's moved in to fill the vacuum manifests itself in bursts of vulgar nonsense.
Less a conscience, compounded by a child's sense of consequence, fantastical notions take root then flourish. Similar to Dark Ages obsessions with dragons, the post-modern GOPPER suspects some terrible beast beneath every bed: something called an Obama that seeks to destroy the nation; or the Clinton, some class of shadowy fairy who will come for all their guns. Indeed sailing off the edge of the right wing's political flat earth will spell catastrophe for Great White Dominion. And never mind the sea to the left, where they believe unquestioned, without a jot of irony, that the "unknown" is teaming with all sorts of monsters: voter fraud, climate change, economic recovery, women's rights - and gawd help us all! - the Dirty Brown Ogre of Immigration!
In the land of make believe the classic ending does not state that "they'll all live angrily ever after." But that's what lying and cheating will buy you.
Tragically large swaths of America someday will be subject to a Second Enlightenment, gnashing teeth, pain and bloodshed; the truth that the planets revolve around the sun, and not beneath the Oaf God they pray to as their saviour.
4
I honestly don't understand how this party is not laughed out of town, or shamed out of town. We can't even apply false equivalences here. They rig by surgical gerrymandering, voter laws that are clear attempts at suppression, have the aid of the Supreme Court and the FBI, make serious threats, and if none of that works, they obstruct with dire consequences. "We the People" and our real concerns are only addressed seriously by democrats, but the great brainwashed can't see it. Time for this party to grow up, but it seems more likely to implode.
7
In the Great State of Alabama, in order to save money due to budget shortfalls, the governor decided to close state trooper licensing offices where citizens of this state could get drivers licenses and state IDs. Seven of the nine offices were closed in predominately black counties that voted for President Obama. These offices were the only ones in these counties forcing people to drive many miles to Montgomery to get licenses and IDs. The governor said it was a coincidence. I'm not optimistic that he was telling the truth.
11
It is amazing to me that Trump on the one hand claims that African Americans live in Aleppo-esque communities rampant with violence and despair and then tries to assert that those same citizens have the time and monies to organize vast voter fraud conspiracies. The man is delusional about voter fraud as well as what America actually is.
The bottom line is that the GOP will do anything they can get away with to suppress full and equal rights for people of color. The state of North Carolina is a prime example of such GOP tactics.
I am glad to see the push back this year from the NAACP, DNC and the courts.
Continued monitoring in the years to come will be needed. Somehow federal guidelines for voting rights and voter registration must be made so that each state knows what is expected and guaranteed for every citizen.
The bottom line is that the GOP will do anything they can get away with to suppress full and equal rights for people of color. The state of North Carolina is a prime example of such GOP tactics.
I am glad to see the push back this year from the NAACP, DNC and the courts.
Continued monitoring in the years to come will be needed. Somehow federal guidelines for voting rights and voter registration must be made so that each state knows what is expected and guaranteed for every citizen.
10
The republican party and its apologists are willing to subvert the institutions that have made our country's liberties, economy, and social order the envy of nearly every other country on the planet.
Foremost among their transgressions is their continued subversion of the federal system of government and its agencies under the Department of Justice.
Let's be very clear.
It was GWB and Rove who used the Justice Department to suppress voter registration in order to intimidate Americans who tended to vote democratic.
It was McConnell, Cruz, Boehner and Ryan who led the effort to default on our national debt with potentially catastrophic impact on the integrity of the American economy.
It was Reagan who introduced the notion that debt substituted for tax revenue in the most notoriously bad economic decision called trickle down economics; just look at Kansas. Well, GWB's decision to go to war on the credit card (as though accounting off the books didn't count in basic arithmetic) might be a bit worse. But take your pick.
It was Reagan and then every republican since then who embraced the dog whistle racism of southern dixiecrats dedicated to a revival of southern state's rights ... as though the Civil War didn't put that absurdity to rest.
Republicans are willing to risk the nation in order to gain or keep political power. They do so time and time again. All to keep the socially oppressive neo cons on their side. Voter fraud is just another tactic.
Foremost among their transgressions is their continued subversion of the federal system of government and its agencies under the Department of Justice.
Let's be very clear.
It was GWB and Rove who used the Justice Department to suppress voter registration in order to intimidate Americans who tended to vote democratic.
It was McConnell, Cruz, Boehner and Ryan who led the effort to default on our national debt with potentially catastrophic impact on the integrity of the American economy.
It was Reagan who introduced the notion that debt substituted for tax revenue in the most notoriously bad economic decision called trickle down economics; just look at Kansas. Well, GWB's decision to go to war on the credit card (as though accounting off the books didn't count in basic arithmetic) might be a bit worse. But take your pick.
It was Reagan and then every republican since then who embraced the dog whistle racism of southern dixiecrats dedicated to a revival of southern state's rights ... as though the Civil War didn't put that absurdity to rest.
Republicans are willing to risk the nation in order to gain or keep political power. They do so time and time again. All to keep the socially oppressive neo cons on their side. Voter fraud is just another tactic.
12
Republicans have a built-in disadvantage in the electoral college. But if they can keep the Confederacy in tact, they could have nearly 200 electors. Pick off a few swing states (by any means necessary) and they win.
What the Republican Party overlooks is the will of the people -- the democratic foundation of this country. The majority of American voters prefer progressive policies. Notwithstanding, the Republicans will cheat and suppress the vote to win.
And if they lose, they obstruct the elected president to override the will of the people.
The problem with the Republicans is not only the alt-right, it's the dead center.
What the Republican Party overlooks is the will of the people -- the democratic foundation of this country. The majority of American voters prefer progressive policies. Notwithstanding, the Republicans will cheat and suppress the vote to win.
And if they lose, they obstruct the elected president to override the will of the people.
The problem with the Republicans is not only the alt-right, it's the dead center.
9
On Election Day, Trump will overwhelmingly get the white male vote. The same people who opposed President Obama in 2008 and 2012 because of his race will oppose Hillary Clinton in 2016 because of her gender. Clinton will overwhelmingly get the votes of women and minorities---the same minorities that have been disparaged and targeted for voter suppression. I'm praying that our better angels rule this moment in history, and help us preserve a democratic and multi culturally-minded America.
6
Voter disenfranchisement. Just when one thinks that the dirty tricks perpetrated by the GOP can't get any more blatant, we wake up today to a report by Mother Jones that there is evidence of an FBI wiretap in DNC headquarters.
Have we not been here before?
It is just laughable that Donald Trump has characterized Hillary Clinton's email issues as a pending constitutional crisis, worse than Watergate, when we now have the distinct stench of Rudi Gulliani colluding with his buddies in the FBI to impact the election. And surprise, surprise, his comrades in the FBI are using any means necessary to undermine the Dems.
If these rogue agents rationalize their unethical behavior by telling themselves they are "patriots", they need to think again. And, they should look up the definition of "coward" and then look in the mirror.
Or, let them come forward and identify themselves so we can see who they are, and they can accept responsibility for their actions. And accept whatever consequences are outlined in the FBI code of conduct guidelines.
The GOP is increasingly desperate. They know their days are numbered, with or without a Trump presidency. They need to go.
Have we not been here before?
It is just laughable that Donald Trump has characterized Hillary Clinton's email issues as a pending constitutional crisis, worse than Watergate, when we now have the distinct stench of Rudi Gulliani colluding with his buddies in the FBI to impact the election. And surprise, surprise, his comrades in the FBI are using any means necessary to undermine the Dems.
If these rogue agents rationalize their unethical behavior by telling themselves they are "patriots", they need to think again. And, they should look up the definition of "coward" and then look in the mirror.
Or, let them come forward and identify themselves so we can see who they are, and they can accept responsibility for their actions. And accept whatever consequences are outlined in the FBI code of conduct guidelines.
The GOP is increasingly desperate. They know their days are numbered, with or without a Trump presidency. They need to go.
13
Yes, Mr. Barber, as you say "Democracy itself is on the ballot in 2016." It is shocking how blatant the republican agenda to suppress and intimidate voters has become in the last few years. It is not surprising and it is Good News that so many judges are stopping these overt intrusions on the right to vote that every adult citizen has.
I was surprised to learn that two of my Washington State relatives, who are seniors and tend to vote for democrats and independents, did not receive their Washington State voters' guide for this election. They got their ballots but not the guides. Everything in Washington is done by mail - guides, ballots, voting - and it seems odd that they didn't get the guides. It would be interesting to hear from people of all ages and parties if they got their guides.
I was surprised to learn that two of my Washington State relatives, who are seniors and tend to vote for democrats and independents, did not receive their Washington State voters' guide for this election. They got their ballots but not the guides. Everything in Washington is done by mail - guides, ballots, voting - and it seems odd that they didn't get the guides. It would be interesting to hear from people of all ages and parties if they got their guides.
2
Oops. I meant it would be interesting to hear from others who did not receive their guides.
1
The GOP's continued propagation of this myth is fascinating in light of the GorevBush debacle. But Republicans are not pushing back (although they should be if they were true patriots) at Trumps reliance on it, because they hope and pray it works for them this time.
Putting that aside, the GOP simply can not come to grips with the facts that not every single American voter completely agrees with their platform/s. (when they actually have a coherent one, that isnt about abortion, the gays and Creationism) So they rely on this myth that it must be voter fraud that they aren't winning every single election in every district, everywhere. When you speak with uber-conservatives, they are astounded that so many people disagree with them on so many policy issues they simply cant make that leap in their heads. When you speak with the gun-toting groups they are just pure, walking paranoia. The right to lifers, they...well they just get all apoplectic and foam at the mouth and yell, "The babies, the babies!"
When a political party has to connive and manipulate behind the scenes with redistricting, and voter rolls erasures, various forms of intimidation, and who knows what else will come-out after this election cycle - its clear that their pursuit of Democracy is the furthest thing from their minds. No matter how much they claim to be the truest of the true patriots, their behaviors give them away as being the opposite.
Vote No to the GOP on Tuesday. Its time they get a shellacking!
Putting that aside, the GOP simply can not come to grips with the facts that not every single American voter completely agrees with their platform/s. (when they actually have a coherent one, that isnt about abortion, the gays and Creationism) So they rely on this myth that it must be voter fraud that they aren't winning every single election in every district, everywhere. When you speak with uber-conservatives, they are astounded that so many people disagree with them on so many policy issues they simply cant make that leap in their heads. When you speak with the gun-toting groups they are just pure, walking paranoia. The right to lifers, they...well they just get all apoplectic and foam at the mouth and yell, "The babies, the babies!"
When a political party has to connive and manipulate behind the scenes with redistricting, and voter rolls erasures, various forms of intimidation, and who knows what else will come-out after this election cycle - its clear that their pursuit of Democracy is the furthest thing from their minds. No matter how much they claim to be the truest of the true patriots, their behaviors give them away as being the opposite.
Vote No to the GOP on Tuesday. Its time they get a shellacking!
14
Fact denying has been a consistent pattern among Republicans for quite some time now. To most Republicans minorities, people of color, women voting must appear as "election fraud." That is the reason they "purge" the voter rolls so that legitimate voters cannot vote. Indeed, most everything they accuse the Democrats of committing, the Republicans have already mastered. When will this nonsense stop?
11
I have the highest respect for Rev. Barber and for his principled and peaceful responses to these hateful actions, correctly termed "insane" by the federal judge. He is a leader who deserves the renown he did not seek but justifiably receives. Sadly, we will not eradicate ignorant intolerance and hate anytime soon. His strong voice and guidance is necessary now and in the coming years.
7
Enemies in the castle. The Republican's mental and emotional problems have grown so large as to endanger our republic far more than enemies abroad. Like a sick relative, we have reached the point where the Grand Old Party must needs be put out of its misery.
11
The "fraud" they're alleging isn't stuffing ballot boxes, or voting in a different precinct or multiple times. The "fraud" is letting "those people" vote at all (whoever they happen to be -- African-American, young, citizens born elsewhere . . .). Therefore, one must do anything that combats such fraud by making it more difficult for "those people" to vote. Stating that actual vote fraud is a rare occurrence misses the real point.
10
While voter supression makes me angry, it also makes me sad. It makes me sad that so many Americans are willing to stoop to tactics which disrespect our democracy. It makes me sad that the Republican Party has degenerated to the point that they behave as if they are playing some sort of game where the ends always justify the means. They have lied to their supporters, and undermined their belief in the American electoral system. They have become a frightening, off-the-rails political party, because it seems that there is nowhere that they will stop. They are without conscience.
19
Fraud is not the myth that Trump is promoting. Rather it is the cover for his real message that some people should not have the right to vote. He is saying that it is ok to think these people are not true Americans.
Trump's rhetoric gives permission to his true blue supporters to voice what has been taboo that the white man is the only legitimate citizen. Democrats are seen as the other. No fact can penetrate this belief system that Trump is using to create his base.
Trump with his show has become a magnet and creates a force that is pulling all attention towards him. The media was the first that could not resist and the rest willing or not have been sucked in.
Trump's rhetoric gives permission to his true blue supporters to voice what has been taboo that the white man is the only legitimate citizen. Democrats are seen as the other. No fact can penetrate this belief system that Trump is using to create his base.
Trump with his show has become a magnet and creates a force that is pulling all attention towards him. The media was the first that could not resist and the rest willing or not have been sucked in.
22
Voting rights in America are under assault by the Republican party and the billionaire class. Our right to vote in our democracy is our most basic and most powerful right. If we don't protect & defend our vote, the powers that be will legislate this most fundamental right we all have and turn it into a privilege for a select few. If they can take a Black man's vote, they can take a White man's vote. The next thing we know these billionaires like Charles & David Koch will turn us all into powerless serfs in some kind of weird industrial police state that would resemble West Virginia in the early 20th Century. If an owner of an oil pipeline can hire thugs as guards and order a sheriff department to deploy its deputies on Native Americans holding up his project, then that same awful thing can happen to any of us. If we don't stop this now, they will change the whole concept of America, and it will be in Putin's image, not Lincoln's.
26
By far the largest electoral fraud and organized disenfranchising perpetrated against the American people is gerrymandering, which produces representation in Congress contrary to voting majorities in US States. (Read: over-represents Republicans)
31
Fact-free, paranoid drivel.
When a group of hard-left politicians in black robes appointed by BHO or WJC make a ruling, do you expect anything other than a political, ideological result, divorced from reality, in service to the leftist cause? That's why leftists ought never be permitted anywhere near black robes.
Here are the facts that even leftist sites like Vox admit:
These “voter suppression” efforts are notorious failures – at suppressing votes. Turnout, including minority turnout, routinely increases after such proposals become law. In one study, it showed that only 3000 people were turned away for want of valid ID, conceding that some of these attempted voters might have been fraudsters. Of course, they don't show up in the left's stats, because no prosecution resulted.
But this nutty narrative is simply too valuable – it gins up the race-identity obsessed base – to permit something as trivial as facts to interfere.
Put simply, one’s got to believe that the racists who wish to keep Black folks from voting are singularly inept -- adopting programs which actually increase Black turnout -- or admit the truth: these laws simply do not have the effect the nutty left asserts. (In person) fraud might be rare but it is NOT unheard of, and reasonable efforts to combat it -- like voter ID -- are just that: reasonable.
The left lives in fairy tale world, in which nothing has changed since 1870, into which fact will not be permitted to intrude.
When a group of hard-left politicians in black robes appointed by BHO or WJC make a ruling, do you expect anything other than a political, ideological result, divorced from reality, in service to the leftist cause? That's why leftists ought never be permitted anywhere near black robes.
Here are the facts that even leftist sites like Vox admit:
These “voter suppression” efforts are notorious failures – at suppressing votes. Turnout, including minority turnout, routinely increases after such proposals become law. In one study, it showed that only 3000 people were turned away for want of valid ID, conceding that some of these attempted voters might have been fraudsters. Of course, they don't show up in the left's stats, because no prosecution resulted.
But this nutty narrative is simply too valuable – it gins up the race-identity obsessed base – to permit something as trivial as facts to interfere.
Put simply, one’s got to believe that the racists who wish to keep Black folks from voting are singularly inept -- adopting programs which actually increase Black turnout -- or admit the truth: these laws simply do not have the effect the nutty left asserts. (In person) fraud might be rare but it is NOT unheard of, and reasonable efforts to combat it -- like voter ID -- are just that: reasonable.
The left lives in fairy tale world, in which nothing has changed since 1870, into which fact will not be permitted to intrude.
3
Then why does the GOP continue to push voter suppression? Answer: If your political party is elitist, out of touch, and beholden to the 1%, democracy is a messy and inconvenient reality. And it is the GOP that is trying to take us back to the 19th century my friend--on every issue form global warming to women's rights. Your comments are nothing but cliche ridden boilerplate. Ugh.
13
Michael, your comment that "leftists" should not be permitted to be judges demonstrates exactly why voting should be as easy as possible. Republicans have decided that there is no legitimate opposition to their platform. That is anti-democratic and contrary to the values upon which our country was founded. You can disagree with the overwhelming proof that in-person voter fraud exists on an infinitesimal level, but attacking the messenger is unnecessary, as is challenging their right to hold judicial office. The truth is that voter fraud has never been demonstrated to effect the results of an election, but the scope of voter suppression very well could.
4
Sorry but the narrative of recent events speaks for itself. Efforts to suppress minority voting in the south are alive and well. So yes not much has changed since the 1870's.
2
Astonishingly, the author cites incidents of voter fraud to assert that voter fraud doesn’t exist He asserts that arrests for voter fraud “demonstrate why election fraud is practically nonexistent in America.” The author singles out a Republican voter named Terri Lyn Rote, but fails to mention that she was one of three voters arrested last month for voting multiple times in Polk County, Iowa. (Polk Country is just one of Iowa’s 99 counties.) The author asserts that a Fourth Circuit Court ruling “affirmed” there was almost no evidence of voter fraud in modern elections, but in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (2007), the Supreme Court found that recent elections “demonstrate that not only is the risk of voter fraud real but that it could affect the outcome of a close election.”
4
The point is, the actual perpetrators of "election fraud" were Republicans, acting on Donald Trump's false narrative that the election is "rigged".
Actually it's the GOP that are trying to "rig" the Election.
Actually it's the GOP that are trying to "rig" the Election.
11
There is no substantial voter fraud. The entire argument is ridiculous and designed to rile up the reality challenged Tea party voters--and in your case I would say "Mission Accomplished".
3
Mr. Case lives in Texas, so he should know -- as everyone down here knows -- the purpose of recent "voter fraud" laws in this state is to affect the political outcome of elections in much the same way that "redistricting" is intended to do. Let's tell it like it is.
2
Here in Florida we have a current case of paid registration solicitors forging names and signatures to registration documents a la Acorn's old technique. But I guess that's not voter fraud. And those of us old enough to remember still rhapsodize about those 87 dead Mexican Americans who swung the senatorial election for LBJ in 1948...not only dead, but voting in alphabetical order. And then there's Richard Daley and the Chicago machine. But why screw up a good column with facts?
1
So sad. American pride has turned to shame. There is no nuance or subtlety here. Everything is right on the surface, apparently a power grab by someone who appears to be a sociopathic liar without conscience.
At best, his followers seem unable to grasp the manipulations of a criminal mind.
At best, his followers seem unable to grasp the manipulations of a criminal mind.
6
The voter fraud hoax is one of the great lies made up by the Grand Old Plutocrat party. The Gop voter ID drive is extreme and anti American, tho voter suppression has a long US tradition.
Some other democracies require voter ID, and some don’t. They also have voting on holidays instead of work days, which increases turnout—much higher than in US.
A W. Post piece cites a Harvard study saying ... “in many other countries, it’s much easier to obtain identification than in the US since ID cards are issued to all citizens automatically”....this is used for many purposes, including travel, banking, and healthcare access as well as voting.”
This is the last thing the Gop wants.
Canada for instance lets voters present 2 of 45 possible forms of ID with voter’s name/address---these include leases, student transcripts, and utility bills.
The USA, land of Freedom, makes difficult for it's citizens a lot of basic rights that should be taken for granted----erecting road blocks for access to health care, job training and higher education, secure retirement, to fair criminal justice—and voting.
The spirit of our ugly past of voting suppression is crawling out of the woodwork.
Moving or closing polling places is a deliberate attack on democracy. Our renowned Constitution and its amendments don’t protect us. We have to hope the courts continue to step in.
Some other democracies require voter ID, and some don’t. They also have voting on holidays instead of work days, which increases turnout—much higher than in US.
A W. Post piece cites a Harvard study saying ... “in many other countries, it’s much easier to obtain identification than in the US since ID cards are issued to all citizens automatically”....this is used for many purposes, including travel, banking, and healthcare access as well as voting.”
This is the last thing the Gop wants.
Canada for instance lets voters present 2 of 45 possible forms of ID with voter’s name/address---these include leases, student transcripts, and utility bills.
The USA, land of Freedom, makes difficult for it's citizens a lot of basic rights that should be taken for granted----erecting road blocks for access to health care, job training and higher education, secure retirement, to fair criminal justice—and voting.
The spirit of our ugly past of voting suppression is crawling out of the woodwork.
Moving or closing polling places is a deliberate attack on democracy. Our renowned Constitution and its amendments don’t protect us. We have to hope the courts continue to step in.
13
The voter fraud bell rings loud but hollow, and this article should be a message for all who care about voting rights. I am glad the Times has run it, but wish it were a story read in every voting precinct. The drummed up hatred for Hillary has overwhelmed so many that even the predatory practices and history of her opponent seems acceptable to so many millions. Maybe more people will take up reading good books and skip all shrieking news for the next four years, regardless of outcome.
5
Time is fortunately moving past justices at all levels that were appointed by 24 years of Reagan and the Bush Boys. We are now seeing decisions made based on social justice and not on guaranteeing republican majorities. Activists like Mr. Barber are doing critical work that is succeeding. I imagine -and I certainly hope- that they have their post-election sites set on gerrymandering, which has an even greater impact on elections than voter suppression. I also wonder if there is potential litigation and activism aimed at republicans like Mitch McConnell refusing to do their jobs.
11
We seem to be spoiled here in the Maryland suburbs. Voting is easy, lines are not horrible, no stupid photo ID checks. The worst thing we have is to run the gauntlet of supporters for various candidates on the walk in. It is annoying, and one has to be careful not to engage in negative comments... especially this year... but overall a safe and easy process.
But much of what I see going on in some big cities, especially in red states, ought to be illegal, from the overt (ID laws) to the covert (not enough polling places or early voting). You citizens who weather all that and still vote are the real patriots, not the fools waving flags and trying to intimidate you.
But much of what I see going on in some big cities, especially in red states, ought to be illegal, from the overt (ID laws) to the covert (not enough polling places or early voting). You citizens who weather all that and still vote are the real patriots, not the fools waving flags and trying to intimidate you.
18
Election fraud, for the GOP, is just one path to their victory. They don't care about it per se. What they want is the tools to suppress Democratic-likely voters. The specific reasons are unimportant. Election fraud, solar eclipses, whatever. The problem is, of course, the fanatic right wing of the Supreme Court is, well, fanatical. Justice Roberts said our country has changed...for the better. Really? Could someone ask Roberts if he still believe that and why? Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito are merely servants of the GOP. They are, at their core, dishonest. There is, however, rampant election fraud, that much is true. The GOP is trying by fraud or any means to disenfranchise anyone they feel will not vote for them. That is fraud.
4
Why are whites so terrified of black American's right to vote? There- I said it.
I watched a PBS segment today, wherein a white female; articulate, reasonable- sounding...until she explained her concern over voter fraud. Said female elaborated how voters in heavily concentrated Democratic communities required watching because *they* voted Democratic- thus the potential for fraud. After I realized my mouth was agape, while rubbing my eyes to confirm I was watching a non-confrontational - that is, normal looking and sounding human utter those words; I screamed at the television.
The complete disconnect with reality and inability to grasp the contradictory statement from an otherwise reasonable looking human, almost made me cry from frustration. HOW did this person come to this viewpoint? She did not comprehend her rationale could easily be applied to heavily concentrated communities of Republicans- voting for Republicans: What would set them apart from doing the same thing (voting a party ticket) and NOT be considered as committing voting fraud? (She simply did not see her false premise and the reporter did not question her).
The indoctrination of a lie is far stronger than evidence to refute it. I can not bring myself to be angry anymore- Just pity and a profound sense of loss. Loss for the millions like her and pity for my having to live in a now nightmarish *Concept* of America.
I watched a PBS segment today, wherein a white female; articulate, reasonable- sounding...until she explained her concern over voter fraud. Said female elaborated how voters in heavily concentrated Democratic communities required watching because *they* voted Democratic- thus the potential for fraud. After I realized my mouth was agape, while rubbing my eyes to confirm I was watching a non-confrontational - that is, normal looking and sounding human utter those words; I screamed at the television.
The complete disconnect with reality and inability to grasp the contradictory statement from an otherwise reasonable looking human, almost made me cry from frustration. HOW did this person come to this viewpoint? She did not comprehend her rationale could easily be applied to heavily concentrated communities of Republicans- voting for Republicans: What would set them apart from doing the same thing (voting a party ticket) and NOT be considered as committing voting fraud? (She simply did not see her false premise and the reporter did not question her).
The indoctrination of a lie is far stronger than evidence to refute it. I can not bring myself to be angry anymore- Just pity and a profound sense of loss. Loss for the millions like her and pity for my having to live in a now nightmarish *Concept* of America.
5
When I was young, my father recruited me to be a poll watcher, as a Democrat, in one election. Anyone who complains about election fraud should be required to do this. There was a Republican poll watcher that day as well, along with several professional poll workers from the Department of Elections. We worked together calmly and politely to verify every one of the 200 odd voters who came in that day to vote in the four machines. I think there was one questionable voter, who placed a provisional ballot. At the end of the day, we watched the election workers download the machine's data and both accepted the results.
Having done that, and seen how there are five or six people on the site for only 200 voters, it's hard for me to imagine how voter fraud can happen in a polling place.
Having done that, and seen how there are five or six people on the site for only 200 voters, it's hard for me to imagine how voter fraud can happen in a polling place.
4
In 1964 the 24th amendment was passed which stopped Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia from charging a poll tax to vote. Poll taxes were used to disenfranchise minority voters.
In addition the Supreme Court ruled that states had to redistrict every 10 years based off of the census. This ended rural biases and ensured cities that are often more liberal and have more minorities were fairly represented.
Now it's being reported that 868 polling places have been closed since the Supreme Court decided that southern states no longer needed federal monitoring when it comes to changing election laws. Clearly the Supreme Court was wrong.
The only ones who are guilty of election fraud are those who are in positions of power who are preventing citizens from exercising their right to vote. The only way to stop this is too have another amendment added to the Constitution that requires adequate polling stations or allows people to vote by mail.
This is our democracy and if we don't fight for it we will loose it.
In addition the Supreme Court ruled that states had to redistrict every 10 years based off of the census. This ended rural biases and ensured cities that are often more liberal and have more minorities were fairly represented.
Now it's being reported that 868 polling places have been closed since the Supreme Court decided that southern states no longer needed federal monitoring when it comes to changing election laws. Clearly the Supreme Court was wrong.
The only ones who are guilty of election fraud are those who are in positions of power who are preventing citizens from exercising their right to vote. The only way to stop this is too have another amendment added to the Constitution that requires adequate polling stations or allows people to vote by mail.
This is our democracy and if we don't fight for it we will loose it.
3
What do you do when the most powerful democracy has become so polarized that it can't function anymore? Call for unity? But unity requires compromise.
For Republicans that means letting go of their entrenched belief that they have the right to their ill-gotten gains of power and material wealth, no matter what the cost to others. It means embracing generosity of spirit to all, being decent, accountable; adhering to policies that further economic growth and create a robust middle class. It means working towards world peace and global diplomacy, embracing green energy, preserving the earth. They refuse to do any of that.
Compromise for Democrats means allowing Republicans to do damage.
Unity sounds great but when there is a huge clash of core values, it's impossible. I think Democrats need to draw their line in the sand and say "You've taken our country and hurt it badly. We're taking it back now." Not with guns, not with bullying of any sort.
With votes. And not just in presidential elections.
America is in real trouble, even if Hillary Clinton wins, and if Democrats don't accept that part of the problem is that they've allowed it to happen, the trouble ain't going away. Because Republicans fight with gerrymandering, fear-mongering, voter-repression, lies, guns, war. Did I mention fear-mongering? They have a huge arsenal and they stop at nothing. And they vote.
As First Lady Michelle Obama said, "If we lose this election that's on us."
www.jennifer-stewart.com
For Republicans that means letting go of their entrenched belief that they have the right to their ill-gotten gains of power and material wealth, no matter what the cost to others. It means embracing generosity of spirit to all, being decent, accountable; adhering to policies that further economic growth and create a robust middle class. It means working towards world peace and global diplomacy, embracing green energy, preserving the earth. They refuse to do any of that.
Compromise for Democrats means allowing Republicans to do damage.
Unity sounds great but when there is a huge clash of core values, it's impossible. I think Democrats need to draw their line in the sand and say "You've taken our country and hurt it badly. We're taking it back now." Not with guns, not with bullying of any sort.
With votes. And not just in presidential elections.
America is in real trouble, even if Hillary Clinton wins, and if Democrats don't accept that part of the problem is that they've allowed it to happen, the trouble ain't going away. Because Republicans fight with gerrymandering, fear-mongering, voter-repression, lies, guns, war. Did I mention fear-mongering? They have a huge arsenal and they stop at nothing. And they vote.
As First Lady Michelle Obama said, "If we lose this election that's on us."
www.jennifer-stewart.com
5
The op-ed writer may better serve readers by separating the candidates from this issue, rather than trying to discredit legitimate inquiry by co-mingling it with ad hominem distractions. Voter fraud in the US is no myth or lie. It is quite real. The history of US election irregularity--state, local and federal--is well documented. Especially in tight, contentious races; when the strategic stakes are high; and where special interests have made substantial financial investments. It ranges from ballot stuffing, over and under counting, voter suppression, intimidation,bribery to judicial intervention and now, to voting machine hacking and malware. It has been said that electronic voting machines are to elections what doping is to the Tour de France. Moreover, 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S, and there is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry. In any other domain, the writer would be crying antitrust, collusion or worse. Both voting machine manufacturing firms have been embroiled in felony fraud charges (in the public domain) and their software replete with special-use access. The voting machines also leave no paper trail. This op-ed writer is merely defending the still unresolved weaknesses in vote processing by falsely converting the issue into a candidate-specific position.
There are three principal truths about voter id laws:
1. They are justified by claims of voter fraud that are vastly exaggerated,
2. They are passed by Republicans for the benefit of Republicans, sometimes for racist reasons.
3. Nonetheless, claims that voter fraud reduce turnout among the poor are vastly exaggerated.
The majority of studies show that voter turnout is NOT reduced by voter i.d. laws. There have been 10 scholarly studies on the subject. 5 reveal no effect. A 6th indicated that more voters show up when voter i.d. laws are passed. 4 studies showed a reduction in turnout from 1-3%,
Bottom line, Republican pass voter id laws based on rare instances of voter fraud. The id laws they pass are designed to reduce turnout. But the bulk of the evidence indicates that they don't affect turnout. So Republicans and Democrats appear to be fighting over nothing.
1. They are justified by claims of voter fraud that are vastly exaggerated,
2. They are passed by Republicans for the benefit of Republicans, sometimes for racist reasons.
3. Nonetheless, claims that voter fraud reduce turnout among the poor are vastly exaggerated.
The majority of studies show that voter turnout is NOT reduced by voter i.d. laws. There have been 10 scholarly studies on the subject. 5 reveal no effect. A 6th indicated that more voters show up when voter i.d. laws are passed. 4 studies showed a reduction in turnout from 1-3%,
Bottom line, Republican pass voter id laws based on rare instances of voter fraud. The id laws they pass are designed to reduce turnout. But the bulk of the evidence indicates that they don't affect turnout. So Republicans and Democrats appear to be fighting over nothing.
One of the chief obstacles to a functioning political democracy derives from the fact that a government official must serve the interests of all citizens, whether or not they support that official's political party. Such a practice requires a professionalism and integrity that clashes with the natural competitive instincts of politicians working in a partisan environment.
So, Americans created checks and institutions designed to ensure the proper behavior even when bias clouded the official's judgment. Historically, however, white politicians, especially but not exclusively in the South, have used one-party rule to override the safeguards and deny the franchise to blacks.
The methods have varied from literacy tests to voter id laws and manipulation of poll locations and hours. The goal has remained the same, however, namely, the effective denial of the franchise to groups who would challenge the political power of the dominant party. The prevalence of these practices has been thoroughly documented by historians and other scholars.
From an ethnic standpoint, therefore, the South has functioned as a true political democracy only during periods when the federal government forced it to do so. The SC's evisceration of the Voting Right's Act has sharply reduced the effectiveness of federal oversight, once again threatening the practice of democracy in the South and some states in other regions. Democracy is never safe from these unreconstructed authoritarians.
So, Americans created checks and institutions designed to ensure the proper behavior even when bias clouded the official's judgment. Historically, however, white politicians, especially but not exclusively in the South, have used one-party rule to override the safeguards and deny the franchise to blacks.
The methods have varied from literacy tests to voter id laws and manipulation of poll locations and hours. The goal has remained the same, however, namely, the effective denial of the franchise to groups who would challenge the political power of the dominant party. The prevalence of these practices has been thoroughly documented by historians and other scholars.
From an ethnic standpoint, therefore, the South has functioned as a true political democracy only during periods when the federal government forced it to do so. The SC's evisceration of the Voting Right's Act has sharply reduced the effectiveness of federal oversight, once again threatening the practice of democracy in the South and some states in other regions. Democracy is never safe from these unreconstructed authoritarians.
4
What depresses me even more than Republican party efforts to suppress the vote of blacks is the fact that the majority of the American people believe many of their initiatives are legitimate and take at face value that voter fraud is a serious threat, irregardless of data on the subject.
Republicans have much more political power in this country that their agenda should attract because they are shameless in their pursuit of power. I am ashamed that the American people, my people, consistently fall for there baseless claims and arguments- whether it be about climatology, economic theory or the imminent danger of voter fraud.
In the end, we get the government we deserve.
Republicans have much more political power in this country that their agenda should attract because they are shameless in their pursuit of power. I am ashamed that the American people, my people, consistently fall for there baseless claims and arguments- whether it be about climatology, economic theory or the imminent danger of voter fraud.
In the end, we get the government we deserve.
2
As a new resident of Colorado, I was surprised to learn that in Colorado, every registered voter receives a ballot in the mail, and that citizens may vote either by return mail, or go to a polling place. Each ballot is registered, so fraud is not a problem. The result is a ninety percent voter turnout in every election. If this plan were to be adopted by the other states, we would eliminate long lines, the need for early voting, and voter suppression. It works for Colorado, I have voted, and I'm impressed.
11
So Trump is right, the election is rigged...by Republicans.
If Republicans are willing commit outright crimes to steal elections, it is not only democracy that is stolen, it is America itself. Without democracy what is left of America?
We have seen Republicans turn the House of Representatives into their version of the Salem Witch Trials where you are guilty until confirmed guilty on Trumped up charges. They don't prosecute, they persecute the accused.
We have seen Republicans stack the Supreme Court with partisans who twist the Constitution into a pretzel to deliver Republican verdicts.
We have been witnessing the Republican controlled Senate refuse to respect our president and give his nominee to the Supreme Court a hearing. Now they talk about not filling the seat left vacant if Hillary Clinton is elected (not happening if their efforts to suppress voting is successful).
What is America without democracy, without a government that follows the Constitution, without a court that rules for justice?
The 2016 election is about America itself. It is about our future, preserving democracy and choosing a government that serves the people and follows the Constitution, not a party ideology of a rogue, recalcitrant minority.
If Republicans are willing commit outright crimes to steal elections, it is not only democracy that is stolen, it is America itself. Without democracy what is left of America?
We have seen Republicans turn the House of Representatives into their version of the Salem Witch Trials where you are guilty until confirmed guilty on Trumped up charges. They don't prosecute, they persecute the accused.
We have seen Republicans stack the Supreme Court with partisans who twist the Constitution into a pretzel to deliver Republican verdicts.
We have been witnessing the Republican controlled Senate refuse to respect our president and give his nominee to the Supreme Court a hearing. Now they talk about not filling the seat left vacant if Hillary Clinton is elected (not happening if their efforts to suppress voting is successful).
What is America without democracy, without a government that follows the Constitution, without a court that rules for justice?
The 2016 election is about America itself. It is about our future, preserving democracy and choosing a government that serves the people and follows the Constitution, not a party ideology of a rogue, recalcitrant minority.
8
With each passing day our country gets sicker and sicker. I was always naively proud of America, believed in her goodness, the shining city on the hill. Trump, who doesn't deserve the respectful word Mr. before his name, has unleashed the ugly underbelly of America, an America fraught with racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia and more. I had naively thought that America was better than this and that only a tiny sliver of people harbored such hatred and ugliness in their hearts. Growing up in the most liberal of states, Massachusetts, in an ethnically diverse blue collar town with a large Hispanic population, I was sheltered from the overt blatant racism and hatred of the south. For lack of electronic media the exposure was minimal. The rabid hatred was largely unknown, just a blip on the radar screen. It bothered some but the extent of it was virtually unknown and happening in a far distant place. I was far too young to understand the civil rights struggles, the constant dangers faced by minorities, especially the blacks. What is happening today is almost surreal. The hatred and racism are palpable and have infiltrated every hamlet in the USA. The cancer has metastasized, invading every corner of our world. My pollyanna world has been shattered. The election of President Obama brought the covert racism to the forefront. The elevation of Trump has unleashed the hatred buried deep within and has infected the most liberal towns. There is no refuge. I weep for our children.
5
This excellent guest column by William Barber gives a short course in the unrelenting efforts by Republicans to suppress voting by people of color and their attempts to justify that suppression by spurious claims of a need to combat voter fraud.
Are the white Republican officeholders who engage in this unlawful activity evil men and women, or are they desperate politicians who are willing to commit crimes because their ideas about government and justice make them unelectable without eliminating part of the electorate by any means possible?
In the final analysis, there is no moral difference between evil people and desperate people who do evil things for selfish reasons.
Are the white Republican officeholders who engage in this unlawful activity evil men and women, or are they desperate politicians who are willing to commit crimes because their ideas about government and justice make them unelectable without eliminating part of the electorate by any means possible?
In the final analysis, there is no moral difference between evil people and desperate people who do evil things for selfish reasons.
5
My brother just posted a very short treatise (and plea to the tele-campaigners to just leave him alone) to stop whining. He cited the election in which a vocal interest group from one side protested that the vote was rigged by the elite, the press was biased against them, the other side threatened and harassed them, and that there would be dire consequences if the other side prevailed.
The election was held in 1800 and dire consequences did result - at least to Alexander Hamilton.
Isn't it reassuring that the song remains the same? The GOP really does like to harken back to those founding father days.
Voter fraud is likely pretty low. Voter suppression, misleading campaign messages, dirty tricks, lies, spin, carefully cloaked influence peddling, media money grubbing all remain alive and well and fully in the bailiwick of both parties. We notice the GOP because at the moment they are just better at it.
This election does matter because, just like the election of 1800, we are once again trying to define what sort of a country we are. We have added in that extra-special spice that few people actually like either candidate and that many feel at least one is a crook if not the actual anti-christ.
But really the song remains the same. Close races make the likely losers whine about fraud and stolen elections. It is a time honored pare of American politics.
The election was held in 1800 and dire consequences did result - at least to Alexander Hamilton.
Isn't it reassuring that the song remains the same? The GOP really does like to harken back to those founding father days.
Voter fraud is likely pretty low. Voter suppression, misleading campaign messages, dirty tricks, lies, spin, carefully cloaked influence peddling, media money grubbing all remain alive and well and fully in the bailiwick of both parties. We notice the GOP because at the moment they are just better at it.
This election does matter because, just like the election of 1800, we are once again trying to define what sort of a country we are. We have added in that extra-special spice that few people actually like either candidate and that many feel at least one is a crook if not the actual anti-christ.
But really the song remains the same. Close races make the likely losers whine about fraud and stolen elections. It is a time honored pare of American politics.
Most dismissals of voter fraud are based on the absence of convictions. It has been pointed out that this is like saying jaywalking must be rare because almost nobody is convicted of it.
Both the Washington state governorship and a Minnesota Senate seat were decided by a margin smaller than the proven illegal felon vote in their respective races.
A poll worker in Broward County, Florida, has reported that she was fired after witnessing Supervisor of Elections workers filling out ballots with no official monitors present.
Voter fraud is real. It happens, and Democrats push back against all commonsense measures designed to stop it.
Both the Washington state governorship and a Minnesota Senate seat were decided by a margin smaller than the proven illegal felon vote in their respective races.
A poll worker in Broward County, Florida, has reported that she was fired after witnessing Supervisor of Elections workers filling out ballots with no official monitors present.
Voter fraud is real. It happens, and Democrats push back against all commonsense measures designed to stop it.
I have seen or heard of no "commonsense measures" to prevent voter fraud. I have heard of a lot of methods that involve records, time, money and transportation, kind of like making the voter buy lipstick and apply it to a pig, because you think a pig looks better with lipstick.
As someone who has in the past, been accused of being a fraudulent voter by the Republicans of this state (Indiana), I'd liked to provide you with some perspective.
I was born and raised in Indiana and have lived in the same house for 20 years. I have been married to the same man for 26 years.
1. My name on my social security card is accurate.
2. The name on my Indiana state issued driver's license is not accurate. Why? Because the state's bureau of motor vehicles computer system does not allow for hyphenated last names. It looks as though my middle name is my maiden name (which legally it is not).
3. The name of my "City" has changed. I'm glad that I retained the notice sent to our home by the post office because I can't tell you the number of times that this city name switch has come up.
In 2014, the current Secretary of State was forced to acknowledge that 1 in 8 voters in the state's registration lists had inaccuracies. She blamed the state's bureau of motor vehicles computer systems. I agree with her. What's been done since this acknowledgement? Nothing.
Perhaps the Republicans in my state should invest in aligning their computer systems instead of perpetuating this witch hunt.
I was born and raised in Indiana and have lived in the same house for 20 years. I have been married to the same man for 26 years.
1. My name on my social security card is accurate.
2. The name on my Indiana state issued driver's license is not accurate. Why? Because the state's bureau of motor vehicles computer system does not allow for hyphenated last names. It looks as though my middle name is my maiden name (which legally it is not).
3. The name of my "City" has changed. I'm glad that I retained the notice sent to our home by the post office because I can't tell you the number of times that this city name switch has come up.
In 2014, the current Secretary of State was forced to acknowledge that 1 in 8 voters in the state's registration lists had inaccuracies. She blamed the state's bureau of motor vehicles computer systems. I agree with her. What's been done since this acknowledgement? Nothing.
Perhaps the Republicans in my state should invest in aligning their computer systems instead of perpetuating this witch hunt.
6
A recent flurry of arrests indicates that voter fraud in voter registration and mail-in ballots is common. And Texas alone has recently indicted several people—including Democrats—for voter impersonation fraud. However, the prevalence of voter-impersonation fraud is difficult to estimate because it is impossible to detect when no state-issued photo IDs are required. Poll workers have no way of matching a paycheck stub or utility bill to a person’s face. In 2014, New York City’s Department of Investigations dispatched undercover agents to 63 polling places. Assuming the names of individuals who had died or moved away, or were in jail, they were allowed to vote at 61 of the 63 polling places. One of the two agents turned away was simply unlucky. The felon whose name he assumed was the son of an election official at the polling places. In the other case, a poll worker followed the agent outside and advise him that he could probably get away with using his fake ID at a nearby polling place. No poll workers called police or reported the two unsuccessful attempts. Even when voter impersonation is detected, it is almost never reported. The person attempting the fraud is simply turned away. The 2014 sting operation showed that voter impersonation is about 97 percent successful and goes unreported when caught about 100 percent of the time. Most elections are not national elections. Most are state, county and state elections in which a few fraudulent votes can make a difference.
1
Just days after key provisions of the Voting Rights Act were struck down by the Supreme Court, a number of state legislatures (mostly in the South and all controlled by Republicans), began the passing voter suppression laws. Using the myth of election fraud, they targeted poor and minority voters, who they felt would vote Democratic. This was, plain and simple, a power grab by the Republicans. If Donald Trump becomes President and the Republicans retain control of the Senate, they will chose Supreme Court justices that will roll back the clock to what they consider to be the good old days when minorities and poor people were treated like second class citizens.
8
Ho ho ho. For years Democrats have complained of unproven allegations of "voter intimidation." Poll taxes were eliminated in 1939 with the twenty-forth Amendment to the Constitution. There are actual instances of voter fraud. Most voters think it is fair to require identification that the state approves of. The voters should have faith that the vote represents the will of the people and not that of special interest groups who spend an inordinate amount of time arguing that some people are too ignorant to figure out a way to acquire voter id but have no issue with buying products that also require legal identification. If you want greater democracy, the globalist who represents large banks and Middle East potentates won't give it to you. Your towns will continue to be flooded with illegal immigrants who will eat your lunch and whatever jobs you may have hoped for in your community will go overseas. You will be given more promises of "retraining" programs while your streets are flooded with legal marijuana because the liberal elites don't pay the price for their ill-thought ideas. Their children go to the ivy leagues and become globalists.
2
@ Sue Mee — “Poll taxes were eliminated in 1939 with the twenty-forth [sic] Amendment to the Constitution.”???
The Twenty-fourth Amendment was ratified in •1964•. Unfortunately, judging from your post, you appear no better informed, or more thoughtful, on any other point.
— Brian
The Twenty-fourth Amendment was ratified in •1964•. Unfortunately, judging from your post, you appear no better informed, or more thoughtful, on any other point.
— Brian
4
There IS voter fraud, it's called gerrymandering. It's called voter ID. it's called Citizens United. I've heard political apologists say recently that the U.S. electoral system is the best in the world. The fact is that among advanced democracies it is one of the worst. Even aside from dirty tricks, the list of people and propositions citizens are asked to vote on is absurd. It makes a joke of any idea of thoughtful deliberation.
The piece de résistence is the two year election campaign. It is a colossal waste of money and energy that makes a potlatch look like sound economics. The most recent British election took 38 days. Canada recently had its longest election campaign ever - 78 days.
These past two years have made America look ridiculous. From the surreal Republican primaries to the bizarre nightmare that 40% of Americans think a man who has defrauded creditors, admitted to sexual assault, raised bald faced lying to an art form, race baited, incited violence, threatened to jail his opponents, taunted, mocked and behaved generally like a severely disturbed eight year old should be elected president.
The piece de résistence is the two year election campaign. It is a colossal waste of money and energy that makes a potlatch look like sound economics. The most recent British election took 38 days. Canada recently had its longest election campaign ever - 78 days.
These past two years have made America look ridiculous. From the surreal Republican primaries to the bizarre nightmare that 40% of Americans think a man who has defrauded creditors, admitted to sexual assault, raised bald faced lying to an art form, race baited, incited violence, threatened to jail his opponents, taunted, mocked and behaved generally like a severely disturbed eight year old should be elected president.
23
"Mr. Trump has unleashed forces he neither understands nor can control."
That's about right. Mr. Trump is like a twitching frog nerve from a high school class. He responds with no thought process, and reveals a bigoted view of the world, he can't fathom why anyone would think him objectionable. So he blames it on liberal pc.
In his head, legions of black voters are voting multiple times (even though they have to dodge gunfire to do it.) Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, all must be monitored by right thinking white people. Those pesky black people will steal anything, and now they are trying to steal his presidency.
That line of thinking, unfortunately, reinforces a whole belief system that was considered objectionable only a short time ago. And with Donald spouting it every day, it's now ok to chant hateful things, intimidate reporters, repeat conspiracy stories as fact. That's a whole lot of toothpaste you're not getting back in the tube.
Election fraud consequences= 5 years in prison + $10,000 fine, in addition to any state charges. Few would put themselves in such jeopardy for voting twice. But to Donald's followers, it is a certainty that a yuge number of "those people" are willing to take that chance.
Just another way that Donald is destroying any faith in our democracy.
That's about right. Mr. Trump is like a twitching frog nerve from a high school class. He responds with no thought process, and reveals a bigoted view of the world, he can't fathom why anyone would think him objectionable. So he blames it on liberal pc.
In his head, legions of black voters are voting multiple times (even though they have to dodge gunfire to do it.) Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, all must be monitored by right thinking white people. Those pesky black people will steal anything, and now they are trying to steal his presidency.
That line of thinking, unfortunately, reinforces a whole belief system that was considered objectionable only a short time ago. And with Donald spouting it every day, it's now ok to chant hateful things, intimidate reporters, repeat conspiracy stories as fact. That's a whole lot of toothpaste you're not getting back in the tube.
Election fraud consequences= 5 years in prison + $10,000 fine, in addition to any state charges. Few would put themselves in such jeopardy for voting twice. But to Donald's followers, it is a certainty that a yuge number of "those people" are willing to take that chance.
Just another way that Donald is destroying any faith in our democracy.
8
It's pretty obvious that voter fraud, if it exists, can involve both parties. It's also obvious that voter suppression is a much bigger problem, and almost always involves Republicans suppressing Democratic voters. We need a federal commission to standardize voting and registration procedures over the entire country, so that everyone has a right to vote. It's hard to imagine that happening, of course, but one can dream.
12
I am worried about this fabricated reality and what it leads to. Another article talks about middle-age men getting ready to take up arms and march on Washington if Clinton "takes away their weapons". One of them says that it was "bad with Obama" and it will be worse with Clinton.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/05/us/a-militia-gets-battle-ready-for-a-g...
Can one name one thing, one single thing, that was done during Obama's terms that reduced the availability of weapons? If people live in imagined reality and if Trump and his followers continue to invent oppressions of one kind or another, and with the increasing and incredible subversion of some Republicans in Congress, we are heading toward disaster. Just think of the incredible non-guilty verdict of people who illegally and with weapons stormed government property. It is only an incident, but with the overblown rhetoric being used, it may be the beginning.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/05/us/a-militia-gets-battle-ready-for-a-g...
Can one name one thing, one single thing, that was done during Obama's terms that reduced the availability of weapons? If people live in imagined reality and if Trump and his followers continue to invent oppressions of one kind or another, and with the increasing and incredible subversion of some Republicans in Congress, we are heading toward disaster. Just think of the incredible non-guilty verdict of people who illegally and with weapons stormed government property. It is only an incident, but with the overblown rhetoric being used, it may be the beginning.
21
This editorial also underlines the absolute need for, and wisdom of, an independent judiciary. The courts are our only bulwark against efforts to suppress the will of voters.
45
Correct. Myth. I find almost all of those who claim myth have never served as an election judge, monitor or certified poll watcher. Myths are easy to propagate if you have never served your community or actually seen what happens at the polling place and afterwards counting ballots.
68
The "myth" applies to in-person voting fraud and I believe it is indeed a myth. That's what the article is about, republican efforts to disenfranchise voters on false pretenses. But I believe that institutional fraud in counting the votes is far more likely, especially when we have partisan stare apparatuses running the elections. And these days we see the republican party trying pervert all manner of government institutions (FBI, etc.) to their partisan goals. That is the voting fraud that worries me.
2
It's not a myth, it's called data. Study after study has concluded that voter fraud is almost nonexistent, while not coincidentally, legal voters, mostly blacks are "inadvertently" purged from the voter rolls. The prime example being Florida.
1
Having served as a polling official, the innuendo you are serving up is the perfect example of just how myths are started.
1
Also saw an 18 y/o African-American on TV. She had voted in the primary, but when she came with her mom for early voting in the general election her name had been removed from the rolls. I hope she has the determination to come back a second time. People trying to disenfranchise whole classes of folks are evil and un-American, not the 'true patriots' they imagine themselves to be.
134
I see stories in other newspapers about election fraud. They never make the NY Times - why is that?
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article1110...
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20161104_Meehan_claims__crimi...
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2016/1019/Voter-fraud-in-Indiana-Police-ins...
Of course, if Donald Trump was stuffing the ballot boxes, I'm sure it would be at the top of the front page.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article1110...
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20161104_Meehan_claims__crimi...
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2016/1019/Voter-fraud-in-Indiana-Police-ins...
Of course, if Donald Trump was stuffing the ballot boxes, I'm sure it would be at the top of the front page.
11
Case 1:
2 individuals were caught and few if any votes were cast. No organized fraud there.
Case 2 ; A spokesman for the company referred to a statement it released earlier this week in which the firm said it has "zero tolerance for fraud" and vowed to work with authorities "to seek the prosecution of anyone involved in wrongdoing." No charges, no fraud to date.
Case3: Even if altering an individual registration is relatively easy, altering thousands of registration forms online would require a small army, Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics, told the Star.
"Coordinated voter fraud would be very complicated and labor intensive," Mr. Downs said. "I don't know how many people have that type of organization. And creating the false registration record is only part of it. Then you would have to get the fake people into the voting places to cast ballots."
Some election officials expressed concern that Lawson might have been too quick to characterize her discovery as potential voter fraud. Kathy Richardson, a Republican elections administrator in Hamilton County just north of Indianapolis, said she had not received complaints about the anomalies.
In other words, these stories are non stories, that is why they are not at the top of the page.
2 individuals were caught and few if any votes were cast. No organized fraud there.
Case 2 ; A spokesman for the company referred to a statement it released earlier this week in which the firm said it has "zero tolerance for fraud" and vowed to work with authorities "to seek the prosecution of anyone involved in wrongdoing." No charges, no fraud to date.
Case3: Even if altering an individual registration is relatively easy, altering thousands of registration forms online would require a small army, Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics, told the Star.
"Coordinated voter fraud would be very complicated and labor intensive," Mr. Downs said. "I don't know how many people have that type of organization. And creating the false registration record is only part of it. Then you would have to get the fake people into the voting places to cast ballots."
Some election officials expressed concern that Lawson might have been too quick to characterize her discovery as potential voter fraud. Kathy Richardson, a Republican elections administrator in Hamilton County just north of Indianapolis, said she had not received complaints about the anomalies.
In other words, these stories are non stories, that is why they are not at the top of the page.
5
Preemptively bitter, I see. The reason that national newspapers don't spend much time covering every incident where there are claims of individual voter fraud are they are local stories and as evidenced by a lengthy, years long study initiated by the Bush Administration, statistically insignificant. The reality is that there are very few Americans who would risk voting more than once, given the consequences versus the rewards. For instance, my late father is still on the rolls for some reason and presumably I could impersonate him, but I'm a normal adult with a conscience and good sense. Why would I risk humiliation for the sake of another single vote?
The reality is that significant voter fraud would have to involve systems, not individuals. The same is true of attempts at voter suppression, which have been taking place in full view as a result of government entities imposing blatantly partisan impediments aimed at particular groups of voters. Now that is well documented.
The reality is that significant voter fraud would have to involve systems, not individuals. The same is true of attempts at voter suppression, which have been taking place in full view as a result of government entities imposing blatantly partisan impediments aimed at particular groups of voters. Now that is well documented.
5
I read your articles and they tell me the system is working as it should. When we say voter fraud is a myth it means fraud that doesn't get caught until after the votes have been counted. There will always be people trying to game the system but the checks and balances keep the process clean. In 2 other cases Trump supporters tried to vote twice and were arrested (their defense was trying to counter fraud). The largest voter fraud is voter suppression policies such as seen in North Carolina and Texas
2
But there really is unconscionable election fraud: GOP gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Thank you, all you members of "The Party of Trump"!
Thank you, all you members of "The Party of Trump"!
56
How can our republic possibly remain a representative democracy?
So many powerful GOP leaders again and again persuade their deluded followers to vote against their own economic interests and sustain plutocratic oligarchy. Must democracy come to this sorry end?
Will government of the people, by the plutocrats and their minions, for the benefit of the plutocrats and their enablers remain par for the dimocratic course?
Does even Vladimir Putin, given the demagoguery of the GOP and the rise of "populist" Trumpism, have good reason to ridicule U.S. dimocracy? And does he have even greater reason to tout the superiority of Candidate Trump over and against Candidate Clinton?
Does it take one demagogue to acknowledge the "virtues" of another?
So many powerful GOP leaders again and again persuade their deluded followers to vote against their own economic interests and sustain plutocratic oligarchy. Must democracy come to this sorry end?
Will government of the people, by the plutocrats and their minions, for the benefit of the plutocrats and their enablers remain par for the dimocratic course?
Does even Vladimir Putin, given the demagoguery of the GOP and the rise of "populist" Trumpism, have good reason to ridicule U.S. dimocracy? And does he have even greater reason to tout the superiority of Candidate Trump over and against Candidate Clinton?
Does it take one demagogue to acknowledge the "virtues" of another?
19
Voter suppression should be a crime and its organizers stripped of their own vote and their right to hold office.
62
Thank you, Mr Barber, for what you and the NAACP do.
75
A woman in Iowa, a Trump supporter, tried to vote early twice this week.
You can't make them see the truth of the matter. They just keep destroying and hurting and lying, and we will never be done with them.
You can't make them see the truth of the matter. They just keep destroying and hurting and lying, and we will never be done with them.
43
Yes c.morris
From the reports I read, she thought her votes were changed - after she submitted them - from Mr Trump to Sec. Clinton so she voted again. She had been an ardent supporter of Trump, including handing out campaign signs on the street corners.
She apparently bought the "rigged election" nonsense and isn't bright enough to understand her own voter fraud problem of which the GOP (including here in my state of Wisconsin with Scott Walker in the leading role) has been rentlessley playing Chicken Little.
From the reports I read, she thought her votes were changed - after she submitted them - from Mr Trump to Sec. Clinton so she voted again. She had been an ardent supporter of Trump, including handing out campaign signs on the street corners.
She apparently bought the "rigged election" nonsense and isn't bright enough to understand her own voter fraud problem of which the GOP (including here in my state of Wisconsin with Scott Walker in the leading role) has been rentlessley playing Chicken Little.
6
NiP,
Well, hopefully the polls are wrong and Clinton has a bit bigger lead than indicated. But even that will be spun to the negative by GOP/FOX/Trump etc. The usual gaggle. We live in a political room with gasoline sloshing around on the floor, and Trump is a lit match. Thank the TeaParty.
Worse, the GOP Politburo, McCain/Lindsey/Ryan/McConnell/RNC, have promised all out political war on Hillary if she wins.
Well, hopefully the polls are wrong and Clinton has a bit bigger lead than indicated. But even that will be spun to the negative by GOP/FOX/Trump etc. The usual gaggle. We live in a political room with gasoline sloshing around on the floor, and Trump is a lit match. Thank the TeaParty.
Worse, the GOP Politburo, McCain/Lindsey/Ryan/McConnell/RNC, have promised all out political war on Hillary if she wins.
2
It's unfortunate that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
has decided not to visit North Carolina personally to see for
himself how deluded and fact free his written judgment was that racial discrimination was largely a thing of the past in the states where the
Voting Rights Act required rigorous monitoring of proposed state laws
that affected voting rights. Doing so might lead him to modify ever
so slightly his cynically glib rationalization for yet another radical judicial
decision designed to justify established institutional power maintaining its power.
has decided not to visit North Carolina personally to see for
himself how deluded and fact free his written judgment was that racial discrimination was largely a thing of the past in the states where the
Voting Rights Act required rigorous monitoring of proposed state laws
that affected voting rights. Doing so might lead him to modify ever
so slightly his cynically glib rationalization for yet another radical judicial
decision designed to justify established institutional power maintaining its power.
100
Legal racism in the US is not completely ended. Otherwise the euphemistically-named "affirmative action" would have been found un-Constitutional.
The republican myth of election fraud? What do you call delegates, super delegates, winner-take-all, the whole primary system, gerrymandering, electoral college? That is bipartisan election fraud!
11
The primary system is run by the parties, not the federal government. Not long ago there were no primaries the parties chose their candidates. States choose their own methods. I find the caucus system flawed but its up to the states. We live in a representational democracy. The founding fathers feared mob rule and populism and the affect of the uneducated on elections..Gerrymandering is an issue and must be addressed. Maps will be redrawn by the states after the 2020 census. I think our software people should be working on a system.
1
The electoral college, for the information of Trumpanzees--who, like their intelligence-challenged demagogue boss, know very little about the Constitution or history--was set up by The Founders. The current gerrymandering of districts is the result of years of Republican "rigging"--that's how you really rig an election. Dunno how winner-take-all constitutes fraud--in that case, the Cubs victory in the World Series is a fraud, I guess.
2
And the dead people are not fraudulent?
10
Your party has spent the last three decades (at least) searching desperately for any evidence of an actual "dead person" voting. They have yet to find one single instance.
8
Some states have deceased people's names on the voter registration rolls (not frulent, more bureaucratic ineptitude) but there are very few instances documented of living individuals using those names to commit voter fraud.
Big difference.
Big difference.
5
That depends on the color of the "voting dead's" skin color or whether there is a gun in their cold dead hands. I am sure the GOP would count the latter as a vote for them.
4
Republicans can't win on issues other than hate and obstruction, so they cheat. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has churned out these voter repression bills nation wide, supplying local idiot partisans with cookie-cutter bills to tip the scales in favor of the GOP.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has made an industry out of authoring these garbage bills.
These trolls don't care about our nation. They are profoundly anti-American. They must be voted out of office or we are going to wonder about the integrity of our political system for decades to come.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has made an industry out of authoring these garbage bills.
These trolls don't care about our nation. They are profoundly anti-American. They must be voted out of office or we are going to wonder about the integrity of our political system for decades to come.
140
Election fraud looks like a Philadelphia Transit Strike on election day.
The BIGGEST voter suppression story of the election and the Media is completely ignoring it.
The BIGGEST voter suppression story of the election and the Media is completely ignoring it.
34
In reply to @ Fran Soyer ny
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) has gone to court seeking an injunction so that trolleys and buses will be running on Election Day.
I disagree with your premise: the strike was called by the workers' union whose members will most likely vote for Clinton--this is not a voter suppression by either side, it's simple an ordinary labor/management dispute happening at an inopportune time.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) has gone to court seeking an injunction so that trolleys and buses will be running on Election Day.
I disagree with your premise: the strike was called by the workers' union whose members will most likely vote for Clinton--this is not a voter suppression by either side, it's simple an ordinary labor/management dispute happening at an inopportune time.
2
Thank you, sir.
PREACH IT.
PREACH IT.
48
President Obama summed it up while addressing the Congressional Black Caucus this year: the voter disenfranchisement efforts are the latest incarnation of Jim Crow laws. The myth of voter fraud should not be dignified as anything more than a nation-wide ploy to delegitimize peoples' rights to vote. And we all, in turn, must call out this cynicism for what it is and vote out those who would keep our fellow citizens from participating in our democracy.
91
I've worn quite a few hats over the years, one of which was working cattle. One thing you realize when working cattle is that once you got enough of them penned up, the flys were sure to follow. And then it's not long before you you also realize the flies were there for good reason. It's been 25+ years since those days in Texas, but everytime I see or read about Trump and what he's spewing at his rallies, I can't help but think about all those flies.
127
So are you saying is all hat, and no cattle?
Ironic isn't it that voter fraud does exist and the people doing it are the GOP.
123
Voter suppression, a hateful and racist move by a dwindling republican party, and it's white supremacist base, is so shameful, it is difficult to swallow without throwing up in disgust. What kind of democracy does that to its people? And no consequences for the criminals caught in-fraganti, in spite of judicial orders to refrain from cheating based on the color of one's skin? Trumpism is a natural outgrowth of a disgusting discriminatory G.O.P., seeking relevance in a growing diversity, and trying to exclude minorities-soon-to become-dominant however spiteful their behavior. What kind of example, if any, are we giving to the world, by locking out voters leaning democratic? No outrage? Complicity perhaps?
67
"Democracy itself is on the ballot in 2016." This statement may seem exaggerated because the stakes have not appeared so high in the past.
But this time is different. Congress is blocked. The Supreme Court is balanced on a precipice. More than half of state legislatures are controlled by ideologues.
If Trump is elected, Democracy is ended in America for the foreseeable future, The Supreme Court will be run by ideologues with several likely vacancies filled by Trump or his likely replacement, Pence, a theocrat selected by the 1/4% as their puppet. The Ryan-McConnell blockade of Congress will then proceed with their program with no oversight from the President. Voting rights will be restricted. Obamacare will end. Taxation of the rich will be reduced and government services curtailed. Regulation of Wall Street will become a facade.
Even if Trump is not elected, the situation is grim. The Republicans must be voted out.
But this time is different. Congress is blocked. The Supreme Court is balanced on a precipice. More than half of state legislatures are controlled by ideologues.
If Trump is elected, Democracy is ended in America for the foreseeable future, The Supreme Court will be run by ideologues with several likely vacancies filled by Trump or his likely replacement, Pence, a theocrat selected by the 1/4% as their puppet. The Ryan-McConnell blockade of Congress will then proceed with their program with no oversight from the President. Voting rights will be restricted. Obamacare will end. Taxation of the rich will be reduced and government services curtailed. Regulation of Wall Street will become a facade.
Even if Trump is not elected, the situation is grim. The Republicans must be voted out.
171
Senate control is the issue; the house has a significant cauldron of deplorables and will block everything if they keep with the Hastert Rule (and how appropriate is that, by the way?) in place. Without the Senate, Hillary will be blocked at court and cabinet appointments. What a sad, sad state of affairs.
4
Social security will be privatized.
2
Every Trump supporter that I meet (unfortunately family) even here in the blue state of Massachusetts go on and on about dead people voting, voting multiple times and how elections have been stolen. They refuse to believe that their views are minority views. They count Trump signs and use that as "proof" that if voting wasn't rigged that Massachusetts would be a red state. It is difficult to deal with fact free ignorance. Oh and they call me uninformed.
185
Cheryl, if I hear one more Trump supporter tell me that Trump lawn signs shows that he will win, I think that I will scream. Loud and Long. We really, really need to start teach basic statistics in school.
4
However, because of the Democratic Party control of the state legislature, Massachusetts is one of the most gerrymandered states in the US. Why not, that is where the term originated.
Yes, you are 'uninformed' about their ignorant misinformation. That's a good thing to be uninformed about. Too bad for them.
1
Wrong headline. It isn't the myth, but the fraud of crying election fraud.
71
Listen Americans, there is NO election fraud. Never has been and never will be. And again, this election is NOT rigged. Stop watching Fixed Noise propaganda coolaid and get the facts not fiction.
Just think of all the hoops you have to jump through in order to sign up to vote, meaning the voting form itself, and then send it in to the League of Womens Voters, and then going to the polling place to find your name and then vote in the booth. Difficult but worth it. And once again, NO, VoterIDs do not count, as they are a poll tax, illegal, unconstitutional, and against the 15th and 19th Amendments.
More voting days and hours not fewer. Motor Voter Bills.
However, if you want to look for fraud, go see the unAmerican unpatriotic Republican'ts and their campaign and election frauds. The ONLY way Republican's win is by lying and cheating and stealing. Proven fact.
Next Tuesday will be beautiful after the Democrats take back the Senate and House and at least five State Governors. Of course, President Hillary Clinton. Watch the country grow, truthfully, now just like the 1940s to 1960s!
Just think of all the hoops you have to jump through in order to sign up to vote, meaning the voting form itself, and then send it in to the League of Womens Voters, and then going to the polling place to find your name and then vote in the booth. Difficult but worth it. And once again, NO, VoterIDs do not count, as they are a poll tax, illegal, unconstitutional, and against the 15th and 19th Amendments.
More voting days and hours not fewer. Motor Voter Bills.
However, if you want to look for fraud, go see the unAmerican unpatriotic Republican'ts and their campaign and election frauds. The ONLY way Republican's win is by lying and cheating and stealing. Proven fact.
Next Tuesday will be beautiful after the Democrats take back the Senate and House and at least five State Governors. Of course, President Hillary Clinton. Watch the country grow, truthfully, now just like the 1940s to 1960s!
83
I guess all that stuff I learned about Tammany Hall and the like were just fairy tales designed to make the Left look bad.
As the criminal falls farther and farther behind in the polls, with more crimes coming to light every day and with only a few days left before the election, it may be that the pro-criminal voters will be disappointed on Tuesday.
As the criminal falls farther and farther behind in the polls, with more crimes coming to light every day and with only a few days left before the election, it may be that the pro-criminal voters will be disappointed on Tuesday.
You can have no idea whether or not there is election fraud.
Why should we believe you? It might be more sensible to believe what Julian Assange said which is that Trump will not be allowed to win. Some report that no matter which button they press only Clinton's name registers. Sounds like a fraud to me.
Why should we believe you? It might be more sensible to believe what Julian Assange said which is that Trump will not be allowed to win. Some report that no matter which button they press only Clinton's name registers. Sounds like a fraud to me.
We can only hope.
It is worth noting that the Supreme Court decision to roll-back crucial components of the Voting Rights Act (made along partisan lines, 5-4 in 2013), opened the door to many of these "legal" challenges aimed at disenfranchising North Carolina's minorities voters.
The courts matter. It is no wonder the GOP continues to obstruct Democratic judicial appointments at every level in addition to their relentless voter suppression efforts.
The courts matter. It is no wonder the GOP continues to obstruct Democratic judicial appointments at every level in addition to their relentless voter suppression efforts.
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Chief Justice John Roberts is a traitor. He has no intention of defending the Constitution. Roberts lied the moment he took his oath of office.
1
These are the stories that should be on the front pages for everyone to see.
While everyone is concerned about polls and pundits, the G.O.P is taking vigorous steps to bring back Jim Crow.
Most African-Americans have been aware of this, since the first steps were taken to repeal the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and with the more recent introduction of scurrilous Voter ID Laws to discourage Blacks from voting.
And Mr. Trump's lies about rigging in "certain areas", is just a dog-whistle call to all those seeking to undermine the electoral process.
That America should come to this, is the most damning insult to all those who have paid with their lives for this most basic civil right.
We obviously don't hold these truths to be self-evident.
While everyone is concerned about polls and pundits, the G.O.P is taking vigorous steps to bring back Jim Crow.
Most African-Americans have been aware of this, since the first steps were taken to repeal the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and with the more recent introduction of scurrilous Voter ID Laws to discourage Blacks from voting.
And Mr. Trump's lies about rigging in "certain areas", is just a dog-whistle call to all those seeking to undermine the electoral process.
That America should come to this, is the most damning insult to all those who have paid with their lives for this most basic civil right.
We obviously don't hold these truths to be self-evident.
177
Beautifully stated. I just had parent-teacher conferences and the anxiety was palpable at the prospect of a Trump presidency. I am beyond terrified and cannot fathom why the NYTimes is remaining silent regarding the collusion of Breitbart/FBI/Guiliani. This intrusion into the election, in combination with the outrageous Republican voter suppression, feels like a soft coup d'état.
4
Fox News reporting falsehoods to turn an election is election fraud.
181
All this talk about Trump’s call to arms over a “rigged election” should Mrs. Clinton win. For ages it’s been Democrats who have most vocally kvetched about stolen elections in their eternal plaint over voter intimidation.
Now, when the motivation of voter ID laws is unambiguously a desire to keep down the black vote, as it was with NC’s law, I strongly favor striking down the law. But to a lot of folks, voter ID laws aren’t an attempt to limit fraud, and not targeted specifically at blacks, but to narrow the franchise generally. Clearly, it’s Democrats who at least believe that they benefit disproportionately from elections where vast numbers of the disengaged and ignorant vote – such people often can be manipulated into whichever is the more Kumbaya worldview for at least as long as required to cast a vote, regardless of what the other side says is in their strategic interests as Americans.
Thus the successful Democratic drives to facilitate DMV-registration, early voting, and placing a “D” (but not an “R”) button on every bottle of beer, so that those disengaged and ignorant can contribute to the cause while watching a football game in a sports bar. Certainly, if they were required to drive to a polling place and stand on a line, Democrats might become extinct.
So, I’ll continue to smile at allegations of “fraud” and argue that the engaged with at least half a brain, regardless of complexion or ethnicity, should vote. But I won’t attack voter ID laws generally.
Now, when the motivation of voter ID laws is unambiguously a desire to keep down the black vote, as it was with NC’s law, I strongly favor striking down the law. But to a lot of folks, voter ID laws aren’t an attempt to limit fraud, and not targeted specifically at blacks, but to narrow the franchise generally. Clearly, it’s Democrats who at least believe that they benefit disproportionately from elections where vast numbers of the disengaged and ignorant vote – such people often can be manipulated into whichever is the more Kumbaya worldview for at least as long as required to cast a vote, regardless of what the other side says is in their strategic interests as Americans.
Thus the successful Democratic drives to facilitate DMV-registration, early voting, and placing a “D” (but not an “R”) button on every bottle of beer, so that those disengaged and ignorant can contribute to the cause while watching a football game in a sports bar. Certainly, if they were required to drive to a polling place and stand on a line, Democrats might become extinct.
So, I’ll continue to smile at allegations of “fraud” and argue that the engaged with at least half a brain, regardless of complexion or ethnicity, should vote. But I won’t attack voter ID laws generally.
4
Richard,
I live in a state (Indiana) that now requires an i.d. in order to vote. My 19 year old son, who cannot drive due to his sight, has been unable to get an Indiana State ID. Twice we've been turned away despite having the appropriate documentation. I actually had an employee at a BVM location question if my son was really visually impaired because if he was, he'd certainly be enrolled in some sort of state/federal "program".
He will be unable to vote in this election and it looks like the only way we will be able to get him a state ID is to initiate litigation.
It's ironic that he would have no problem purchasing a firearm at any of the gun shows that we host here in Indiana (and there are many).
As an aside, we have lived in this six figure suburb for 20 years. Our son lives with us and this has been his only address.
I live in a state (Indiana) that now requires an i.d. in order to vote. My 19 year old son, who cannot drive due to his sight, has been unable to get an Indiana State ID. Twice we've been turned away despite having the appropriate documentation. I actually had an employee at a BVM location question if my son was really visually impaired because if he was, he'd certainly be enrolled in some sort of state/federal "program".
He will be unable to vote in this election and it looks like the only way we will be able to get him a state ID is to initiate litigation.
It's ironic that he would have no problem purchasing a firearm at any of the gun shows that we host here in Indiana (and there are many).
As an aside, we have lived in this six figure suburb for 20 years. Our son lives with us and this has been his only address.
19
Such a comment, which ultimately boils down to, "only those who know what I think they should know should be allowed to vote", wouldn't be reasonable even if it hadn't already been demonstrated that regular Fox viewers are less knowledgable about political matters than not only regular viewers of all the other major networks, but even people who don't watch the news at all.
Any system that says voters should have some minimal level of understanding about the issues always necessarily boils down to the question of, "according to whom"? Should people who believe the nonsense about widespread voter fraud be allowed to vote? What about people who believe "Killary" and Bill had a whole laundry list of people assassinated? Many, if not most, of those folks spend hour upon hour listening to and reading political stories. They consider themselves the cream of the crop of political education; everyone else needs to "open their eyes".
The only way to avoid the question of who determines what constitutes "ignorance" is to let everyone vote and put no obstacles in front of them when its time to do so.
Any system that says voters should have some minimal level of understanding about the issues always necessarily boils down to the question of, "according to whom"? Should people who believe the nonsense about widespread voter fraud be allowed to vote? What about people who believe "Killary" and Bill had a whole laundry list of people assassinated? Many, if not most, of those folks spend hour upon hour listening to and reading political stories. They consider themselves the cream of the crop of political education; everyone else needs to "open their eyes".
The only way to avoid the question of who determines what constitutes "ignorance" is to let everyone vote and put no obstacles in front of them when its time to do so.
9
Except that the assumption that voter ID laws target the "disengaged and ignorant" is pure bigotry against the poor and disproportionately minority people that the voter ID laws are designed to target as it rests on the untenable assumption that such persons are disengaged and ignorant; an assumption for which you have provided no factual predicate whatsoever.
"such people often can be manipulated into whichever is the more Kumbaya worldview"
In other words, they may be more inclined to vote against a party that is inclined to back policies that throw them to the wolves. It sounds like they are very cognizant of their interests. At the very least, it's obvious that you define such people largely on the basis of not being likely to believe in policies that you advocate.
The idea that easy registration and early voting might make it more possible to vote because less-advantaged people who may not be able to afford to lose hours of pay on an Election Day can then vote seems to have eluded you based on the sneering condescension of the image that they are voting "while watching a game in a sports bar."
"such people often can be manipulated into whichever is the more Kumbaya worldview"
In other words, they may be more inclined to vote against a party that is inclined to back policies that throw them to the wolves. It sounds like they are very cognizant of their interests. At the very least, it's obvious that you define such people largely on the basis of not being likely to believe in policies that you advocate.
The idea that easy registration and early voting might make it more possible to vote because less-advantaged people who may not be able to afford to lose hours of pay on an Election Day can then vote seems to have eluded you based on the sneering condescension of the image that they are voting "while watching a game in a sports bar."
9
The most powerful statement in this essay:
"Mr. Trump has unleashed forces he neither understands nor can control."
That one sentence packs a wallop! It perfectly describes the Trump phenomenon. Trump doesn't have a clue. His followers look to him for guidance. He leads them down the path of ignorance and lies.
The effect of Trumps bombastic comments about voter fraud have taken its toll. There already was widespread voter fraud lies pushed out by right wing media. Trump legitimized the lies. A recent survey shows that Trump is viewed as being more honest and trustworthy than Hillary by eight points. Unbelievable! This demonstrates the power of irresponsible speech and media for political power and profit.
Almost everything that comes out of Trump's mouth is a bald faced lie, yet the public ignores that fact. They don't care. The public thinks Trump speaks from the heart so they believe him. Hillary speaks from her mind, so she must be a liar.
Now we are on the eve of the most critical election of the past century, if ever, and at least 20% of the electorate are convinced that the whole thing is rigged. About as many think that voter fraud is significant.
On a recent comment of mine, someone responded that my argument that voter fraud does not exist because no one has been able to find it was circular and therefore laughable. He believes it must exist therefore it exists. Deduction turned inside out. See what I mean?
"Mr. Trump has unleashed forces he neither understands nor can control."
That one sentence packs a wallop! It perfectly describes the Trump phenomenon. Trump doesn't have a clue. His followers look to him for guidance. He leads them down the path of ignorance and lies.
The effect of Trumps bombastic comments about voter fraud have taken its toll. There already was widespread voter fraud lies pushed out by right wing media. Trump legitimized the lies. A recent survey shows that Trump is viewed as being more honest and trustworthy than Hillary by eight points. Unbelievable! This demonstrates the power of irresponsible speech and media for political power and profit.
Almost everything that comes out of Trump's mouth is a bald faced lie, yet the public ignores that fact. They don't care. The public thinks Trump speaks from the heart so they believe him. Hillary speaks from her mind, so she must be a liar.
Now we are on the eve of the most critical election of the past century, if ever, and at least 20% of the electorate are convinced that the whole thing is rigged. About as many think that voter fraud is significant.
On a recent comment of mine, someone responded that my argument that voter fraud does not exist because no one has been able to find it was circular and therefore laughable. He believes it must exist therefore it exists. Deduction turned inside out. See what I mean?
202
I disagree with one phrase in this otherwise fine article: that Mr. Trump has unleashed forces he neither understands nor can control.
I think Mr. Trump has a very good idea about the forces he has unleashed. That's what demagogues do: they set the stage for power plays such as voter suppression, which is a great way to ensure you can make sure the election is not rigged against you by actually rigging it against your opponent.
I think Mr. Trump has a very good idea about the forces he has unleashed. That's what demagogues do: they set the stage for power plays such as voter suppression, which is a great way to ensure you can make sure the election is not rigged against you by actually rigging it against your opponent.
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Christine...we call that Grand Old Projection when dealing with these Grand Old Psychopaths.
Everyone knows the greatest case of modern American voter fraud occurred in 2000 when Jeb's Florida vote suppressors purged the central voter file a year before the election and then proceeded to undercount black votes all over Florida.
Don't believe me; read the government report about it:
http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/exesum.htm
The greatest threat to free, fair and democratic elections in America is the One White Man:One Vote Republican Party, where the 3/5 Compromise of 1787 giving fractional representation to non-whites still feels oh-so-right in 2016.
Republican Tyranny can't stand democracy.
Everyone knows the greatest case of modern American voter fraud occurred in 2000 when Jeb's Florida vote suppressors purged the central voter file a year before the election and then proceeded to undercount black votes all over Florida.
Don't believe me; read the government report about it:
http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/exesum.htm
The greatest threat to free, fair and democratic elections in America is the One White Man:One Vote Republican Party, where the 3/5 Compromise of 1787 giving fractional representation to non-whites still feels oh-so-right in 2016.
Republican Tyranny can't stand democracy.
280
Oh, Socrates, I know whereof you speak. I think of all the nauseating behavior perpetrated by GOP "lawmakers" the suppression of the black vote is the worst. It's as if every election cycle they take an ax to the most important pillar of democracy. And despite being swatted down like annoying flies, these elected officials keep on going--what gets me is how brazen they are about it.
It's as if every African American voter has to spend six months checking to see if their name is still on the rolls. It's beyond tyrannical, it's an insult on the very concept of democracy.
It's as if every African American voter has to spend six months checking to see if their name is still on the rolls. It's beyond tyrannical, it's an insult on the very concept of democracy.
62
I think what Mr. Barber means is that DT may think he knows what he has on his hands when he is "conjuring up the demons of our past." However, in the same way that the mad scientist cannot control the monster he creates, (nor the Republicans their nominee) those demons will be far more destructive and unpredictable than even Trump would be comfortable with. And the new life he is breathing into them will go on long after Trump has skulked off of the stage.
"Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world."
"Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world."
8
We are in a desperate struggle for the soul and good conscience of America for decades to come.
People seem to forget the 1920s when the KKK and worse gained widespread acceptance and ran many states, including Northern states like Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. Seriously, they openly marched in parades down Main St. Controlled the Statehouses in Indiana and other states.
It CAN happen again.