Member of the Republicans' Own 'Honest and Open Election Committee' is a Bit Too Open and Honest in Interview with 'Politico'...

Brad Friedman Byon 11/3/2008, 9:05am PT

[Ed Note: Please "Reddit" this one up, as Republicans have been trying to down rate it over there!]

A devastating article on Sunday destroys the GOP's claims of "voter fraud" as a member of McCain's own (amusingly named) "Honest and Open Election Committee" has admitted that Republicans are unable to cite a single "documented instance of voting fraud that resulted from a phony registration form."

The admission underscores our bold and knowing assertion of same, back in the early days of this year's fake GOP ACORN "scandal", when such assertions weren't popular, as noted for history both here at The BRAD BLOG and at the UK's Guardian.

The fact-based comments were made despite the once-honorable Republican nominee's dangerously specious claims during the final Presidential debate, that the ginned-up "crisis" was "one of the greatest frauds in voter history" and was "maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

Looks like someone in his own campaign failed to get the memo. But it's not about facts, it's about fears, even ones that they themselves have created. As we've come to learn, that's more than good enough for the U.S. Supreme Court at least, and certainly for those attempting to keep you from being able to cast your legal vote...

From Politico...

For weeks, Republican leaders have warned that widely reported problems with fake voter registrations could result in a flood of phony votes in pivotal states. But Ronald Michaelson, a veteran election administrator and member of the McCain-Palin Honest and Open Election Committee, said in an interview that he could not name a single instance in which this had occurred. "Do we have a documented instance of voting fraud that resulted from a phony registration form? No, I can't cite one, chapter and verse," he said.

...

A review of prosecutors' statements and documents filed by Republicans in the most serious new cases alleging voter fraud shows that none offer an example in which a fraudulently registered person managed to cast a valid vote. While several cases argue that such frauds are possible, none sketched a scenario for how massive numbers of people could fake registrations and then vote.

As I said, the article is devastating to the Republicans' own specious arguments made so loudly and for so long --- with so much help from every part of the corporate MSM --- and echoes my argument made here and at the Guardian, amidst the worst of the GOP's phony, media-abetted ACORN "Voter Fraud" storm, that were was no such "voter fraud" going on.

But the point --- made most eloquently recently by Dahlia Lithwick at Slate --- is not whether there is actual voter fraud going on. The point is to supply the impression of voter fraud that the Supreme Court has said undermines public confidence enough to allow for disenfranchising Photo ID restrictions at the polling place, and other anti-voter laws and measures.

As noted in the Politico, "Michaelson could not cite a single real example of how registration fraud has led to voting fraud."...

Michaelson explained why the mere perception of widespread fraud can do public harm: "When reports are circulating in the media that this one group has turned in 5,000 applications and 2,000 of them are invalid, for the minimally informed voter, they say, 'Oh my gosh, what's happening to our process? Our process is lacking integrity.' It just plants seeds of doubt in the minds of people who don't understand the process very well.

And that's what all of this has always been about. They create the fear of "voter fraud" out of whole cloth, tout it publicly with help from the incurious media, then go to court arguing that whether it's true or not, the fear is threat enough --- "just look at all of those reports in the media and how it's undermining voter confidence in elections!" --- that these laws must be implemented in order to save democracy.

It's an insidious scheme. But one at which these democracy terrorists have had quite a bit of cynical success. And one they will, no doubt, continue to play out in the days, months, and years ahead.



