Voter fraud findings question ID law logic ELECTION 2012

A new nationwide analysis of more than 2,000 cases of alleged election fraud over the past dozen years shows that in-person voter impersonation on Election Day, which has prompted 37 state legislatures to enact or consider tougher voter identification laws, was virtually nonexistent.

The analysis of 2,068 reported fraud cases by News21, a Carnegie-Knight investigative reporting project, found 10 cases of alleged in-person voter impersonation since 2000.

With 146 million registered voters in the United States, those represent about one for every 15 million prospective voters.

The News21 report is based on a national public-records search in which reporters sent thousands of requests to elections officers in all 50 states, asking for every case of alleged fraudulent activity - including registration fraud; absentee-ballot fraud; vote buying; false election counts; campaign fraud; the casting of ballots by ineligible voters, such as felons and noncitizens; double voting; and voter impersonation.

The analysis found that there is more alleged fraud in absentee ballots and voter registration than in any of the other categories. The analysis shows 491 cases of alleged absentee ballot fraud and 400 cases involving registration fraud. Requiring voters to show identification at the polls - the crux of most of the new legislation - would not have prevented those cases.

The analysis also found that more than 46 percent of the reported election fraud allegations resulted in acquittals, dropped charges or decisions not to bring charges.

In many cases, people simply made mistakes. Felons or noncitizens sometimes registered to vote or cast votes because they were confused about their eligibility. Some voters accidentally cast their ballots twice or went to the wrong precinct. And election officials made mistakes, such as clerical errors - giving voters ballots when they had already voted - and errors due to confusion about eligibility.

Voter impersonation fraud has attracted intense attention in recent years as Republicans and others have argued that strict voter identification laws are needed to prevent widespread fraud.

The case has been made repeatedly by the Republican National Lawyers Association. Part of the group's mission is advancing "open, fair and honest elections," and it has compiled a list of about 375 election fraud cases, based mostly on news reports.

News21 examined those cases and found that 77 were alleged fraud by voters. Of those, News21 could verify that 33 resulted in convictions or guilty pleas. The analysis shows no cases of voter impersonation fraud.

Civil rights and voting rights activists condemn the identification laws as a way of disenfranchising minorities, students, senior citizens and the disabled.

"It's simply a new big burden on the backs of people who just want to have their voices heard during elections," said Eddie Hailes, managing director and general counsel of the Advancement Project, a civil rights group challenging voter identification laws in Texas, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Nine states - Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin - passed stricter voter identification laws, though only the Kansas, Pennsylvania and Tennessee measures are scheduled to be in effect by November.

According to Pennsylvania state officials, as many as 759,000 people, about 9 percent of the state's 8.2 million registered voters, do not have the identification that will be required to vote. The Justice Department is investigating the identification law to determine whether it violates the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act by discriminating against minorities.