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The Fine Art of Voter Fraud
The refusal of politicians to take measures that would reduce voter fraud - and reluctance on their part to acknowledge that it is even a problem - is in danger of making voters even more cynical and disgusted with politics than they already are. Rick Moran shows us that while cheating at the polls may be a tradition as American as apple pie -- it is still a serious threat to our system.
It was very early morning on Wednesday November 9, 1960 and the mood in John F. Kennedy’s hotel suite was somber. Theodore H. White, whose Making of a President 1960 is the gold standard of campaign chronicles, describes the emotions in that room as whipsawing back and forth all night between a kind of giddy elation and premonitions of doom.
Early returns from the east coast had given Kennedy a huge lead in the popular and electoral vote. But by the time the polls closed in California at 11:00 PM EST, Nixon’s strength in middle America and the mountain west had brought him within striking distance of the Massachusetts Senator. States still in play included Texas and Illinois where the last great playoff between Democratic and Republican vote fraudsters was about to play out over one the longest nights in election history.
In any other context besides electing the leader of the Free World in extremely perilous times, this contest between the old-time political machines in the big cities and rural counties might have been seen as either high drama or low comedy depending on your point of view. As it was, it proved that both sides were in deadly earnest to come out on top and if it became necessary to bend, break, or mutilate the rules to do so, no stone would go unturned in “finding” enough votes for their candidate to prevail.
Indeed, as the night unfolded, partisans in both states played cat and mouse, reporting the “results” from various precincts in a chess game of cheating that included elements of psychological warfare as well as simple vote fraud.
Actually, there was nothing simple about it. The great political reporter Earl Mazo from Hearst’s New York Herald Tribune investigated the shenanigans in Mayor Richard J. Daley’s Chicago and ferreted out the truth of what happened that night. It seems that the downstate Republicans were cooking the results in the precincts they controlled – “long tallies,” fraudulent counts, and other well worn gimmicks boosted Nixon’s total over Kennedy from 9,000 – 16,000 votes for most of the night.
After the GOP would dutifully report a few dozen precincts for Nixon, it became Daley’s turn. But Daley was playing it cagey. He would only pull enough votes out of his hat (Mazo actually saw the cemetery where the names of the dead people had been registered to vote and had been checked off as having voted) to pull Kennedy close enough to Nixon, hoping to panic the crooks downstate into putting all their cards on the table and completing their precinct tally.
At around 5:00 AM, a Kennedy aide approached Bobby Kennedy (JFK had already gone to bed) and glumly reported that Nixon had a lead of almost 10,000 votes in Illinois with just a few precincts in Chicago still out.
Kennedy smiled a tired smile and told the aide not to worry, that Daley had those downstate Republicans right where he wanted them. And indeed, despite Nixon taking 91 out of 103 counties in Illinois, Kennedy won the state by nearly 9,000 votes. He did it thanks to Daley’s machinations which gave the Democrat an unbelievable 450,000 vote margin in Cook County.
No such drama was necessary in Texas. In counties along the Mexican border, it has been alleged that simple vote buying by the Lyndon Johnson political machine ended up giving that crucial state to Kennedy as well. By winning both states by razor thin margins, Kennedy was able to best Nixon in the electoral college 303-219 while beating the Republican by 110,000 in the popular vote.
It is said that the defeat so affected Nixon that he swore in 1968 that he would never let the Democrats steal another election from him. This led to Watergate and the rest is tragedy.
Following the numerous accusations of fraud in the 1960 election and in order to be able to accurately report on individual precinct tallies, AP, UPI and the 3 news networks entered into an agreement to monitor vote counts at the precinct level using volunteers who would then call the results in to a central location where they would be tallied and sent along to the networks. Called The Voter News Service, the VNS used everyone from senior citizens to boy scouts in order to get the raw vote totals from as many precincts as possible. Sometimes, there was a lack of cooperation.
After the 1960 scandals, Republicans and some reform Democrats, under the leadership of corporation executive Charles Barr, launched “Operation Eagle Eye,” a bipartisan anti-fraud effort. In the 1968 June primary, Eagle Eye poll watchers ventured into 600 machine-controlled precincts, many for the first time. They were offered bribes, threatened and terrorized. Their car windows were smashed, their tires slashed.
But generally speaking, the VNS (now known as the National Election Pool or NEP) did more to make American elections more honest than any citizens reform movement in history.
But really all it did was drive the fraudsters to come up with more inventive ways to game the system. While playing fast and loose with actual raw vote totals became much harder, the cheaters in both parties began to concentrate on more subtle forms of fraud. And each party has become adept in different areas of voter fraud over the years to the point that it is believed that American elections are now in danger of once again falling victim to being stolen given the right circumstances.
Beginning in the 1970’s, Republicans began local campaigns to intimidate minority voters to keep them going to the polls. There were many techniques used by the GOP including “election observers” who would ask for identification at polling stations and turn away those without valid ID – despite the fact they had no statutory authority to do so. There have also been reports of mailings made in black precincts that informed potential voters that if they had an unpaid parking ticket, they would be turned away from voting.
It is unknown just how much these tactics tamped down the minority vote. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. charges in a widely read Rolling Stone article that up to 350,000 minority votes were prevented from being cast or simply not counted thanks to GOP cheating in Ohio. What Kennedy didn’t mention in his article was the shocking amount of fraud committed by Democrats which included taking a page from the GOP intimidation handbook as thousands of Ohio Republicans were called and told the wrong date of the election and given false information on where they could vote. Then there was the gaming of the registration system by the notorious fraudsters in ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) – a voter registration organization that pays its workers for each registration acquired.
ACORN not only submitted thousands of fraudulent registration forms. They submitted them at the registration deadline hoping to overwhelm the registrars, forcing them to rubber stamp the registrations without checking to see if they were legitimate. And a glance at the names on some of those registrations would have raised a few eyebrows; Mary Poppins, Jeffrey Dahmer, George Foreman, Michael Jordan, and Dick Tracy were just a few of the famous “Ohioans” whose names were gathered by ACORN.
Clearly, there was fraud on both sides in Ohio in 2004. Other states also had suspected fraud occur including Wisconsin, a state John Kerry won by 10,000 votes in 2004, which witnessed 83,000 election day voter registrations in Milwaukee county alone – around 20% of the vote total. Experts find that number highly suspect. And in Florida, Republicans were up to their old tricks with a mass mailing in parts of Dade County that warned African Americans to stay away from the polls if they ever got a traffic ticket.
Is there any way to safeguard the process while still making it easy and convenient to register and vote? Probably not. The ways to game the system are too numerous and our society is too open to absolutely guarantee that fraud of one kind or another doesn’t occur.
But there are rational, reasonable steps that nearly everybody agrees can help. Currently, only 17 states require the voter to show identification prior to casting their ballot. Despite support for such a measure approaching 80% of the American people, a very loud and vocal minority is resisting. Apparently, advocates for the poor believe that fees for identification are beyond the financial reach of those in poverty. And even if the state were to supply the ID’s for free, there are some who believe it constitutes an unnecessary burden on the people.
What it does is place a burden on those who shouldn’t be allowed to vote in the first place; illegal aliens.
John Fund, whose book Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy details dozens of voter fraud cases, recently wrote of the Voter ID Laws and the resistance to them by advocates for illegal immigrants:
The potential for fraud is not trivial, as federal privacy laws prevent cross-checking voter registration rolls with immigration records. Nevertheless, a 1997 Congressional investigation found that “4,023 illegal voters possibly cast ballots in [a] disputed House election” in California. After 9/11, the Justice Department found that eight of the 19 hijackers were registered to vote.
Under pressure from liberal groups, some states have even abandoned the requirement that people check a citizenship box to be put on the voter rolls. Iowa has told local registrars they should register people even if they leave the citizenship box blank. Maryland officials wave illegal immigrants through the registration process, prompting a Justice Department letter warning they may be helping people violate federal law.
We’ve come a long way from the days that George Washington hosted a kegger on election day for the House of Burgesses, buying votes by getting his constituents liquored up. That and vote buying were early traditions in this country, as much a part of election day as the flag and apple pie. Gradually, people started to demand that their vote actually count – that it count only once and that it count in their name. It was a long time coming, but various reform movements, both Democratic and Republican, eventually cleaned up much of the overt fraud and corruption, making elections cleaner and more fair.
But resistance to common sense measures today to reduce voter fraud as well as a reluctance on the part of many to acknowledge that it is even a problem, threatens to make the American people even more cynical and disgusted with politics – a pretty good trick considering how far the bile has risen in their throats these last few years because of the faithlessness and corruption run rampant in our nation’s capitol.
Without trust and faith that the people have a say in their government, this Grand Experiment will wither and die. Securing our elections better will be a small but significant step toward restoring faith and keep the flame of liberty burning in the treacherous winds of politics.
Rick Moran blogs at Right Wing Nut House.
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20 Comments
1. southdakotaboy:The Radical left in this country will never willingly give up the power it regained in 2006. They will use what ever means they have to to keep control. Voter fraud is just the first step at some point they will use violence against conservatives. It is only a matter of time, look at how they will attack conservative speakers on college campuses. Don’t be suprised to see the left rioting at the Republican National Convention.
Nov 13, 2007 - 7:14 am 2. David Thomson:Democrats commit the vast majority of voter fraud. They continue to get away with this by employing the race card. The screams of “racism” fill the air the very moment someone attempts to correct the situation. Unfortunately, the MSM hides the truth from the American people. I suspect that for every instance of GOP voter fraud—there are over twenty by Democrats.
We should not be surprised by the duplicity of Democrats. This is the party of moral relativism, deconstructionism, and overall contempt for rational thought and objective reality. Bill Cinton’s “I never had sex with that woman” says it all.
Nov 13, 2007 - 7:44 am 3. Rubicon:I am unsure which party commits more fraud at election time. However, to me the real issue is, I want NO fraud.
Additionally, I want only qualified citizens to vote. If non citizens can vote, what value our system? If non citizens can vote, our entire political national will can be manipulated by parties outside America whose intentions are less than honorable.
Lets face it, there is a loud minority in the international scene who use the UN & other organizations, to express their positions & impose their will on America at almost any turn. The decidedly anti-America attitudes we endure at the UN make it obvious we cannot trust them to act in our best interests. They seek money & power & especially the money & power of the world’s most wildly successful nation. If they can control the political system in America, they can control the world.
World socialists would just love that. The National Socialists of Hitler’s time had the same idea’s when they tried to influence elections in pre-WWII Europe. And they had some significant successes.
Voter ID is required if America is to have a system that speaks and acts for the Americans people alone & not for those who would impose their will on us just so they can gain power & wealth!
Nov 13, 2007 - 10:00 am 4. David Thomson:“Voter ID is required if America is to have a system that speaks and acts for the Americans people alone…”
I complete agree—but the Democratic Party “elites” consider that to be racist. This viewpoint, for all practical purposes, represents one of their core political doctrines. There is no forgiveness allowed for those daring to advocate for mandatory voter ID. Please note that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama dare to discuss this matter in an honest and forthright manner.
Nov 13, 2007 - 10:32 am 5. Colin:Voter fraud seems so simply to stop:
1. Require government issued ID.
2. Dip their fingers in ink.
This way only the right people vote and they only vote once. That’s 95% of what you need.
Nov 13, 2007 - 11:01 am 6. Bleepless:Over a decade ago, the “Journal of American Studies” (I think) had a piece on 1960 Cook County vote fraud. It said that its purpose was to elect the machine’s candidate for States Attorney and that any fake votes for JFK were an unintended slopover, and were not enough to make the difference in the Illinois Presidential outcome.
As to ACORN, three of them just entered guilty pleas in Seattle for vote fraud and received slaps on the wrist.
Nov 13, 2007 - 11:37 am 7. MarkD:Why should I pay taxes, when my government is fraudulent? I need ID to do anything except vote.
What Colin said is true, and needs to be coupled with mandatory felony penalties for vote fraud – say a mandatory 3-5 years in prison, without parole, for fraudulent voting and interfering with elections.
Nov 13, 2007 - 11:39 am 8. steve:This makes no sense. Vote fraud of the type presented n the article can’t be stopped by voter id laws, but lets require them anyways? The standard tactic used to justify ID laws is to talk about the history of wide swaths of voter fraud that voter id laws can’t prevent and then say, but we need voter id laws anyways.
The bottom line is Democrats lose votes with strict ID laws and Republicans don’t. Even with fraud by both parties, its a net loss for the Democrats. The Dems know it and the GOP knows it. Thats the reason. If Rick Moran was serious about addressing voter fraud, he’d propose a restrictive law for mail-in voters, where fraud is more likely to occur. But then, that would hurt Republican voters and we don’t want that now do we?
Stop using illegals as a punching bag for what you’re really trying to do, that is, impose restrictions on poor, old, minority, and less educated voters who are more likely to vote Democrat.
Nov 13, 2007 - 12:09 pm 9. Ken Hahn:I know the article is meant to be balanced. The problem is not bipartisan. In 1960 vote fraud was perhaps 2 to 1 Democratic. By 2004 it was close to 100 to 1. I am willing to bet any legislation that actually penalizes both forms of fraud will be supported by most Republicans and opposed by most Democrats.
I propose 50 years in federal prison for either voting when not legally qualified or assisting someone not legally qualified to register to vote. The same penalty to any election official who fails to use due diligence to check for qualification. The same penalty should apply to any who uses force, intimidation or misinformation to prevent a qualified person from registering or voting, unless that person refuses to provide a valid identification. Some tuning would be necessary to protect honest error and hopefully to minimize it.
All in all, if Republicans sent limousines to take every minority voter in America to the polls, the Jesse Jacksons and all Sharptons would be screaming racism because the bar wasn’t properly stocked.
Nov 13, 2007 - 12:24 pm 10. Robert Racansky:I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:
Make the requirements to vote the same as to own a gun.
Simply go to the polling place, fill out a Form 4473, show your ID, and the poll worker will check with the FBI database to make sure that you’re not prohibited from voting. If everything is working correctly, you will be allowed to vote in a few minutes.
If the GCA/Brady system doesn’t violate the rights of gun owners, then what possible objection could there be to implementing the same system for voting?
Nov 13, 2007 - 12:43 pm 11. Rich:My mother works for the county republicans in Indiana. Marion county which is Indianapolis, the republicans were absolutely cackling when the state passed voter ID law. Apparently buses going from polling place to polling place came to a screeching halt.
Nov 13, 2007 - 1:11 pm 12. holdfast:Dem officials also disqualify mail-in ballots on specious grounds, thereby disenfranchising members of the military whom they presume to be mostly Republican voters (true for officers, about 50-50 for enlisted).
Nov 13, 2007 - 1:40 pm 13. one of many:Agreed M. Racansky, and it will no doubt be as effective at preventing vote fraud as it is at preventing people from illegally owning firearms. Nonetheless it is a reasonable requirement for excercising one’s right to vote. I think we should not allow one to get a ballot after 3 days if the FBI doesn’t report one as ineligible to vote however and skip right to the 2 week or one month timeframe being requested.
Remeber a ballot in the wrong hands can cause far more damage than a gun can, support reasonable restrictions on voting.
Nov 13, 2007 - 2:15 pm 14. Bill Schick:The dirty little secret that no one mentions is, its imposible to dimple a chad unless you stack them
Nov 13, 2007 - 3:56 pm 15. William Bryan:During the ‘controversial’ election
of 2000 about 3,000,000 fraudulent
votes were cast for Gore.
Here in Georgia, Congresswomen
Cynthia McKinney and her thuggish
daddy, Billy McKinney, hijacked
a DeKalb County polling place during election day and
conducted a political rally there
against the wishes of two white
precinct. Police were called; and
the cops arrested the two white
polling workers and escorted the
workers off the premises—’for
their protection’ said the cops.
An anti-polling fraud volunteer
video taped McKinney and father
and large entourage entering the
polling place during election
hours—against State and Federal
laws. Minutes later DeKalb County
Police arrived and arrested the
two white polling place workers and
escorted them to jail. BTW: Both
women were roughed up before the
cops came. One of these ladies
still suffers from the beating given
her by Billy McKinney.
The FEC–Federal Election Commission
refused to get involved! “We don’t
handle voter fraud, that’s a Justice
Department duty. We only handle
compliance with campaign donations.”
!!!
The US Justice Department refused
to handle this grotestque case.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s
Nov 14, 2007 - 8:35 am 16. Andrew:Office did a ridiculous investigation and
Both sides need to quit mindlessly criticizing on another. Both parties share blame. We need to come up with a system that works. Ballot box makers should not be affiliated with either party (see Diebold) and there should always be paper ballots to back up electronic votes. Don’t you see that your blame the other-side-no-matter-what discourse is what brings about the animosity which feeds many of these problems at the polls? Being able to vote is one of the things being an American is all about and both sides are trying to take that right away from those they see as enemies to their respective parties.
Nov 14, 2007 - 9:15 am 17. dl key:I think that a thumb print on the registered voter list is a good form of ID, even poor people carry theirs.
Those with out will be few and an alternate such as finger or toe could be used and noted.
I am tired of warehousing offenders and so propose that election law violations be punished with the removal of the offenders name from government rolls – drivers license, voting, property ownership, social security and passport, all government lists and databases except the one that gives a date that they may start over enrolling in the different lists.
I advocate a ballot that has no names to vote in opposition of but only the offices that are standing for election and opto character recognition boxes to write the name of the person that you wish to vote for – no hints in the polling place but you may bring a ‘cheat sheet’. Ballots to be run through a scanner for error detection and the electronic results submitted at poll closing. Hand written ballots to be counted in front of witnesses and the results posted in vandal resistant form to the polling place door. Ballot box reloaded, resealed and transported with witnesses to secure storage. The hand count is then handed in and if the electronic count and the hand count match the polling place is posted as confirmed and added to the list for certification that it is correct. If they do not match the ballot box is retrieved and recounted twice by different teams in front of the public with 2 witnesses for each counter.
Election fraud is endemic starting with the control of most of the process by political gangs, The broadcasting people that treat on politics are most often partisans rather than reporters. Votescam was nothing new but the whining after they were caught is new.
Nov 14, 2007 - 7:39 pm 18. Jeb:Do any of you have any study to back up your claims that there is widespread voter fraud today?
Here is a link to a study showing the opposite.
Easily hacked paperless electronic voting machines are a much larger potential avenue for fraud. It seems at this point that the only thing that would get Republicans fired up about this issue would be for Soros to buy Diebold.
Nov 15, 2007 - 2:54 am 19. WJ:“mass mailing in parts of Dade County that warned African Americans to stay away from the polls if they ever got a traffic ticket.”
What is the source for this charge? I tried to google it and couldn’t find anything on it?
How many people was this false “warning” mailed to?
Nov 17, 2007 - 8:50 pm 20. Roger’s Rules » Data points from the Windy City:How would the “Republicans” know who was black and who was not?
Where online is a copy of this mailing coming from Republicans?
[...] sits, not only put JFK in the White House back in 1960 by encouraging everyone, dead or alive, to vote early and vote often, but it also has the highest sales tax in the United STates: 10.25 [...]
Oct 4, 2008 - 5:52 am