Will absentee ballot voter fraud decide the upcoming election to determine control of Congress?
It's quite possible.
The race in some districts will be tight, and more votes than ever will be cast by absentee ballot. This year, one in four voters will vote before Election Day, either by absentee ballot or at early voting locations. In states such as Washington, California and Arizona, more than half the ballots are likely to be absentee.
John Fund at the Wall Street Journal notes that absentee ballots make voting by non-citizens, voter coercion, vote buying, and other forms of vote fraud much more likely.
California has a huge population of illegal immigrants; Arizona is another border state with a substantial population of illegal immigrants. The problem is massive, nationwide. Unlike naturalized citizens who have jumped all the hurdles required for citizenship, these illegal immigrants or non-citizen residents do not necessarily share an understanding and appreciation of our system of government; they did not study civics and American history in high school (if they reached high school at all). Many do not speak or write English fluently, or at all. They may or may not be loyal to the United States or concerned about its economy and national security.
And yet, In California, it is illegal for election officials to ask a voter to provide identification.
Absentee ballots compound the problem. Do you suppose that a non-citizen immigrants are more likely, or less likely, to cast improper ballots in states that make absentee ballots readily available? Under current law, voters can register to vote anonymously. Immigrant rights groups are then free to collect absentee ballots from immigrants (who remain anonymous) and free to make sure they are marked in the way the organizers dictate. The voter never appears in person in front of any election worker.
Passing a bill to ensure that only citizens vote is reportedly one of Bill Frist's priorities when Congress returns after the election. The Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006, requiring voters in federal elections to provide photo identification, passed in the House of Representatives and was sent to the Senate on September 21, 2006. (Democrats should be embarrassed that 98% of their representatives voted to oppose this basic, common-sense reform that is critical to the integrity of our elections and our democracy.)
But will a Republican majority in the Senate survive the election? If Democrats take control of the Senate, the bill will quietly die.
Even under the best of circumstances, absentee ballots have the potential to destroy one of the historic foundations of our democracy -- the secret ballot:
Absentee voting also corrupts the secret ballot. Because an absentee ballot is "potentially available for anyone to see, the perpetrator of coercion can ensure it is cast 'properly,' unlike a polling place, where a voter can promise he will vote one way but then go behind the privacy curtain and vote his conscience," notes John Fortier, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, in his new book, "Absentee and Early Voting."
The National Commission on Federal Election Reform concluded that absentee ballots do not satisfy five essential criteria for sound and honest elections:
- Assure the privacy of the secret ballot and protection against coerced voting.
- Verify that only duly registered voters cast ballots.
- Safeguard ballots against loss or alteration.
- Assure their prompt counting.
- Foster the communal aspect of citizens voting together.
The first three factors are fundamental to the integrity of our electoral process. They should be non-negotiable. Yet with the increasing use of absentee ballots, they are being compromised.
Under current law, political operatives are free to scour nursing homes to find "voters" whom they can then "help" to complete ballots. They are then free to take custody of absentee ballots (and decide whether they all get mailed or a few accidentally get "lost.")
In some states, fictitious "voters" have been created, and have "voted" in absentia. The only thing that stands between these pretend voters and official election results is the amount of time and energy that a handful of election workers have to try to ferret out the fraud. Are you willing to bet your democracy that workers are able to catch all the fraud in time?
This is not a hypothetical problem. Absentee ballots later determined to be fraudulent or improper have already exceeded the margin of victory in some U.S. elections.
It is surprising that it has gotten as far as it has. It is appalling that the integrity of our elections has been compromised to the point it already has.
It is not an understatement to say that our democracy is close to being lost. Absentee ballots have a purpose, but they have become an unacceptably huge risk to the integrity of our elections.
We need to limit absentee ballots to those who have a genuine need for them, and we need to require photo identification or fingerprints from every voter -- not just once, but in every election (either in person at polling places or by copies sent along with each absentee ballot).
Voter fraud is one of those "quiet" crimes. It doesn't scream; it whispers. You have to watch and listen for it, or it will quickly destroy our democracy.
It is interesting that there has been so much resistance to ID requirements for voting. Most of the believed "dead voters" as well as "illegal voters" (felony criminals, immigrants who are not citizens) are in urban areas, which tend to vote Democratic. However, if you have noticed the Republicans have not been going overboard trying to demand this everywhere.
I suspect there are votes being cast from both parties that should not be counted. Each time one of these happens, this cancels out someone's vote: disenfranchisment, if I ever heard of it.
Posted by: Pete | October 31, 2006 at 08:41 AM