Podcast on Voter Fraud
Have you ever wondered how much fraud goes on in the election process in America? (hint: our system is sloppier than Mexico's). If so, you should listen to our guest, John Fund, author of Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy.
Mr. Fund is a writer for the Wall Street Journal and has been studying election fraud for some time. He talks about both electronic and paper fraud, dead people voting, the lack of prosecution for shameful acts of voter fraud, and finally, why we need to use voter ID's--hey we use them to buy alcohol and tobacco and to apply for public benefits, so why not use them for something as important as voting? You can listen to the podcast by clicking here or downloading directly here. For dial-up users, click here. You can visit our archives at GlennandHelenShow.com.
posted by Helen at 10:38 AM
16 Comments:
Wonderful and timely topic!
You will hear lots of static claiming that asking for an ID is racist, disenfranchising and so forth.
Yet you cannot cash a check or buy booze or cigarettes without one. Get into an R-rated movie. Rent a car. Fly on an airplane. And so one.
For good or for ill, the reason that some folks oppose IDs is that they want to promote voter fraud.
Personally, I think voting should be difficult. That way, people who genuinely care will vote. But I am not in the majority on that issue I know.
Sadly, there isn't a chance of getting a requirement for an ID to vote. And even more sadly, any person or politician pushing an ID requirement will be called a racist and vilified.
Again, very timely topic.
Dr Helen you just get better. How about posing for a photo in one of those Volvos?
Anonymous 10:27:
Thanks, I would like to go test drive one of those Volvos actually, I am in the market soon for a new car and the XC90 looks promising.
I have no problems with requiring identification on at least one condition. If the state and federal governments would issue free identification cards. I think most states ID cards cost $10 and up these days. I think because of the cost involved in getting ID cards for purposes of voting it amounts to a poll tax (no matter how small it may seem to some of you) which is illegal in this country.
Fake voters is insignificant compared to the problems we've had with Secretaries of State run amok disenfranchising voters. From Choicepoint in FL being directed to create false positives on felons, to OH misallocating voting equipment, to DIEBOLD machine being way off from exit polls, there are serious problems. Going after the small potatoes is modus operandi for the Republican party.
Helen,
If you are ever in the mood for a morbid chuckle go & hunt up some of the stories the Miami Herald used to run on dead voting in Miami & Dade County.
Should be Googleable* at this point.
*****
*Is "to google" a legal verb at this point? Can I conjugate it? Never mind, I'll just check Google and find out...
Our dear friend Anonymous at 3:01 is simply trolling.
The Eeeeevil Republican Party has supposedly been messing with voting results. Yet no one has been able to prove it, other than accusations.
However, our friend is ignoring people being charged in court and in several cases going to jail for voter fraud in several states. Things such as slashing the tires of two dozen buses that were to take Republican voters to the polls. Guess which party?
For me, the solution is obvious: making it LESS easy to commit voter fraud. Everyone is in favor of that. But I notice that the things that make it easy---confirmation of voter registrations via ID, etc---seem to bring the greatest level of distress from the Democrats.
Let's all agree to reduce voter fraud across the board. But let's not give any fraud or irregularity a "pass" when it comes from a political party we like.
Simple. If you want to know who benefits from voter fraud, look at who opposes measures to reduce it. Don't bother to read at the rationalizations; those are just sleazy political smoke and mirrors.
3:01 Anonymous is truly trolling, considering that a lot of the issues that he, she, or it raises are addressed in the podcast (and Anony, pretty much everything you mention is in the old school democrat bag of tricks as well).
I was pretty shocked to hear Fund say that Mexico (!) has more secure elections than we do. Something needs to be done, and requiring photo ID's is only a minimum first step.
I said before that Glenn and Helen are nice people whose decency has been undermined by their political views. It doesn't help matters to have so many interviews with Republican ideologues such as John Fund and Jim Geraghty. This will just confirm and reinforce their already burdensome partisanship.
When I say that their decency has been undermined by their political views, I particularly have in mind, in Glenn's case, the way that he downplays the issue of torture. He keeps saying that he is against torture. But it is not enough to theoretically oppose torture, you also have to be against it when it actually happens. When people are tortured, it isn't good enough to say, oh pshaw, that's all exaggerated. Evidently Glenn cannot believe that the president he voted for condones torture, so instead he has played it down. E.g. Claudia Rosett went to Guantanamo and what she saw was all trim and proper, so therefore no one has been tortured there.
The antidote to this, if basic decency still matters, is to interview someone who has actually been tortured on behalf of the Bush Administration. Even more so if it's an innocent man. Even more so if the CIA sent him to Syria -- how can the United States credibly oppose tyranny in Syria if it sends men there to be tortured? Someone like Maher Arar. I see that Arar is available for interviews. It would be a much better interview than a cozy friend like John Fund.
And hey, if you (Glenn or Helen) really think that Maher Arar is a liar, just ask him. Try giving him a smack-down interview. I am confident that your basic decency will win you over.
Mike Johnson,
If you would like to set up such an interview, do so and let us know, we would be happy to have a variety of views on our show. Part of the problem, however, is that those who do left-leaning are often unwilling to come on--there is not much we can do about that.
I don't know whether Arar is "left-leaning". I know that he is a Muslim and a Canadian citizen. His interview request page is at http://www.maherarar.ca/interview%20request.php . I would think that he wants to get his story out as widely as possible.
Last time I voted in PA (2004) I made my selections on a big, clunky, mechanical box that looked like a steroidal Robbie the Robot wearing an apron.
No electronics. No chads to hang. Very hard to cheat.
A big, cheap, pot-iron mechanical box with a curtain is pretty hard to fool so long as you've got observers from all sides watching the show and checking the numbers.
Cheap, too.
I think that the torture information is very interesting, if not related to the topic in this thread.
Here is a little thought experiment.
Do people think that photographs of Islamic terrorists beheading innocent journalists or cheering in the streets after 9/11 should be shown?
Of course not. It would stir up all kinds of thoughtless judgementalism.
I find the torture argument to be similar. People who are really into this subject tend to focus just on American issues. They don't want to discuss how the various Islamicist goverments interrogate prisoners, for example. I wonder why?
I know the answer. To some people, all problems begin and end with America. It is some twisted "I hate Daddy" meme.
By all means protest what you consider to be torture. But before you do, put it in context, and be certain that you are as critical of the police and interrogation procedures of the governments of Hugo Chavez and Bashar al-Assad. A quick run through the Human Rights Watch website will suggest that, if torture is an issue, the US is not alone in having problems.
Unless, of course, eeeevvvvillll George W. Bush is responsible for all the world's ills. Strange how no one on the planet except for Americans are responsible for their own actions.
Me, I think it is hypocritical to carry on like this about America, and ignore, oh, the hanging of gays in Iran, the torturing of journalists in Cuba, and I won't even begin with Africa.
At least we are discussing this issue, and trying to find a way to deal with it, hopefully, in a humane fashion. The same cannot be said about much of the world. Remember that, folks, above all.
But again, the focus seems ALL about Republicans in the US.
Wait...people wouldn't use debate over something as serious as torture as a political gambit to gain power in the upcoming elections, would they?
(snicker).
Seriously, Dr. Helen, you should interview some folks from, say, Human Rights Watch on torture around the world. They'll say some nasty things about Americans, but they will also give some much-needed perspective to this argument.
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No electronics. No chads to hang. Very hard to cheat.
Um. There is a long history of cheating using mechanical voting machines. The Daley folks were doing it for years in Chicago.
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