Ending the 'Voter Fraud' Debate
from The Nation
By Joel Barkin & Christian Smith-Socaris
October 31, 2008
If you've been following the presidential campaign the last few weeks, you've probably caught a glimpse of John McCain going on one of his well-rehearsed rants about the community organizing group ACORN and how its voter registration campaigns may amount to "one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country."
With no evidence coming to light so far to back up these attacks, and virtually no evidence of voter fraud in general, many have rightly criticized these attacks for what they are: strident attempts to give cover for an ongoing campaign of voter suppression. With the boogeyman of voter fraud at their back, conservatives have been mounting campaigns to purge the voting rolls and block voter registration in states across the country.
These assaults on democratic participation--inevitably targeted at the least empowered members of our society--are frightening in the extreme. However, without proper systems in place to ensure that eligible voters don't fall through the cracks and end up needing the assistance of groups like ACORN to register, we can expect these baseless attacks to continue, undermining both people's fundamental right to vote and their faith in the fairness of our elections.
Fortunately, there are policy options available to circumvent voter fraud claims and guarantee all eligible voters' right to democratic participation. These policies fall under the umbrella of universal voter registration, a cause that should gain increasing momentum as groups like New York University's Brennan Center for Justice and FairVote have identified this as a critical reform for moving our voting systems into the twenty-first century.
(More here.)
By Joel Barkin & Christian Smith-Socaris
October 31, 2008
If you've been following the presidential campaign the last few weeks, you've probably caught a glimpse of John McCain going on one of his well-rehearsed rants about the community organizing group ACORN and how its voter registration campaigns may amount to "one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country."
With no evidence coming to light so far to back up these attacks, and virtually no evidence of voter fraud in general, many have rightly criticized these attacks for what they are: strident attempts to give cover for an ongoing campaign of voter suppression. With the boogeyman of voter fraud at their back, conservatives have been mounting campaigns to purge the voting rolls and block voter registration in states across the country.
These assaults on democratic participation--inevitably targeted at the least empowered members of our society--are frightening in the extreme. However, without proper systems in place to ensure that eligible voters don't fall through the cracks and end up needing the assistance of groups like ACORN to register, we can expect these baseless attacks to continue, undermining both people's fundamental right to vote and their faith in the fairness of our elections.
Fortunately, there are policy options available to circumvent voter fraud claims and guarantee all eligible voters' right to democratic participation. These policies fall under the umbrella of universal voter registration, a cause that should gain increasing momentum as groups like New York University's Brennan Center for Justice and FairVote have identified this as a critical reform for moving our voting systems into the twenty-first century.
(More here.)
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