Constitutional Law

'Vote Fraud' Gaining Steam, Causing Confusion

Repeated claims that massive “vote fraud” is likely to befall many states this election season are producing scores of concerned voters. According to the Detroit Free Press 4,000 election monitors will likely be present at certain polling places across the state this year, as they were in 2004. But the newspaper reports that actual incidents of vote fraud have been rare. Election officials in places such as Detroit and Southfield, where scores of monitors showed up in 2004, said legitimate challenges of voters hardly occurred. Southfield Clerk Nancy Banks said she has worked closely with monitors. “And I’ve always told them, if they intimidate the voter or cause disruption in the precincts or create any type of uncomfortable situation, we will call the police.”

The Free Press notes a “persistent rumor” about the Michigan Republican Party using home foreclosure lists to challenge voters as not casting ballots in the proper precincts. In September, the Michigan Messenger reported Macomb County Republican Party Chairman James Carabelli as saying, “We have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses.” Since then Crabelli has denied making the statement and filed a defamation lawsuit against the Messenger. The independent newspaper’s president is standing by the reporting. Chris Thomas, Michigan’s election director, told the Free Press that foreclosure lists, alone, would not provide a monitor with sufficient evidence to challenge a voter’s eligibility.

During a recent panel discussion hosted by ACS and the American University Washington College of Law, Kristen Clark of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund said vote fraud is typically a catchall for groups seeking to place greater restrictions on voting access. She added that voter intimidation and suppression are actually alive and well in this election season.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on October 14, 2008 (boomark / email).