Law School

James Gardner on Fraud and Error in Voting: Is Democracy in Danger?

By University at Buffalo Law School

James A. Gardner, vice dean for academic affairs at the UB Law School, looked at the American election system days before what many experts call one of the most important elections in recent history during a public discussion held Oct. 30.

Gardner, who has been quoted extensively by national and regional media, will share his experience and research on voter fraud and crucial voting procedures. Do we still have the ability to run a fair, democratic election? Did we ever?

Although Gardner has warned against political propaganda exaggerating voter fraud, he also has said election law and procedure still merit close scrutiny. A recent Supreme Court decision upholding voter ID requirements in Indiana provides legal support for the aggressive use of anti-fraud measures, even though voter fraud was "essentially a non-existent problem."

"This raises the specter, as it did during the last election cycle," Gardner says, "of Republicans invoking anti-fraud measures improperly to suppress legitimate voting, often by the elderly, blacks, the poor and other groups that might have a tendency to lean Democratic."Our guest today is Professor James Gardner. Professor Gardner is the Joseph W. Belluck and Laura L. Aswad Professor of Civil Justice, and Director of the Law School's Edwin F. Jaeckle Center for State and Local Democracy (http://www.law.buffalo.edu/research/centers/govlaw/). This was a public event, held in the Conference Center, 509 O'Brian Hall in UB's Law School.

See also:

· Census Bureau's Counting of Prisoners Benefits Some Rural Voting Districts (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/us/politics/24census.html?ref=politics)

· Few Cases of Voter Fraud Found (http://publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1405631&sectionID=1)

· UB Law Expert Sees Less Legal Issues For Voters (http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=61840&catid=13)

UBLaw20081103.mp3

Playing time: 1:11:24

Full post as published by UBLaw on November 03, 2008 (boomark / email).