voter fraud

A new website, ProtectingtheVote.org, makes the case that actual instances of voter fraud are rare, despite Republicans’ success in passing stricter laws to combat fraud in dozens of states. Democrats accuse the GOP of trying to stifle minority votes as a way to win elections.
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Stories appearing in various media in NC already, possibly as result of the DNC's effort. This may be on the agenda at the Progressive Democrats of NC's Annual Meeting tomorrow in Orange County.

For information on the issue, contact Democracy NC in Durham, NC. While Some of us thought the NCGA leaders might try to bring their bill up again in the quickie session this week, nothing came of it this time.

As usual, Robin Hayes twists the truth to fit his anti-everything agenda:

“The reason why Republicans have fought to promote proper voter-identification laws is to prevent fraud like this from happening.”

Except, of course, that H351 wouldn’t have prevented "fraud like this" at all.

Apparently Laura's message isn't penetrating the depths of the Conservative communication network. This story hit the Tweetwaves last night, but stuff like this is still showing up:

In case anyone needs reminding why the NCGOP wants to spend tax dollars during a budget crisis to solve a non-problem.

By GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — "The newly installed Republican majority at the North Carolina Legislature is resolute this year on expanding identification requirements before voters enter a polling booth.

GOP lawmakers are putting together a voter ID bill, following up on the pledge the party's candidates made in the fall campaigns.

Rep. Ric Killian of Mecklenburg County says a measure being considered would require a voter to show photo identification, but the person could also use a voter registration card to qualify..."

snip

David Richard, ED of ARC of NC, said last week an agreement had been reached on this issue.

Richard told disability rights advocates that a Voter Registration card would be allowed as proof of identity to avoid everyone who does not have a driver's license or other photo ID from being disenfranchised of voting rights.

In a few weeks the new GOP majority over in Raleigh is hoping to ram through a bill that would spend millions and millions of dollars on a problem that does not exist -- but that does help them block people they don't want voting from going to the polls. Please help us spread the truth about so-called Voter ID Fraud in NC. Free flyer to download after the jump.

Article written by Jerimee Richir and Kate Neely

As Republicans in South Carolina celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Confederacy over the holidays, the North Carolina GOP took a slightly more modern approach to rolling back civil rights. Well, if you consider 1876 modern. The NC GOP is pushing to reinstate one of the hallmarks of the Jim Crow laws: the poll tax.

Thinly veiled as a measure to prevent voter fraud, the voter ID is a poll tax by another name. GOP members of the incoming NC General Assembly are trumpeting the measure as their main legislative priority. This increase of government control is a complete reversal from the limited government platforms on which many North Carolina Republicans campaigned.

Cross-posted from a Facing South article by Chris Kromm.


In 1898, when North Carolina Democrats seized control of the state legislature, one of their first steps was to pass an amendment to the state constitution requiring that voters pass a literacy test and pay a poll tax before they could vote. Then campaigning on a platform of "white supremacy," Democrats insisted the Jim Crow laws -- which, thanks to a "lineage" exception, only applied to blacks -- were necessary to prevent "voter fraud." But Republicans saw a more sinister agenda at work: According to an 1881 dispatch in The New York Times, written when Democrats first pushed the voting restrictions:

In this way [Democrats] expect to disenfranchise 40,000 Republican voters and make North Carolina a Democratic State for many years.

The impact of the voting restrictions was dramatic: Voting participation by African-American males, largely Republicans, plummeted across the South from 98 percent in 1885 to 10 percent in 1905, according to historian J. Morgan Kousser. Today, voting rights advocates in North Carolina fear that history may be repeating itself. After winning control of the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction, Republican lawmakers have made it their top legislative priority to pass new election restrictions that require voters to produce photo identification at the polls.

Set up your strawman, then knock him down:

One item high on the new Republican agenda in the N.C. General Assembly is to require voters to provide proof of identity at polling places. The point, as Rep. Ric Killian, R-Mecklenburg, told reporter Jim Morrill, is "to ensure the integrity of the whole system."

But the problem is that there's little evidence of a serious problem. State Board of Elections director Gary Bartlett says in the 2008 elections, millions of votes were cast but there were only 18 cases of double voting. That mirrors what other regional and national investigations of voter fraud have found.

Tell you what, Ric. You want to ensure the integrity of the system, pass some laws that stop millionaires from buying seats in your Legislature.

June 5, 2007. It was poised to be a big day in North Carolina political history: State senators were about to vote on H 91, a historic election reform bill bill that would allow voters to register and vote at the same time at hundreds of early voting sites across the state.

But minutes before the vote, a cryptic email popped into the inboxes of a few state senators from Les Merritt, the state's Republican state auditor. Citing unspecified "sensitive information" about potential "voter irregularities," Merritt made the almost unheard of demand that the N.C. senate call off the vote until he could present his office's findings.

The state lawmakers complied, but not without misgivings. As state senators Dan Clodfelter and Tony Rand wrote back [pdf] to Merritt:

We are sure you appreciate how unusual it is for us to receive a specific request that we not take action on a pending bill, which has already passed the House and has received favorable committee action in the Senate, and we therefore trust that you have substantial, credible, and specific evidence to back up the general inferences in your letter.

But days later, when Merritt was asked to reveal his findings at a June 17 senate committee meeting, he decided he didn't have such evidence after all.

Remember Michael Aaron Lay? He's Pat McHenry's former roomie and staffer who committed voter fraud in the 2004 primary McHenry only won by 86, no, 85 votes.

In August Lay got a "deferred prosecution." If he pays a fine, does 100 hours of community service and stays out of trouble, he'll never be charged. Nice lawyering, if you can afford it. Apparently, Lay didn't have to pay the bill. McHenry's PAC did.

It looks like our Pat is not so conservative when it comes to the interpretation of "political action."