War on Voting
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[edit] Where Do Progressives Stand?
- The "War on Voting" is a legislative electoral reform effort that purports to remedy "voter fraud", but actually aims to hack away at the opposition party's electoral base through a series of heightened voter registration requirements.
- In a high-stakes, two-party political system, it is easier and safer for both major parties to try to stabilize the base and reduce the opposition’s support than it is for either to recruit new voters.
- The politicization of electoral reform prevents meaningful reform efforts that target the true leading causes of electoral "fraud": administrative and human error.
[edit] Hot Topics
History of the War on Voting:
- Electoral reform has become a highly politicized issue throughout American history, highlighting the attempts of both major parties to hack away at the other party's support base under the guise of "electoral integrity".
- The electoral reforms of the Progressive Era dismantled Populist voting majorities, reflecting the reformers' class and anti-immigrant prejudices. Following the election of 1896, new immigrants, struggling farmers, and wage workers flooded into the electorate, whereupon wealthy elites immediately pressed for tighter regulation of the electoral process.
- In the late 19th century, when newly freed black Americans constituted a majority of the electorate in some places, the Democratic Party erected rules said to be necessary to respond to alleged fraud by black voters.
- During the Civil Rights era, voter fraud pervaded the debate surrounding the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and again when the Reagan administration debated extending the Act. The specter of voter fraud arose once more towards the end of the 20th century with the adoption of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act.
- Despite the recent explosion of the issue in the wake of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, voter fraud and the politicization of electoral reform have existed side by side throughout American history since at least the 19th century.
Voter Fraud:
- The extent of "voter fraud" has been frequently exaggerated by parties seeking to push through various forms of legislation that purport to restore electoral reform to the system. The inevitable result is a war on voting, not legitimate voter fraud.
- At the federal level, records show that only 24 people were convicted of or pleaded guilty to illegal voting between 2002 and 2005, an average of 8 people a year.
- Those who maintain that voter fraud is a rampant problem insist that the scarcity of available evidence discounts the existence of widespread voter fraud that goes unrecorded because it is nearly impossible to prosecute. But the U.S. Department of Justice manual on how to investigate and prosecute election crimes argues that actual election crimes may be even easier to prosecute than other forms of public corruption, because they tend to occur in public, involve many players, and leave a paper trail.
- With regard to the 2004 elections in Milwaukee, there were 7 substantiated cases of felons knowingly casting invalid votes that counted. This amounts to a rate of 0.0025% within Milwaukee and 0.0002% within the state as a whole. None of these problems could have been resolved by requiring photo ID at the polls.
- On August 22nd, 2005, after pressure by the Wisconsin GOP to investigate 9 Wisconsin voters accused of double-voting, the U.S. Department of Justice officially pronounced all 9 alleged double votes attributable to clerical errors.
- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that 361 ineligible felons or otherwise ineligible voters still voted in the 2001 election. Even assuming this figure is correct, those 361 votes constitute no more than .002% of all Wisconsin voters in that election.
Voter ID Laws:
- The voter ID debate is most frequently raised in response to allegations of voter fraud as one means of tightening requirements on voter registration.
- The U.S. Supreme Court is currently reviewing an Indiana voter ID law to determine whether it unduly burdens a citizen's right to vote. The eventual decision in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board is expected to drastically reshape the voter ID debate.
- Since 2003, Wisconsin's Republican-majority legislature has enacted three bills to require government-issued photo ID, all of which have been vetoed by Democratic governor Jim Doyle.
- A 2005 UW-Milwaukee study found that statewide, 80% of Wisconsin residents had a valid driver's license. By contrast, only 45% of African-American males and 51% of African-American females had a valid driver's license.
Same-Day Registration:
- Same-day registration is the most popular target of those seeking to crack down on "voter fraud", who maintain the practice contributes to widespread intentional and illegal voting.
- Wisconsin instituted same-day registration in 1976. The procedure allows voters to register to vote and cast a ballot on election day.
- Wisconsin is one of only 9 states in the United States with same-day registration.
- In 2006, approximately 358,000 Wisconsin voters used same-day registration out of over 2.1 million people voting (17% of all voters).
- In 2006, voter turnout in states with same-day registration averaged 48.7%, compared with 38.2% in states without same-day registration.
- Same-day registration has been shown to reduce the turnout gap between voters at different levels of educational attainment.
- There is also evidence that same-day registration increases turnout among students and new state residents.
- In practice, same-day registration eliminates the need for provisional ballots, which are retroactively verified and complicate the counting and verification process for poll workers.
- A 2007 study by the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law found that, ultimately, there is little evidence that same-day registration contributes to voter fraud in any way.
Voter Suppression:
- See Voter Caging.
Relevant Legislation:
State Level:
- AB158 has been introduced by Rep. Suzanne Jeskewitz (R-Menomenee Falls). The bill would eliminate same-day registration, increase the durational residency requirement (the number of days required to be living in Wisconsin in order to vote in-state) from 10 days to 14, and bring Wisconsin into full compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 and the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (more popularly known as the "Motor Voter Act").
- AB390 has been introduced by Rep. Joseph Parisi (D-Madison) and would automatically restore the right of previously incarcerated persons to vote upon their release to probation, parole, or other supervision, rather than through a judicial pardon or completion of their sentence. Under AB390, if that person is re-incarcerated at any time during their release, their right to vote is automatically revoked upon reincarceration.
Federal Level:
- The Help America Vote Act of 2002 established national standards for electoral administration in response to the controversy of the 2000 presidential election. The proposed Wisconsin legislation AB158 would require that Wisconsin allow all voters to cast provisional ballots on the day of the election as required by HAVA. Voters would be required to verify their provisional ballots the next day by appearing at the proper state office in person with proper voter ID. For a full explanation of HAVA, see the Wikipedia article.
- The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 requires that states provide voters with three new additional opportunities to vote: when they apply for or seek to renew a driver's license; at all offices that provide public assistance (including armed forces recruiting offices); and by using state-provided and administered mail-in forms. Wisconsin has been exempt from NVRA since in 1994 it maintained the practice of same-day registration. AB-158 will bring Wisconsin into compliance with the requirements of NVRA.
[edit] Facts and Figures
[edit] In the News
Feb. 22, 2008: Mitra Jalali, Voter registration fraud an administrative error, The Daily Cardinal
Sept. 25, 2007: David Stout, Supreme Court to Hear Case on Voter ID Law, The New York Times
May 21, 2007: Bill Glauber, Her First Vote Put Her In Prison, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Apr. 15, 2007: Bill Wineke, Time to end voter fraud witch hunt, Wisconsin State Journal
Apr. 12, 2007: Eric Lipton and Ian Urbina, In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud, The New York Times
Apr. 7, 2007: Daniel Bice, State GOP official pushed vote fraud issue, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mar. 16, 2006: Gina Barton, A Felon But Not A Fraud: No charges for voter with prison I.D., Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Jan. 7, 2006: Gregory Stanford, Election Fraud Voter Witch Hunt Disillusions Young Voter, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Dec. 5, 2005: Steve Schultze, No Vote Fraud Plot Found, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Nov. 30, 2005: Laurel Walker, Bucher Striking Out So Far on Voter Fraud, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Nov. 3, 2005: Joseph Parisi, Republican actions hurt student votes, Badger Herald
Sept. 28, 2005: Adam Lichtenheld, Voter ID bills create new barrier, Badger Herald
Sept. 16, 2005: Greg Borowski and Stacy Forster, State audit digs up wider vote problems, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mar. 25, 2005: Greg Borowski, Nov. 2 vote not properly verified, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mar. 16, 2005: Rob Deters, Voter-Fraud Claims Hold Little Weight, Badger Herald
Feb. 11, 2005: Jackie Lantz, [Legislation harmful to voters, Badger Herald
Feb. 10, 2005: Greg Borowski and Stacy Forster, Voter Logbooks Out of Whack, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Jan. 26, 2005: Greg Borowski, City Was Warned About Some Bad Voter Listings, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
[edit] Sources
The Politics of Voter Fraud. Lorraine C. Minnite, Ph.D., Columbia University
The Driver License Status of the Voting Age Population in Wisconsin. John Pawasarat, Employment and Training Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, June 2005
From Registration To Recounts, Chapter 6: Wisconsin's Election Ecosystem, Progressive Reform and Decentralized Administration. The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, 2007
Wisconsin, 2004 (The Truth About Fraud). The Brennan Center For Justice at New York University School of Law, 2004
