Isn't there a certain percentage of false voter registrations in every election?

[renie408]

ACORN said that in one city they had registered 85,000 people. They claimed that there were 1500 bad registrations, but the city said it was more like 5,000. Even if it is the 5k, that is about 5%. That is a little high, but doesn't seem that bad to me. Does anybody know what percent of voter registration forms are falsified in the average general election year? Is this year drastically worse than normal? ACORN claims not, BTW.

[Sherman A1]

1. There is no election that is 100% perfect

I was once conducting an election for a trade association with about 50 votes and we had (screwed up ballots. An election is a human undertaking and thus by it's nature subject to flaws. You try to install systems, be careful and get as close as you can.

[KittyWampus]

2. who cares? ACORN themselves flagged the bad ones, as they're required to by law.

The overwhelming majority are legit.

WHO CARES?

[PatGund]

3. It's the excuse.....

.....this way when Sen. Obama wins, they can try to delegitimize his win by claiming "voter fraud" and "stolen election".

You're already seeing it on the right-wing and PUMA blogs. Anything to convince themselves the American Public didn't want McCain.

Which isn't to say we shouldn't get our butts out there and work like we're 10 points behind boys and girls.

[markevil]

4. These are still only registrations right?

I always wondered what the republicans are thinking... Some homeless guy sitting on public square registers 75 times for cigarettes and money (allegedly). Do they think that this guy is going to the polls a month later 75 times. Or is he gonna get 75 of his friends to vote as him.. It is a registration issue not a voting issue.

[Overseas]

5. Voter Fraud is extremely rare.

http://www.advancementproject.org/pdfs/alerts/PoliticsofVoterFraud.pdf

key findings


• Voter fraud is the “intentional corruption of the electoral process by the voter.” This definition covers knowingly and willingly giving false information to establish voter eligibility, and knowingly and willingly voting illegally or participating in a conspiracy to encourage illegal voting by others. All other forms of corruption of the electoral process and corruption committed by elected or election officials, candidates, party organizations, advocacy groups or campaign workers fall under the wider definition of election fraud.

• Voter fraud is extremely rare. 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 eight people a year. The available state-level evidence of voter fraud, culled from interviews, reviews of newspaper coverage and court proceedings, while not definitive, is also negligible.

• The lack of evidence of voter fraud is not because of a failure to codify it. It is not as if the states have failed to detail the ways voters could corrupt elections. There are hundreds of examples drawn from state election codes and constitutions that illustrate the precision with which the states have criminalized voter and election fraud. If we use the same standards for judging voter fraud crime rates as we do for other crimes, we must conclude that the lack of evidence of arrests, indictments or convictions for any of the practices defined as voter fraud means very little fraud is being committed.

• Most voter fraud allegations turn out to be something other than fraud. A review of news stories over a recent two year period found that reports of voter fraud were most often limited to local races and individual acts and fell into three categories: unsubstantiated or false claims by the loser of a close race, mischief and administrative or voter error.

[Overseas]

6. Election manipulation to reduce Democratic turnout, however,

is vigorously conducted by Republican operatives in major elections.

That's where you purge voter rolls with a very broad stroke, using caging lists that target likely Democratic voters.

And when you issue robocalls that misdirect Democrats to vote on different days or places than they are supposed to.

Like when the Republian Secretary of State sends too few machines to Democratic precincts so they have to stand in line for hours while Republican areas have enough machines and sail right through.

Like stationing people at the polling places to challenge voter registrations in Democratic precincts. Not to catch fakes, which account for far less than 0.01% of all votes, but to slow things down so Democrats will give up after standing in line for hours.

For emergency info on protecting your vote this time: www.stealbackyourvote.com

For a great calm documentary with excellent film footage of election night 2004, and other elections:

www.stealingamericathemovie.com Stealing America: Vote by Vote.