October 23, 2006

Citizens: This is your daily "rap sheet" covering the ongoing election crimes that threaten our democracy.
  • Read these alerts everyday,
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  • TAKE ACTION TO STOP THE ASSAULT.
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Today's Crime against Democracy: False Claims of Voter Fraud Bring New Restrictions to Voting Rights

Voter fraud is fraud perpetrated by individual voters, such as voting by illegal immigrants and voting more than once, both of which are felonies. Election fraud is fraud perpetrated by political candidates or parties or others with a vested interest in the election outcome. Vote fraud is a form of election fraud in which the votes or vote counts have been tampered with.

We hear an awful lot today about voter fraud. New election laws are being enacted in several states and at the federal level allegedly in response to assertions of widespread voter fraud. One focus of such laws is the voter registration process, specifically attempts to curb voter registration drives by public interest organizations. Another focus is new, stringent voter I.D. requirements. The results of this campaign are the purging of thousands of voters from voter registration rolls and what in reality are new poll taxes as a requirement for voting.

The theory that voter registration drives lead to voter fraud is false. All sound evidence shows that voter registration drives do NOT lead to fraud by the voters at the polls. In addition, widespread problems of voter fraud is a myth. The existing evidence clearly shows that it voter fraud is almost nonexistent, including voting by illegal immigrants. After all, why would illegal immigrants take the high risk of publicizing their presence by registering to vote? Unfortunately, when something is repeated often enough, even if pure propaganda, it can take on the ring of truth. The real impact of these new voter registration and I.D. laws is to keep the voter base small by discouraging and even restricting citizens’ right to vote, especially the poor, elderly, minority, and newly naturalized American citizens.

Furthermore, the great efforts being undertaken to prevent the nonexistent problem of voter fraud take the focus off of the very real and heavily documented acts of widespread election fraud that have made a mockery out of the democratic process of voting in America.

Additional information is found in these excellent materials below:
  • “Block the Vote, Ohio Remix.” Editorial, NY Times , 6/7/06.
  • Carbo, Steven. “The Hype Over Voter Fraud,” TomPaine.com , 8/23/05.
  • “Court blocks new Ohio voter-registration rules”, AP, 9/4/06.
  • Rau, Jordan. “New ID System May Block Voters.” Los Angeles Times, March 29, 2006.
Action and Prevention: Take Steps to STOP the Attacks Against Citizens' Right to Vote
  1. Lobby against the pursuit of stringent voter I.D. laws and restrictions on legitimate voter registration drives.
  2. Voters need to ensure that their name on their ID and their voter registration match exactly. Voters can be challenged at the polls and required to use a provisional ballot (i.e., "placebo ballot") over minor things, such as a middle initial on their ID and a full middle name listed on their voter registration.
  3. Provide volunteer assistance at polling places to assist voters who find their names missing from voter rolls.
  4. Have observers in place to observe and videotape situations where voters find their names missing from voter rolls.
  5. Target minority communities to educate them on their voting rights and what to do if their name is either missing from a voter roll or does not exactly match their ID.
  6. File legal challenges in all states where voter registration laws are hurting efforts to sign up new voters.
  7. In each state, establish post-election audit and verification systems to insure that election problems are identified and resolved in a timely manner, and that the certified results accurately reflect the will of the people.
For more information on this topic and other Dirty 30 election fraud tricks, see www.networkofcitizens.org/election/30ways.htm

THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO SAFEGUARD OUR DEMOCRACY!

-- Network of Citizens -- www.networkofcitizens.org/election/index.htm

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