Voter ID/Voter Fraud Debated in New Reports, Panels

Voter ID/Voter Fraud Debated in New Reports, Panels

By Kat Zambon
electionline.org

The specter of polling-place voter fraud has motivated state lawmakers around the country to enact a variety of new laws, including controversial voter identification provisions that require voters to produce state or federally-issued photographic ID. These new laws have compelled opponents to file suit, contesting the new rules as potentially disenfranchising to some segments of voters.

Those opponents' efforts have been buoyed in recent weeks by reports asserting that little is known about voter fraud - when, how, where, and how often it occurs - despite new legislation and countersuits.

The more pressing problem, they say, is voter intimidation, suppression and in some cases, disenfranchisement by a variety of tactics that include misleading fliers, letters and phone calls.

One such report, released last week by The Century Foundation and Common Cause found that some states have made progress since 2004 in reducing such incidents.

It identified Missouri and Minnesota as two states that have new laws against voter suppression tactics such as misleading fliers and phone calls. Minnesota and Washington have clarified rules regarding pre-election and Election Day challenges to voter eligibility, though the report warns that Florida and Pennsylvania are at risk for problems related to voter challenges. While Ohio had the longest polling lines in 2004, the state has a new law requiring equitable distribution of DRE voting machines, though the law won't go into effect until 2013.

Other states were singled out for what voter-ID opponents call useless laws that needlessly intimidate voters without addressing fraud.

Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights called Arizona's Proposition 200, which requires those registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship and either photo ID or two other non-photographic forms of ID at poling places, "a solution in search of a problem".

The Century Foundation/Common Cause report cited issues including voter ID requirements, third-party voter registration laws, database matching and voter intimidation and suppression, such as deceptive practices, long lines at the polls and challenges to registered voters.

It recommended removing barriers to voter registration, limiting ID requirements to those suggested in the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), enforcing criminal laws regarding fraud, and prohibiting election administrators from participating in partisan activities, according to author Tova Wang, Democracy Fellow at The Century Foundation.

An October 11 article in USA Today cited a preliminary report prepared by Wang and Job Serebrov, an Arkansas attorney for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) on voter fraud and intimidation which found little proof of voter fraud taking place at the polls but rather in the absentee ballot process.

In interviews with election experts in the private and public sectors, Wang and Serebrov found "virtually universal agreement that absentee ballot fraud is the biggest problem" but "there is widespread but not unanimous agreement that there is little polling place fraud, or at least much less than is claimed, including voter impersonation, 'dead' voters, non-citizen voting and felon voters."

But the report, which was leaked before being finalized, is opposed in some quarters, who disagreed with the findings.

Paul DeGregorio, EAC chair, told USA Today that the bipartisan four-member panel did not publicly release the report because of internal disagreements.

"There was a division of opinion here. We've seen places where fraud does occur," he said.

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law wrote to EAC October 13 and People for the American Way launched a Web site petition drive this week, both requesting that EAC release the report.

Experts who testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights were similarly divided on the issue of fraud.

Robert Pastor, a professor at American University, said it is still uncertain whether requiring voters show photo ID at the polls increases both ballot integrity and access. It is similarly unknown what the best method would be to get IDs into the hands of all voters if they were deemed necessary.

Pastor also served as the executive director of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by former President Jimmy Carter (D) and Secretary of State James A. Baker III (R). A majority of members on the panel made the high-profile and controversial decision to recommend that states require voters to present ID. Carter's decision to endorse voter ID - despite being at odds with the vast majority of Democrats - overshadowed most of the panel's other recommendations.

Others who back the use of more stringent polling-place voter ID requirements say increasing confidence in the electoral system, as well as widespread national support for the practice of requiring ID, justifies national voter ID rules.

"The lack of confidence [in American elections] translates into lower participation," said Thor Hearne, counsel to the American Center for Voting Rights.

John Fund, author of "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy" cited surveys that show more than 80 percent of Americans support a photo ID requirement at the polls, including two-thirds of the Democrats, African-Americans and Hispanics surveyed.

For their part, courts have generally sided with voter ID opponents, with photo ID laws being blocked or struck down in Georgia and Missouri, with one other case pending in Indiana.