Mark and I have been keeping up regular posts (and the other Rob) on the on-going issues regarding voter registration and the voter fraud vs. voter suppression debate taking place between Democratic and Republican camps.
Lets be clear. No one is denying that both are taking place. I do not contest that there are voter registrations being submitted that are fraudulent. One of the inherent problems with paid for voter registration campaigns is that people will submit registrations that are not on the up and up so that they can paid (be it in crack or money).
It is also true that voter suprression tactics are also in full swing. The recent headline story in the Milwaukee Journal about the DA asking for more poll workers is case in point. In that story, a Republican staffer has been sitting in the office of the Milwaukee City Election Commission watching people pick up and drop off absentee ballots. When asked by the media if he was concerned the city would hand out too many ballots, he muttered about the media getting it all twisted, and didn’t really have a great reason for being there.
Well, he has the right to be in the office. But why exactly is he there? Is it to make sure that the system is working properly? Or is it to give the impression to voters that their actions are somehow shady?
That’s the tip of the iceberg. The Sproul case is a perfect example.
The right to vote is fundamental and what we see, nationwide, are attempts to inflate voter rolls by Democrats, but further attempts to disenfranshise voters by Republicans. Once again, unless evidence of actual attempts to vote multiple times or coordinated efforts to dilute the vote are found, incorrect voter registrations will not have as detrimental an outcome as outright suppression.
This is a perfect “plague on both your houses” scenario. No Democrat should encourage multiple or fraudulent registrations. No Republican should turn a blind eye to voter suppression.
