Lie, Cheat & Steal?

Conservative talk-radio host Hugh Hewitt has a book out currently entitled, "If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It." Yes, the headline will strike every moderate as funny and every liberal as outrageous, but the first portion of the title is important.

Look, as far as I'm concerned, Al Gore tried to steal the 2000 election. There were enough improprieties in New Mexico and Wisconsin that Bush probably could have challenged the results in each of those states. He did not, and maybe that's the result of being the guy who was ahead. But Gore did, and he did so in a dishonest, dishonorable way, up until his fine concession speech (the last good speech we've seen from him). Did Gore lose a ridiculously close race in 2000 in Florida? Sure. And it's got to be frustrating that a consequential number of voters in Palm Beach County mistakenly cast votes for Pat Buchanan. But maybe that's what you get for courting the votes of people who have trouble deciphering a ballot and not enough diligence to ask for help. Certainly, plenty of Bush supporters in the Florida Panhandle bailed out early after the networks called Florida before the polls closed in one part of the state. I'm not going to feel sorry for either group.

But 2000 showed us what the Democrats will do to try and win an election. 2004 may show us what they're really willing to try. Jim Geraghty has three stories up in the last few day about the massive voter fraud that appears to be taking place in several key swing states, including Florida, Ohio, Michigan and Nevada. Most of these involve third-party voter registration drives where ballot forms are filled in and sent in en masse. This article from last week's Cleveland Plain Dealer is instructive...

Elections officials have said hundreds of absentee ballot applications and dozens of voter registration cards are in question. Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson, also involved in the probe, said the problems are more significant than originally thought.

"We've seen voter fraud before, but never on this level," Coulson said Thursday. "I grew up in Chicago and this looks like the politics of Mayor Daley in the '50s and '60s."

Lake election and law enforcement officials said their investigation is centered on absentee registration attempts by the nonpartisan NAACP's National Voter Fund and an anti-Bush, nonprofit group called Americans Coming Together, or ACT Ohio.

The National Voter Fund could not be reached Wednesday or Thursday at its Washington, D.C., offices.

A spokesman for ACT Ohio, however, said the group believed the allegations would prove groundless.

... Dunlap said the probe will include visits from detectives to addresses of the voters in question. In one other instance, an elderly nursing home resident who usually signs with an "X" appeared to have a firm, cursive signature when she registered.

"We are going to have to see who's alive and who's well," Dunlap said. "We're going to have to burn up some shoe leather."

In Summit County, meanwhile, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation has agreed to assist the Sheriff's Department in the examination of 803 suspect voter registration applications.

Bryan Williams, director of the Summit County Board of Elections, said high interest in this year's presidential election has resulted in unprecedented numbers of voter registrations, absentee ballot requests and irregular voter applications.

Williams said the suspect voter registration applications include some with nonexistent addresses while others from the same street all have the street identically misspelled.

Williams said that usually people applying to vote fill out their own cards before signing them, drawing attention to the odd fact that the street name is not spelled correctly.

Still other voter registration cards bear strikingly similar handwriting, suggesting one person submitted a group of fraudulent voter registration cards.

That's just one example, of course. The Kerry Spot articles are here, here and here. They relate similar stories in Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin. Even worse, the third one notes the absentee ballot scandal from the Orlando mayoral election in Florida and how the investigation seemingly ended for no reason. Bill Hobbs has more links at his site, where he's trying to collect stories.

This is more important than simply winning the election. Look, I know the dead vote everywhere -- heck, I'm from Philly, which mysteriously had 100% + turnout in some places in 2000. But we as a country need to do more to stop this chicanery, because it undermines the country on a fundamental level. The dead shouldn't be voting. Entire phone books should not be registered by advocacy groups. And when you show up to vote, you should have an ID -- driver's license, passport or something similar with your picture on it. If not, get something. It's idiotic in this country that we need picture ID cards to purchase liquor, but some states refuse to require them to vote. Hell, you need a picture ID to enter the YMCA back in my hometown.

In the past, we put up with this crap because the tools didn't exist to stop it. Now they do -- people can publicize fraud and challenge the obscene examples, even when the press chooses to ignore them. Richard Daley's 1960 effort on behalf of Kennedy wouldn't pass muster today. A candidate might bow out gracefully (as Nixon did) but his supporters won't do so, and they shouldn't until the story is fully aired for all the world to see. And then our democracy gets a little better.