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February 16, 2012 07:04 PM UTC

GOP Curiously Unconcerned With Election Fraud

  • 10 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Because all election fraud was not created equal–the Pueblo Chieftain’s Patrick Malone:

On the eve of the 2008 presidential election, Pueblo voters’ phones rang off the hook with automated messages that deviously and falsely claimed their precinct polling places had changed. The voters were redirected to incorrect locations to cast ballots.

“We have experienced it here in Pueblo,” said Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz. “It’s a real thing, and we definitely support harsh penalties if people are funding it or causing this to happen. It’s voter fraud to me, and it’s terrible that people would game our system like that and use deceptive practices to get people not to vote…[t]he morning of that 2008 election was the most challenging of my life.”

…Under SB147, spreading false information about election eligibility or procedure within 90 days of a contest would become a Class 5 felony, punishable by up to three years in prison.

It’s important to note that it must be a knowing act of spreading false information about the elections for this law to kick in–call it the “Vote Wednesday” vote suppression prevention law.

Interestingly, however:

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office opposes the bill and contends that statute already provides for prosecution for election fraud, a misdemeanor that does not specifically speak to voter suppression.

And the Chieftain’s Malone reports that the Republicans on the Senate State Affairs committee, Kevin Grantham and Tim Neville, opposed the bill as “a solution in search of a problem”–language, to be fair, that we’ve heard from Democrats opposed to Scott Gessler’s proposals to combat what he calls “election fraud.” Senate Bill 12-147 is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate, then will quite likely die in the GOP-controlled House.

Numerous voters’ rights groups and organizations that protect the interests of women, Latinos and veterans testified in favor of the bill. Ortiz said the raft of inquiries he received from voters who had received the misleading calls in 2008 were exclusively from senior citizens registered as Democrats. [Pols emphasis]

So, does this mean that Republicans do not think vote suppression is a problem? We’re really not sure how you can scream bloody murder the way the GOP has about multiple vote fraud–over what turns out to be a miniscule number of actual alleged cases–then be so dismissive about pursuing this kind of vote fraud. The kind that results in fewer people voting.

The simplest explanation for this double standard is very bad, folks.

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10 thoughts on “GOP Curiously Unconcerned With Election Fraud”

  1. Could it be because this kind of fraud is committed almost (entirely as far as I have ever heard) exclusively by R ops to suppress D votes? Certainly it’s possible that some D op somewhere has done this but in every single case I’ve ever heard of, and there have been many over the years, this ploy has always been perpetrated by Rs, not Ds.  Voter suppression, in all it’s forms including this method as well as improper roll purging, intimidation (such as you will get in trouble if you attempt to vote with outstanding tickets, etc.), shorting voting equipment in Dem leaning precincts and their new fave, voter ID laws that address a non-problem while allowing the fraud that really does significantly affect  election results to flourish, seems to be the favorite R election stealing, ends justify the means tool.

    2. You’re forgetting that we already have a law that addresses this crime. The Chieftain story says the AG and local DA both investigated and came up with nothing. Would this law make that any different?

      1. With multiple complaints and a robocaller, this should have been a matter of subpoenaing phone company records and making a bust.

        And yes, this law would be different.  A felony conviction is worth persuing and offers a serious deterrent to screwing around with our system of democracy; a misdemeanor not so much.

    1. vote last minute at their precinct polling place.  Especially some of the Dem leaning demos. Presidentials here are not mail in only.   If the ops didn’t think it would help steer a significant number away from successfully voting, they wouldn’t bother.  

      During the Bush/Kerry election my son was a student paid volunteer and had to spend most of the last week or two organizing efforts to chase down fliers with false info left to confuse young and minority Dems about where and when to vote and trying to get out the correct info.  A favorite was saying that the date was the day after the real election day.  

      No such D on R disinformation efforts were reported here, while reports of similar R on D disinformation campaigns have been reported in all parts of the country in that election, the election prior to that one and every election since.  

      But I’m sure you know all that 🙂  

  3. Some time ago The Nation wrote an article about how ALEC was working to supress voting by minorities and DEMS. Evidently some legislators in other states are thinking ALEC should register as a lobbyist.

    A link to the article: http://www.thenation.com/artic…

    ALEC’s magazine, Inside ALEC, featured a cover story titled “Preventing Election Fraud” following Obama’s election. Shortly afterward, in the summer of 2009, the Public Safety and Elections Task Force adopted voter ID model legislation. And when midterm elections put Republicans in charge of both chambers of the legislature in twenty-six states (up from fifteen), GOP legislators began moving bills resembling ALEC’s model.

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