Is Election Fraud Really a Problem?

 A sign near Mechanicsville states "VOTER FRAUD IS REAL   VOTER SUPPRESSION IS BALONEY."  This is an interesting claim and many states, including Virginia, have been enacting legislation which is supposed to prevent fraud.  Is Election Fraud really a problem?

ESO filed a FOIA request with the Virginia State Board of Elections to gain a perspective on the magnitude of the alleged issue.  Their response, summarized, was that:

1.     Between 10/26/2008 and 11/10/2011 their Internet based complaint system recorded 73 Voter-Fraud incidents.

2.     They had investigated actions by Acorn in 2005.

3.     They do not collect statistics on voter fraud complaints.  Voter-Fraud complaints are immediately reported to appropriate law enforcement authorities…

We are puzzled and question why the state agency which conducts our elections doesn't maintain records on allegations, complaints, and actual incidents of voter fraud.  They maintain extensive files on every voter demographic in every election.  Perhaps the lack of a reliable database is the reason why there's an absence of specific facts (numbers) to support legislation which makes it more difficult to vote or which prevents voter fraud. 

Because ESO focuses on Essex County we decided to let other open government and transparency advocates pursue the reasons why there are no hard numbers to support either point of view.  We chose to use a very simple test of voting history in the Middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck.

We contacted the General Registrars in each of the 10 counties and asked (no FOIA requests were made) each to provide a summary of any annual data they had for the period 2008 through 2012 of both Registration Fraud Incidents and Voting/Ballot Fraud Incidents within their counties.  Three Counties, Gloucester, Mathews, and Middlesex, did not reply to our requests for information.  The other seven counties provided the data which is shown in the table below: 

We leave the interpretation you, our readers.  It appears that in our region, the General Registrars, the county boards of election, and the district voting officials have been doing an outstanding job by preventing both Registration Fraud and Ballot Fraud.

In our opinion the recent efforts, both in Virginia and nationally, to make it more difficult for citizens to vote is misdirected.  Unfortunately, the TYPICAL low voter turnout will be exacerbated by many of the new misguided laws which were enacted without any proof of significant instances of voter fraud.  Denying our eligible citizens, particularly the elderly and the rural, the right to vote through complex laws and difficult processes is a greater attack on our freedom than the potential harm a few unproven fraudulent votes.  WHERE ARE THE NUMBERS?  WHO HAS BEEN PROPERLY CHARGED AND PROSECUTED?

We would welcome comments from the State Board of Elections and our local Boards of Elections and General Registrars.

John Clickener, Publisher