Voter Fraud

The Republicans are quick to yell "Voter Fraud" at every turn. They accuse Democrats of importing, encouraging and even paying people to vote illegally. Trump continues to claim there were three million illegal votes in California in the 2016 election. That would have amounted to about 20% of the total popular vote in the state. 

Despite study after study that has determined that real voter fraud is a minuscule problem, the Republicans continue to make it more difficult to vote, especially for minorities. They pass strict voter ID laws, staff minority poll sites with fewer workers and voting machines, aggressively prosecute the very few illegal minority voters and any other measure they can think of. That doesn't even include the gerrymandering that dilutes the Democratic and minority's votes. In my mind, those actions rise to the definition of voter fraud.

Now, we have more direct evidence of Republican voter fraud. Kris Koback, Kansas Secretary of State, has been held in contempt of court in a voter ID case. As Secretary of State, he is the chief voting official in the state. He failed to follow the court's instructions that would have allowed more people to vote. That is illegal voter discrimination. Some may remember that Kobach was the leader of Trump's ill-fated Voter Integrity Panel. To him and Trump, every voter who doesn't vote for Trump or Republicans is a potential illegal voter.

Closer to home, we have Justice of the Peace Russ Casey who just plead guilty to forging signatures on his petition to appear on the March 2018 ballot. That is intentional voter fraud by an elected official who was also part of the justice system. He was sentenced to five years probation and forced to resign.  

That brings up the inequality in the punishment for similar offenses. Recently, a local woman, Rosa Ortega, was sentenced to eight years in prison for voting. She is not a US citizen. More egregious is the case of Crystal Mason. A Texas and US citizen who was sentenced to five years in prison for voting. She was a convicted felon who had been released from prison but was still under supervision. She did not know she couldn't vote. Ortega is Hispanic, Mason is Black. Wonder if that figured into the severity of the sentences? Mason was sentenced by a judge in the same Tarrant County that gave Casey probation. 

Yes, real voter fraud should be pursued and prosecuted. Prosecuted and punished fairly. An elected official who forges signatures on official documents seems far worse than an individual woman who mistakenly voted. One a white Republican male, the other a Black woman. You figure out who got the worst end of our justice system.

The real threats to our elections are Russian interference, fake news, gerrymandering, and apathy. It is not the very occasional illegal vote.

wjh