Voter Fraud: Who’s Counting in the Upcoming Election?
Hans von Spakovsky /
On Friday at noon, The Heritage Foundation will hold its second event in the Preserve the Constitution series when it hosts John Fund and me talking about our new book Who’s Counting? How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk.
With the pundits and pollsters predicting that the upcoming presidential election may be one of the closest in history, everyone should be concerned about potential fraud or bureaucratic mistakes affecting the outcome of the election. As the Supreme Court said when it upheld Indiana’s voter ID law in 2008, fraud can make the difference in a close election.
Who’s Counting shines a light on the many problems that exist in our very decentralized election system. For those who claim that voter fraud does not exist, the book provides many examples of actual fraud that have occurred in elections, including:
- A 1982 gubernatorial election in Illinois in which it is estimated that 100,000 fraudulent votes were cast in Chicago;
- A 2005 Tennessee state senate race that was overturned because of fraud where the winning margin was only 13 votes; and
- A successful 14-year vote fraud conspiracy in Brooklyn, New York, that resulted in thousands of fraudulent ballots being cast in state and federal legislative races through impersonation fraud at the polls.
We know that fraud is a continuing problem. Last week, a congressional candidate in Maryland was forced to withdraw after it was discovered that she had illegally registered and voted in both Maryland and Florida in the 2006 and 2008 elections. And an Arkansas state legislator just resigned from office after he and three others pleaded guilty to committing voter fraud in a 2011 election that the legislator won by only eight votes.
Who’s Counting exposes the inner workings of a biased, ideologically driven Justice Department that is doing everything it can to prevent improvements in the integrity of the election process. But the book doesn’t just talk about the problems; it also makes recommendations for reforms that can improve the integrity of the election process. And it demolishes the false narratives used by opponents of common-sense reforms such as voter ID requirements.
Joining me at the Friday event will be John Fund, formerly of The Wall Street Journal and now the national affairs columnist for National Review Online. It will be hosted by Edwin Meese III, chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation and former Attorney General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan. You can RSVP here or view the program online.