Freedom from Voter Fraud

            The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the simple fact that voter fraud is alive and well in the United States, but it does not have to remain so. The Heritage Foundation keeps a voter fraud database where nearly 1,200 cases of voter fraud in America are documented. However, this database is not comprehensive, and the number of voter fraud cases is suspected to be much larger.


            The story of one case of voter fraud was given by shared by Hans von Spakovsky in a lecture about election integrity at Heritage last year. In an article titled “How Red Tape and Bad Policy Make Way for Voter Fraud,” Virginia Allen shares the story as follows.

During a lecture at Heritage last year on election integrity, von Spakovsky told the story of a woman named Wendy Rosen. In 2012, Rosen won the Democratic nomination for Maryland’s 1^st Congressional District and was set to face off against incumbent Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.

Election Day was quickly approaching when several Maryland Democratic leaders brought allegations of voter fraud against Rosen. Initially, Rosen denied the allegations, but she eventually confessed to voting in Baltimore in both 2006 and 2010 despite her legal residence being in Florida.

            Rosen was committing two different types of fraud: voting in a different area from where she was registered and running for election to represent an area where she did not live. Her actions are disturbing and not uncommon, according to Rosen. She shares another example of election fraud in her article about noncitizens being registered to vote and quotes another expert saying that it is “poor bureaucratic oversight and red tape” that leads to an estimation of “thousands of noncitizens unknowingly registering to vote.” 


            The biggest problem causing noncitizens to register is the “motor voter” law where everyone is asked to register to vote when they go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to apply for a driver’s license. Many of them expect the government officials to know if the individual meets the requirements to vote. This is a law that needs to be replaced and/or reformed. Voter identification laws are also needed in all states.


            The title to von Spakovsky’s article covers the main parts of it, “Voter ID Opponents Lose Again. This Time in North Dakota.” He says that there is “a long string of cases” about Voter ID recently where judges upheld laws protecting election integrity. “North Dakota is the only state in the Union that does not require citizens to register to vote. You can show up on Election Day and vote in North Dakota – as long as you show identification.” 

The State Legislature gave a short list of acceptable personal identifications: a driver’s license, a nondriver’s identification card issued by state Department of Motor Vehicles, or an “official form of identification issued by a tribal government to a tribal member residing in the state.” The law also “requires the ID to provide the voter’s legal name, current residential address, and date of birth.”

However, if a voter’s ID is missing any of those three items, the voter will still be able to cast a ballot if he provides the missing information with a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or a check or other document issued by a federal, state, or local government agency.

Voters have up to six days after the election to present an acceptable ID or supplemental documents. Despite the fact that the lower court though this provision would not be understood by the average voter, the appeals court noted that there was “no evidence of voter confusion over this provision.” …

It was clear to the court that the state ID law did not place “a substantial burden on most North Dakota voters.” Thus, a “statewide injunction” was “unwarranted.”

Von Spakovsky explained that there is no evidence that a requirement for voter ID has any effect on voter turnout. Laws, such as the one in North Dakota, are passed in order to maintain election integrity. There is no reason why all states cannot pass such laws because personal identification is needed for so many other areas of Americans’ lives, such as to board an airplane, cash a check, or visit the local Social Security office. 

I had to show my driver’s license to identify myself several times within the past month. I do not know how anyone does any personal business without being able to identify themselves. It is time to insist that personal identification is shown before anyone votes!