hoosier access declares that "it would appear that the state Democrats have no leg to stand on when it comes to crying about Indiana's Voter I.D. law and the 'lack of proof'". buzzcut proclaims that "Those of you downstate, take some time to learn the details of this case. This is exactly why we need the ID to vote law. It puts a stop to this kind of nonsense."
fair enough. let's learn the details of this case, shall we? oh, what's this here at the end of the story?
"You're talking about average people, men and women, and they were manipulated. And it was fear of losing their jobs or fear of their family members losing their jobs," Bernard Carter said. "These people didn't just wake up and say, 'I'm going to vote absentee in East Chicago.'"
vote absentee, you say? indiana's voter ID law doesn't apply to absentee ballots. so not only is this not evidence that the voter ID law prevents fraud—which it doesn't—but it actually demonstrates that prosecutors don't need the voter ID law to prosecute voter fraud, because steve carter is doing a pretty good job without it.
as i've said before, the main problem with indiana's voter ID law is that it's a fix for a nonexistent problem: fraud at the polling place. the vast majority of voter fraud that takes place these days is absentee voting fraud. absentee fraud is easy: get a bunch of ballots, fill them out, forge or otherwise acquire the proper signatures, and mail 'em in.
fraud at the polling place is much more difficult, despite what some of my commenters might think, which is why people don't really do it anymore. the days when you could vote, shave your beard into a moustache, vote again, then shave off the moustache and vote a third time are long gone. on those rare occasions when actual fraud at the polling place is found, it is typically done by mistake by people who don't know better.
every so often, the right will grab onto another story of voter fraud prosecutions and jump up and down hooting and hollering about how it proves them right; how democrats are stupid, naive, corrupt, or worse. yet, without fail, it always turns out that these stories involve absentee voter fraud, which is not covered by their beloved voter ID law.
so if indiana's voter ID law doesn't address the true source of voter fraud—absentee ballots—then what is the point?
update: while i was writing this post, thomas at blue indiana was writing something very similar. great minds, or something.¶
Wilson46201, at
12:44 PM, December 13, 2007
