View source for The Voter-Fraud Myth - 2021-10-21

<div class="hnews hentry item">[[File:f188.png]] '''<span class="url entry-title">[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/29/the-voter-fraud-myth The Voter-Fraud Myth]</span>''' <span class="updated">October 21, 2021</span>, <span class="author vcard"><span class="fn">Jane Mayer</span>, <span class="org organization-name">New Yorker</span></span>
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<span class="entry-content">[[:Category:True the Vote|True the Vote]], which was founded in [[:Category:2009|2009]] and is based in [[:Category:Houston|Houston]], describes itself as a nonprofit organization, created "by citizens for citizens," that aims to protect "the rights of legitimate voters, regardless of their political party." Although the group has a spontaneous grassroots aura, it was founded by a local [[:Category:Tea Party|Tea Party]] activist, [[:Category:Catherine Engelbrecht|Catherine Engelbrecht]], and from the start it has received guidance from intensely partisan election lawyers and political operatives, who have spent years stoking fear about election fraud. This cohort—which Roll Call has called the "voter fraud brain trust"—has filed lawsuits, released studies, testified before [[:Category:Congress|Congress]], and written op-ed columns and books. Since [[:Category:2011|2011]], the effort has spurred legislative initiatives in thirty-seven states to require photo identification to vote.

Engelbrecht has received especially valuable counsel from one member of the group: [[:Category:Hans von Spakovsky|Hans von Spakovsky]]. A [[:Category:Republican|Republican]] lawyer who served in the Bush Administration, he is now a senior legal fellow at the [[:Category:Heritage Foundation|Heritage Foundation]], the conservative think tank. "Hans is very, very helpful," Engelbrecht said. "He's one of the senior advisers on our advisory council." Von Spakovsky, who frequently appears on [[:Category:Fox News|Fox News]], is the co-author, with the columnist John Fund, of the recent book "Who's Counting?," which argues that America is facing an electoral-security crisis. "[[:Category:Election fraud|Election fraud]], whether it's phony voter registrations, illegal absentee ballots, vote-buying, shady recounts, or old-fashioned ballot-box stuffing, can be found in every part of the United States," they write. The book connects these modern threats with sordid episodes from the American past: crooked inner-city machines, corrupt black bosses in the Deep South. Von Spakovsky and Fund conclude that electoral fraud is a "spreading" danger, and declare that True the Vote serves "an obvious need."

Mainstream election experts say that Spakovsky has had an improbably large impact. Richard L. Hasen, a law professor at the [[:Category:University of California|University of California]] at [[:Category:Irvine|Irvine]], and the author of a recent book, "The Voting Wars," says, "Before [[:Category:2000|2000]], there were some rumblings about Democratic voter fraud, but it really wasn't part of the main discourse. But thanks to von Spakovsky and the flame-fanning of a few others, the myth that Democratic voter fraud is common, and that it helps Democrats win elections, has become part of the Republican orthodoxy." In December, [[:Category:Reince Priebus|Reince Priebus]], the chairman of the [[:Category:Republican National Committee|Republican National Committee]], wrote, "Election fraud is a real and persistent threat to our electoral system." He accused Democrats of "standing up for potential fraud—presumably because ending it would disenfranchise at least two of its core constituencies: the deceased and double-voters." Hasen believes that Democrats, for their part, have made exaggerated claims about the number of voters who may be disenfranchised by Republican election-security measures. But he regards the conservative alarmists as more successful. "Their job is really done," Hasen says. "It's common now to assert that there is a need for voter I.D.s, even without any evidence."</span>
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">Wikipedia cite:<div class="mw-collapsible-content"><nowiki>{{cite news | first = Jane | last = Mayer | title = The Voter-Fraud Myth | url = https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/29/the-voter-fraud-myth | work = New Yorker | date = October 21, 2021 | accessdate = January 17, 2022 }}</nowiki></div></div>
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