Voter fraud as bad as voter suppression
February 01, 2014 2:00 AM
Jan. 30 — To the Editor:
In his letter to the editor of Jan. 3, Larry Drake, chairman of the Portsmouth Democratic City Committee, rehashed the Democrat talking points that accuse Republicans of voter suppression. This is peculiar, in that in the old, bad days of voter suppression, it was the Democrats, largely in the South, who suppressed votes, mostly among blacks, by means that included intimidation by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
These days, when there is essentially no intimidation of voters (Philadelphia may be an exception), the serious issue is voter fraud, in which people will cross over state lines to vote where they do not reside, or else take on the names of registered voters that do not vote, in some cases because they are deceased. It has been estimated that some 1.7 million dead people are on U.S. voter lists.
Voter fraud is just as undemocratic as voter suppression. Every fraudulent vote effectively annuls a vote by a legitimate voter. The Republican position is that every legitimate voter, but no illegitimate voter, is entitled to vote. All the legislative bills that Drake criticized have been aimed to this end. You would think Democrats would join Republicans in ensuring that only legitimate voters are allowed to vote, but they seem to resist attempts to do so. Their motivation is puzzling.
Will Smith
New Castle |
