HOW THE CULPRITS GET AWAY WITH VOTER SUPPRESSION

Are you even a little curious as to where the accusations of widespread voter fraud originate? I’m referring to the wild allegations that inflame the conservative masses to demand an end to something that’s already non-existent. Do you want to know? Keep reading.

I’ve been writing (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/our-government-actively-suppressing-voters-claiming-williams-ph-d-/) and sharing LinkedIn posts about "voting rights" violations, voter suppression, and the heroes fighting those abuses. Voter-identification (ID) supporters claim that requiring voters to present photo-ID cards prevents fraud. Supported by a comprehensive, observed set of examinations, voter-ID opponents argue that substantial voter fraud is non-existent and that such strict laws suppress the turnout of historically marginalized communities (https://search.proquest.com/openview/a7c7e6a100d4486e43816d468cafa7ff/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y).

A Brief History

Reported voter fraud was lacking and unrelated to the Florida 2000 presidential election debacle (Bush v. Gore). Nonetheless, that event magnified the opportunity to create a perceived need for fraud prevention. There was grumbling over alleged Democratic voter fraud before then, but it wasn’t part of the public dialogue.

Party disparities.

For 60 years, the Democratic Party has organized (“Get Out the Vote” [GOTV]) efforts to ensure that its factions--especially African Americans--take their “souls to the polls.” In contrast, Republicans have embraced--if often secretly--the chorus of Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and Reverend Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority. In 1980, he infamously suggested,

“They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote ... As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Several states have historic voter-discrimination problems. Under the 1965 Voting Rights Act until 2013, they were required to obtain federal approval for any voting changes. The Supreme Court gutted that provision, enabling those states to reenact discriminatory voting laws.

ProPublica, a nonprofit organization that tracks tax-exempt research institutions, indicates that the Koch brothers, among others, provide financial support to ALEC (https://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2016/2/12/whos-funding-voter-suppression.html). ALEC is an influential conservative group consisting of representatives from major U.S. corporations and (mostly) Republican lawmakers. Throughout a seven-month journalism project News21 investigation, the ALEC staff declined to comment on its role in advocating voter-ID policy.

           Von Spakovsky.

Because of “[Hans] von Spakovsky and the flame-fanning of a few others,” election scholar Rick Hasen argues, “the myth that Democratic voter fraud is common, and that it helps Democrats win elections, has become part of the Republican orthodoxy” (@Jane Mayer). Von Spakovsky is a Heritage Foundation “legal scholar,” a former Federal Election Commissioner and George W. Bush Department of Justice official, and perhaps the most cited writer claiming universal voter fraud. For the current 40-year timeframe, he’s been unable to demonstrate one bit of concrete, observable, widespread voter fraud. On the other hand, he’s produced many demonstrable lies (https://search.proquest.com/openview/a7c7e6a100d4486e43816d468cafa7ff/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y).

Lemieux, S. (2018, Mar. 11). Hans Against America.

           Kobach.

On May 11, 2017, President Donald Trump delegated the authority of his now-failed Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (also known as the “voter-fraud commission”) to Kris Kobach, the former Kansas Secretary of State. As Trump’s Commission vice chair, Kobach’s objective was to prove that voter fraud was widespread. Officially, the Executive Order aimed to “study the registration and voting processes used in Federal [sic] elections.” The Order also intended to show “those vulnerabilities in voting systems and practices used for Federal [sic] elections that could lead to improper voter registrations and improper voting, including fraudulent voter registrations and fraudulent voting. As Kansas’s secretary of state, one of Kobach’s in-state goals was to help legislate strict voting laws and to prevent their judicial reversals (or to appeal the decisions against him) in the courts.

Then President-elect Donald Trump greets then-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach on November 20, 2016. (AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster).

Kobach used Arizona’s case to help persuade his state legislature to enact its strict 2011 voter-ID law. His states-rights expert witness, Richard Fry, tried to legitimize racial prejudices by arguing,

“In Arizona, they have turned away thousands of non-citizens including almost three thousand who attempted to register to vote when they applied for a driver’s license.”

Studies show that legislatures often legislate based on what happens in neighboring states. Thus, a domino effect of state legislation is passed, based on anecdotal--or even worse, on--false, racist rhetoric, not on any empirical evidence. The destructive tool behind this antidemocratic, unpatriotic cause is called “Crosscheck.”

And Now…the 2020 Election

This year’s U.S. Presidential election has the combustible ingredients that could explode into the future’s history books. While those words may prove to be hyperbolic, they also could be an omen. If they ring true, I doubt that many Americans believe the prophecy will be a good one. Both sides of the political spectrum appear to want to win badly. However, only one side has shown a willingness to commit structurally to lying and cheating. In my 2019 dissertation, I established evidence that the voter-ID advocates “buttress their arguments with anecdotes, biased sources, and demonstrable lies.”

Kobach, Crosscheck, and Kemp.

Kobach designed his racially biased Interstate Crosscheck System (#EndCrosscheck) to purge voter rolls with an astronomical, near 100% rate of false positives. Investigative reporter Greg Palast has just revealed that Kobach collaborated with Georgia’s now-Governor Brian Kemp to defeat Stacey Abrams:

“Kemp and the new Sec. of State of Georgia want to keep the lid on their methods for removing literally [sic] hundreds of thousands of low-income, young and minority voters on the basis of [sic] false information. Kemp tried to hide the Crosscheck lists [sic] which he got from his crony Kobach. The lists are at least 99.9% wrong.”

Georgia gubernatorial nominee Brian Kemp “smiles” as he participates in a Georgia Republican Party Unity Rally in Peachtree Corners, Georgia.

           Behind the scenes—Clark and Kirk.

According to a 2019 private event’s audio footage acquired by The Associated Press, a Washington DC attorney and top Trump re-election adviser, Justin Clark, told prominent Republicans in swing-state Wisconsin that the Party “traditionally” relies on voter suppression to compete in battleground states.

However, it now can “start playing offense” thanks to relaxed Election Day rules. “That’s what you’re going to see in 2020. It’s going to be a much bigger program, a much more aggressive program” (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-adviser-gop-voter-suppression-poll-watching-2020_n_5dfd46c5e4b0843d35fc2322).

Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA’s founder, tweeted on Feb. 2, “Don’t let voter fraud steal the 2020 election.” He falsely exclaimed:

“WOW: One day before the Iowa Caucus, it’s been revealed that EIGHT Iowa counties have more adults registered to vote than voting-aged adults living there [sic] Don’t let voter fraud steal the 2020 election [sic] RT for national Voter ID!”

Politico slammed his flawed methodology and demonstrable lie.

Kirk is either completely misinformed or is willfully spreading a “weaponized lie” (see Daniel Levitin's 2017 Weaponized lies: How to think critically in the post-truth era). The claims of electoral fraud were false, shown to be lies by public data and by the state’s top election official, Iowa Sec. of State Paul Pate, a REPUBLICAN! Pate revealed that Kirk, Judicial Watch, and other right-wing groups are spreading “fake news.”

Pate took such offense to Kirk’s dangerous lies that he responded directly to that Tweet by emphasizing, “Here is a link to the actual county-by-county voter registration totals. They are updated monthly and available online for everyone to see. hashtag#FakeNews https://lnkd.in/es4xxdR”

Last month, I found an unsavory job description for a volunteer “Voter Fraud Analyst” https://www.dhirubhai.net/jobs/view/1459963889/). In the related LinkedIn article that I published, I revealed that “a Colorado District Attorney’s Office was openly advertising for the need to uncover voter fraud!” Soon I’ll repost that article (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/our-government-actively-suppressing-voters-claiming-williams-ph-d-/) with an update.

Final Arguments

Those whom I have named as the culprits behind the false “voter suppression” truth-claims are not alone in spreading related lies. Many others are directly involved. Still more are willfully ignorant or blind in spreading propaganda that elevates their misguided desires. Some of them intentionally do not keep informed on matters, which constitutes criminal liability.

I argue that Kobach, von Spakovsky, Trump, and other voter-ID activists are campaigning a pack of lies. While they may believe some of their false truth-claims, that pack of lies creates unfounded fears that widespread, systemic voter fraud dilutes valid votes. Further damage arises from their false truth-claims that those “illegal” immigrants and others who want to subvert “Our” democracy are “stealing Our [emphasis added] elections;” hence, their method of creating unifying solidarity (i.e., Us vs. Them). Another of my dissertation’s findings was that the voter-ID advocates deliberately “foster solidarity, dividing “Us” from the fraudulent voting “Others.”

Von Spakovsky argues that “academic studies” contradict the claim that voter ID suppresses minority voter turnout; yet, in all his writings, he fails to provide a single reference.

In a 2015 personal email chain of communications, I cornered von Spakovsky on his lie that “academic studies” supported his false truth-claims. He appeared to become slightly unhinged. Instead of arguing that I was wrong and citing any study, he changed his argument by claiming, “peer review is a joke,” and the Heritage Foundation is nonbiased. To recapitulate, he accused me of being biased because I trusted academic peer-reviewed information over that of the Heritage Foundation.

I confess to being guilty as charged. On his LinkedIn page, he refers to himself as a “legal scholar.” He also refused to permit me to quote him in my dissertation, a necessity for academic writing. However, I’m now free from needing his permission.

Even now, there is only one scholarly or peer-reviewed source that argues widespread voter fraud exists. Notably, 192 political scientists reject its validity. The U.S. General Accountability Office also disavows it. Because its dataset came from the credible and often-used Harvard University’s Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), it gained initial credibility. The political scientists collectively asserted, “The scholarly political science community has generally rejected the findings in the Richman et al. study [sic] and we believe it should not be cited or used in any debate over fraudulent voting.”

One of the three CCES dataset developers, Brian Schaffner, highlighted further,

“I can say unequivocally that this research is not only wrong, it is irresponsible social science and should never have been published in the first place. There is no evidence that non-citizens have voted in recent U.S. elections.”

While voter-ID advocates offer many anecdotes and lies from unsavory and even racist sources, my dissertation’s analysis revealed that they cite no empirical data that support any of their truth-claims.

(Photo by Michael Fleshman/Flickr). An American Tradition: Voter Suppression.

Call to Action

Through the Fairness Doctrine, Federal Communications Commission regulations required television and radio stations to schedule controversial but publicly significant issues and to consent to the opposing views. Although abolished during the Reagan Administration, marking the beginning of conservative media, many still consider its intent to be admirable. The end of the Fairness Doctrine, which promoted democratic discussion, has enabled Murdoch, the Koch brothers, Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, Jones, and other “false truth-claim” influence peddlers. The Fairness Doctrine gave integrity to the media and truthful information to the public. It would improve the current situation, which, as Ken Abraham, CEO at “Get A Pardon” and Founder of “Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE,” correctly asserts, consists of damaging misinformation and propaganda.

In two weeks, I’ll publish Part 2: “Who Are the Heroes Fighting Voter Suppression?” (working title) as a “Call to Action” roadmap for what we can do to defeat 2020 voter suppression. Meanwhile, you can make two public demands:

1)   Demand your elected officials to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.

2)   Demand the media hold the real fraudsters accountable.

IF YOU ENJOYED MY POST, PLEASE CLICK THE “THUMBS UP” (“LIKE”) ICON, AND LET ME KNOW! If you want to know more, my 2019 dissertation’s (https://search.proquest.com/openview/a7c7e6a100d4486e43816d468cafa7ff/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y) Ch. 2 literature review is a comprehensive examination distinguishing the evidence of voter fraud and suppression from the false truth-claims.