10.27.2004

The Times

Funny, most of the documented election fraud I've seen is coming from the GOP:

he Republican Party has announced plans to place thousands of election challengers in Ohio polling places next week. It says it is only trying to prevent fraud. But there is a real danger that these challengers could be used to block eligible voters from casting their ballots or, just as bad, to drastically slow down voting in some parts of the state. Election officials must be vigilant about ensuring that partisan challengers do not disrupt the voting.

Republicans have been raising a lot of charges of fraud lately. Fraud is a danger in any election, and neither party has a monopoly on it. But the Republicans have come up with little in the way of specifics. They have pointed to a few instances in which paid canvassers apparently submitted registrations with phony names. But it is highly unlikely that anyone will show up on Election Day claiming to be Mary Poppins or Dick Tracy. The Republicans have made much of the fact that some jurisdictions have more names on their rolls than they have eligible voters. But that is generally because election offices are slow to remove the names of people who move away or die.