Today, PoliticsNation host Al Sharpton was joined by Wisconsin Democratic state senator John Erpenbach and Marty McBeale, executor director of AFSCME 24, to discuss the Wisconsin recall election. As the election nears, a number of high-level Republicans and right-wing media outlets are claiming that "voter fraud" will allow Democrats to steal the election. Embattled Republican governor Scott Walker, who is fighting a recall, even claimed that voting fraud may account for "one or two points" of the election results.
"It's a completely made-up issue," said Erpenbach. "A few years ago a Republican attorney general did an investigation into voter fraud allegations in Wisconsin. They found eleven cases. Eight of those were convicted felons that a photo ID would've never caught to begin with. And three of them were actual cases of fraud. Three cases of fraud and they were prosecuted. We have laws on the book already. Voter fraud is all about voter suppression, and the Republicans know that."
Last week, Rachel Maddow pointed out that if Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus's claim that there will be one or two points of voter fraud in Wisconsin was true, that would mean "he’s talking about something like tens of thousands of votes," and no one has produced evidence of such elaborate fraud. A bigger problem than non-existent voter fraud is voter suppression, where onerous voter ID laws could disenfranchise thousands of young people, minorities, and the poor and other traditional Democratic voting blocs.
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Hard to use the graveyard vote with voter id.
anyone who thinks voter id prevents anyone with a brain from
voting doesn't have one themselves. you can hardly get through
modern day living without an id. the only ones against voter id
are people who are afraid they can't vote illegally if they have to
show id. those are exclusivally the Democrats.
My mother lives in a nursing home and has not had a valid WI id for over 12 years. (Thank GOD she stopped driving when she couldn't stay on her own side of the road!) She doesn't need an ID for anything. Period. Her and most of the residents of the nursing home have no use and no need. However many, including a surprising number over 100, are sharp minded and fully capable of voting. You don't know who the voter id will affect because you don't know who all they are.
What I don't understand is why tea party republicans, who complain bitterly about the spending of taxpayer dollars, want to spend extra millions on implementing voter id when there have been no discernable problems with voter fraud. Spend millions on protecting against something that isn't there. I reasearhed voter fraud and found very few substatiated cases and those would not have been prevented by the voter ID law.