Who are the Victims of Voter Fraud?

by Judy Kent

Washington, DC - In a just-released paper analyzing election fraud investigations across the nation, National Center for Public Policy Research Adjunct Fellow Horace Cooper concludes that poor and minority voters are often the "unacknowledged victims of election fraud."

In "Victims of Voter Fraud: Poor and Disadvantaged are Most Likely to Have Their Vote Stolen," Cooper analyzes actual instances of voter fraud in a half-dozen states, and takes a head-on look at racial aspects of the voter integrity debate.

Responding to reports of a major voter fraud investigation involving recently released ex-convicts in Virginia, for example, Cooper said, "Any disenfranchisement of legitimate voters is wrong.  However, it appears that some of the most pernicious efforts to carry out election fraud occurs when minorities and the poor are targeted."

"In Virginia, the Board of Elections forwarded more than 400 voter and election fraud allegations from 62 cities and counties to the Virginia State Police for individual investigation." Yet it was Richmond, the city with the highest minority population in the group, that had the largest number of election "irregularities" referred for prosecution," Cooper explained.

"Using convicts to deprive blacks and seniors of their right to vote is despicable," says Cooper.

As cited in Cooper's paper, former U.S. Rep. Artur Davis claims the "most aggressive contemporary voter suppression in the African-American community is the wholesale manufacture of ballots at the polls and absentee, in parts of the Black Belt."

"Why are so many of the election crimes against the poor and seniors committed by individuals and organizations affiliated with the left?" Cooper asks.

According to Cooper, Virginia's explosion of election fraud is similar to last year's election fraud case in New York. "In a New York state case in the township of Troy Democratic Committeeman, Anthony DeFiglio, admitted that 'The people who are targeted [in voter fraud cases] live in low-income housing and there is a sense that they are a lot less likely to ask any questions.'"

"According to Albany Times-Union, those disenfranchised Troy voters who had their ballots voted for them included 'public housing residents, college students, the semi-literate, a deaf man, the chronically ill and non-English speakers,'" Cooper added.

Cooper notes, "These and other insidious voter-fraud plots prey upon the weakest members of our society. They violate the public trust, they erode faith and confidence in our democratic process, and they ultimately disenfranchise men and women - rich and poor - whose votes should be rightfully counted."

"Instead of distancing themselves from the irregularities that thwart the aspirations of the poor and other racial minorities, senior members of the Justice Department and advisors in the White House have hindered or delayed efforts to prevent and deter voter fraud," complains Cooper.

Taking aim at allegations that black Americans are unfairly penalized by voter integrity measures such as voter ID, Cooper notes that in Georgia, black voter turnout increased after the state adopted voter ID.

Cooper's paper, "Victims of Voter Fraud: Poor and Disadvantaged are Most Likely to Have Their Vote Stolen," is also available online at https://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA635.html.

Cooper's other 2012 papers on Voter ID for the National Center include:
 

"When the Dead Vote, the Living Suffer; Department of Justice is Wrong to Oppose Voter ID," available online at https://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA631.html

"Voter ID and South Carolina: The Supreme Court Speaks Yet DOJ Won't Listen," available at https://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA634.html

"Justice Department Plays Fast and Loose with Facts and Constitution in Challenging Texas Voter ID Law," available at https://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA633.html

These and other National Center for Public Policy Research publications on voter integrity issues are available collectively at https://www.nationalcenter.org/legal.html.

 

Horace Cooper is an adjunct fellow with the National Center for Public Policy Research, a member of the African-American leadership group Project 21 and a legal commentator. He taught constitutional law at George Mason University in Virginia and was a senior counsel to Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX) when Armey served as U.S. House Majority Leader.