Voter Fraud? The Very Dirty Pot Republicans Cry Wolf as They Eat the Sheep ! Past is Prelude!

Now the Republicans, who stile the elections of 2000 and 2004, are crying voter fraud over two weeks ahead of election day. It is yet another distraction, an effort to mask their own efforts at voter suppression that they have done so well in the recent past. Once again, it is the truth be damned, and how can we use words and accusations to our advantage, whether they are factually accurate or not.

McCain accused the not-for profit group ACORN of tearing at the “fabric of our democracy,” during the third debate. Yet his party has emulsified that very fabric of democracy for years. It is typical Republican doublespeak. Do one thing, say another. Distract, divide, demean, and conquer.

It worked before, so the McCainanites, many of who worked for Bush, are using their tried and true terrible, despicable tactics. And do not tell me all is fair in politics. We in America should be better than that. If we cannot do democracy right, how can we assume others can? Already we have a totally outdated system of electing a president – the shamefully non-democratic electoral college system – and now we have a party, and its current administration, conspiring to suppress the vote with trumped up charges of voter fraud.

I am thankful that Barack Obama's campaign asked the U.S. Justice Department to expand a special prosecutor's investigation to include possible improprieties surrounding reports the FBI is looking into voter fraud in the presidential race. Obama's campaign attorney said the investigation should look into a leak to the news media that the FBI is probing allegations of voter registration fraud by a grassroots organization called ACORN. The group's activities were denounced by Republican nominee John McCain in the Oct. 15 presidential debate.

Respected lawyer Robert Bauer, general counsel to the Obama campaign, wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey a day after the Associated Press, citing unidentified law enforcement officials, reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating ACORN. The name is short for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

A special prosecutor appointed by Mukasey already is looking into whether improper political considerations influenced the firings of nine U.S. attorneys. At least one prosecutor was fired following Republican complaints that he didn't aggressively pursue allegations of voter fraud against ACORN.

Bauer said the news leaks are part of a coordinated effort by McCain's presidential campaign and Republicans. They are ``fomenting specious vote-fraud allegations and there are disturbing indications of official involvement or collusion,'' Bauer said.
``It is apparent,'' he wrote, that law enforcement officials are serving ``improper political objectives'' that could inhibit voter participation in the Nov. 4 election. The aim is to ``suppress the vote and to unduly influence investigations and prosecutions,'' Bauer wrote.

The truth is that unless someone with a false registration actually shows up to vote, there is a problem. Otherwise, it is just another Republican propaganda distraction. If Mickey Mouse shows up at the polls in a couple of weeks, John McCain might have cause for the alarm he showed over alleged voter fraud during Wednesday’s debate. If Minnie and Goofy also turn up with state-sponsored photo ID, then the Justice Department and the FBI will need to turn their attention away from terrorism, bank robberies and billion-dollar financial scams to investigate fake voters.

But it’s quite unlikely that Mickey or Minnie or Goofy will be among the voters lined up on Nov. 4. So McCain’s hysterical outburst over a group of activists — ACORN, he said, “may be destroying the fabric of democracy” — needs to be understood for what it is: a distraction. The Republican nominee is once again using fear as a tactic to try to win votes. ACORN, reaching out to register the poor, is under Republican attack, as in past years.

During this election season, ACORN has conducted a registration campaign, hiring workers to sign up new voters. Some workers have decided to fake it, filling in names such as “Mickey Mouse” instead of those of eligible voters. (According to ACORN’s leaders, they discovered the fake names and notified authorities. They’ve also fired workers caught engaged in illegal activities.)

Fake voters are a myth, a convenient cover for those who really don’t believe in the universal franchise. (ACORN has been accused of fraudulent registrations; for actual voter fraud to occur, persons with those fake names would have to show up to cast ballots.) There is no evidence of people coming to the polls using false names and fraudulent IDs.

Atlanta Journal Constitution writer Cynthia Tucker states that ever since the civil rights movement inspired large numbers of black and brown Americans to exercise their right to vote, Republicans have been engaged in efforts to keep them away from the ballot box. Way back in the 1960s, Arizona Republican William Rehnquist — then a GOP activist, later the chief justice of the United States — was accused of intimidating Latinos to try to keep them away from the polls. Many Republicans fought the “motor voter” laws, passed during the ’90s, that allowed state driver’s license bureaus to also register voters. Ease of access encourages less affluent Americans to vote, and Republicans fear that too many Democratic-leaning voters are in that demographic group.

Don’t be fooled. Neither McCain or his hench-people are not concerned about democracy. They’re worried about Democrats. They really do not want a big turnout. If more poor people actually vote, they will lose.