[Voterescue] Texas AG's wild goose chase

[Jenny Clark]

Great letter to the editor opportunity! The Dallas Morning News, 
Wayne Slater first published the story about the outcome of the 
investigation....
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/051808dnpolvotefraud.3c75dcb.html

Here is the Austin American Statesman editorial about it today...

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/editorial/entries/2008/05/22/texas_ags_wild_goose_chase.html#postcomment

By The Editorial Board | Thursday, May 22, 2008, 01:49 PM

After a two-year investigation of voter fraud, Texas Attorney General 
Greg Abbott has only 26 minor cases of voting irregularities to show 
for his expenditure from a $1.4 million grant. Some of that money 
also was spent on other cases.

All of those cases involved Democrats and 18 of them were instances 
where lawful voters cast proper ballots that were collected and 
handled by someone else. That's technically illegal unless the 
carrier's name and address is on the envelope, but it's a petty 
prosecution.

Actually, the paltry results of Abbott's initiative are a good thing. 
It shows that vote fraud is hardly the "persistent problem" Abbott 
claimed it was when he announced the investigation in January 2006. 
The outcome of Abbott's efforts was published by The Dallas Morning 
News this week.

Republicans in the Legislature have been pushing for a more stringent 
voter identification law in Texas. Although the issue died in the 
chaos at the end of the 2007 session, it is sure to return in 
January. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who has made tougher voter 
identification a cornerstone of his administration, will see to that.
Nationally, tougher voter identification laws are favorite issues for 
Republicans, though there is little evidence of widespread voting 
fraud. Democrats contend that the GOP effort is a way to suppress 
turnout, since many of the voters who lack sufficient identification 
are the poor and elderly and minorities - who tend to vote Democratic.

Abbott's misguided investigation lends credence to the Democrats' 
argument. Several of the cases prosecuted by the attorney general's 
office involved people helping homebound senior citizens get and mail 
absentee ballots.

Is this the great voter fraud that Abbott said triggered an 
investigation into "a dramatic increase in indictments for voter 
fraud" in his initial press release? If so, it wasn't worth the time 
or the money.

In Texas, residents must show identification to obtain a voter's 
registration certificate that is to be presented when voting. 
Properly registered voters who don't have the registration card when 
they go to vote still must show another approved form of 
identification to cast a ballot.

So it is highly unlikely that Texas is brimming with illegal voters 
stealing elections. In his two-year probe, Abbott uncovered only 
eight cases of ineligible voters or manufactured votes. They included 
one woman who voted for her dead mother, one man who voted twice and 
three women who used false addresses to get registration cards.

While it is proper to find and punish anyone voting improperly, if 
those eight cases are as bad as it gets, Texas is safe from a 
takeover at the ballot box.

When Republican lawmakers in January again demand tougher regulations 
on voters to discourage fraud, they should look at the results of 
Abbott's assault on what he termed an epidemic of voter fraud.
Voting is a right and a privilege, and Texas legislators should make 
it easier to vote, not deliberately try to suppress it. There is no 
need to stiffen voter identification beyond what Texas already 
requires. And, clearly, there is no epidemic of voter fraud as the 
attorney general first alleged. His own investigation proved it.
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