Friday, May 18, 2007

Slate Article Highlights ACVR Voter Fraud Scam

Fueling my paranoia, is an article at Slate.com penned by Loyola Election Law Professor Rick Hasen titled The Fraudulent Fraud Squad - The Incredible, Disappearing American Center For Voting Rights.

Brad Friedman comments: "After more than two years of the story being "chronicled indefatigably" here at The BRAD BLOG, as Hasen is kind enough to point out/link to, his article summarizing the rise and fall of one of this century's most insidious assaults on American values under the guise of the ACVR GOP front-group fraud comes not a moment too soon."

Considering the attempt of ACVR to influence the 2006 election in Missouri, Professor Hasen's analysis is food for thought. Here are a couple of small excerpts:

... ACVR—the only prominent nongovernmental organization claiming that voter fraud is a major problem, a problem warranting strict rules such as voter-ID laws—simply stopped appearing at government panels and conferences. Its Web domain name has suddenly expired, its reports are all gone (except where they have been preserved by its opponents), and its general counsel, Mark "Thor" Hearne, has cleansed his résumé of affiliation with the group. Hearne won't speak to the press about ACVR's demise. No other group has taken up the "voter fraud" mantra...

... But despite the collapse of ACVR, the idea that there is massive polling-place voter fraud has, perhaps irrevocably, entered the public consciousness. It has infected even the Supreme Court's thinking about voter-ID laws. And it has provided intellectual cover for the continued partisan pursuit of voter-ID laws that may suppress minority votes.

No comments: