The voter fraud agenda

An attempt to hijack the state's election laws and open the door for voter fraud failed at the last minute this week in Wisconsin's legislature. But threats to ballot integrity continue in other states, and Congress may rush to pass ill-conceived legislation this year that would only sow confusion and increase the potential for chaos on a national level.

Wisconsin's story shows how high the stakes are. Late in March, a 72-page bill was suddenly introduced and rushed forward with only abbreviated hearings. The bill would have given "nationally recognized" community organizing groups access to the state driver's license database to encourage voter turnout. After the infamous registration scandals involving Acorn in 2008, this was clearly a strange priority. Requests for an absentee ballot in a single election would also become permanent (without requiring a legitimate reason, such as infirmity), and the ballots would be automatically mailed out in future elections.

Coercion and chicanery are made much easier by the excessive use of absentee ballots. Most of the elections thrown out by courts-Miami, Florida's mayoral election in 1998, the East Chicago, Indiana's mayor's race in 2005-involved fraudulent absentee votes.

Three decades ago absentee and early ballots were only 5% of all votes cast nationwide. In 2008, they exceeded 25%. Wisconsin's bill would also have allowed voters to register on the Internet without supplying a signature-thus removing a valuable protection against identity theft and election fraud.

Nobody opposes legitimate efforts to increase voter participation - as long as reasonable safeguards are in place that assure the integrity of the ballot. This is obviously not the intent of the Democrats pushing these bills and they should be resisted as an effort to game the electoral system and gain an unfair, illegal advantage over the GOP.

Hat Tip: Ed Lasky