When I was in high school I had a curfew of 11:30pm on the weekends. I was grounded a day for every five minutes I was late. It’s sounds harsh, I mean, what’s 10 minutes, right? But what my Dad knew is that if he allowed me to get away with five minutes, the next time would be 10 or 15 minutes, and I would say, “Hey, I didn’t get in trouble before, and I was only five minutes more late.” My Dad understood the importance of a set set of rules. I can promise you, I obeyed them.
This is what is behind True the Vote. If we disobey the rules of voter integrity, even just a little, then our integrity is compromised and it leads to further violations. I attended the True the Vote Summit this past weekend in Houston (32 states now represented). There have been many false articles written about True the Vote, which is an organization started by The King Street Patriots, to ensure voter integrity in our elections (Here is True the Vote responding to one of them). It is, contrary to what you might have heard, bi-partisan. Because both sides have accused the other in election fraud though out the ages, ensuring voter integrity benefits both sides (Two Democrats spoke at the event). You just have to wonder though, why only one side (the Democrat side) is the only one who rails against it. They make up falsehoods about racism and suppressing minority vote, and try to make that the narrative, but it’s false. In states where Voter ID has been implemented it has not suppressed the minority vote in any way. In fact, you might be surprise to learn that minorities themselves favor Voter ID. All reasonable people who are not trying to use it as a political and/or race football, do.
Many speakers at the True The Vote Summit this weekend came from many parts of the country to explain their experiences with voter fraud. For example, in Minnesota they have same day registration, where you can register to vote and vote at the same time. But, what many didn’t realize was that if you register, they send a card to your address. If the card comes back as undeliverable, then your taken off the rolls. Only problem is in the process the votes for THAT election are counted anyway. They just don’t get put on the rolls for the next election. In a recent election 38,000 cards came back. 23,000 of those were from same day registration. That number can easily turn an election. In Mississippi there are double the number of voters on the rolls than there are actual residents. Dead people staying on voter rolls is pretty common. In one “sting” operation, James O’Keefe asked for the ballots of 20 dead people, and got them, except in one instant, and that was where the poll worker had known the dead person. O’Keefe also did a sting in New Hampshire where he registered to vote “Timothy Tewbow” and “Thomas Brady.” He obtained voter registration for friends he said couldn’t make it to register. This is thing about voter fraud. The person who actually does vote in a dead person’s name? He vanishes like a (and excuse the analogy) ghost. There is simply no way to find or prove who voted. It truly is the perfect crime. And who exactly is going to report that the person who voted is actually dead? The dead don’t check, and you can count on the fact that they won’t show up to vote to find out someone has already voted in their name.
But here is the shocker for those who talk so badly about Catherine Engelbrecht of True The Vote. Do you know what she said at the end of the conference? She said, “Voter fraud is rare.” That’s right. You read that right. It is rare. But even a little bit of voter fraud can turn an election. It can make a person win that didn’t deserve to win. It can make a person win that the people did not elect. As we saw in Bush vs. Gore, a Presidential election, even a few hundred votes make a difference. So voter fraud, even a little, diminishes the very foundation of our freedom. It makes none of our votes count.
New Hampshire passed Voter ID after after O’Keefe’s sting went on the local news. Our Justice Department is blocking Texas Voter ID, that was passed by the people of Texas, because our Attorney General Eric Holder believes the false notion that it suppresses minority voting, and is not neccessary. Yet James O’Keefe went to D.C. and asked for Eric Holder’s ballot in a primary there….,.and was handed it. James could have voted as Holder, but didn’t to avoid prosecution. But it proved how easy it is to obtain ballots and registration without an I.D.
I, for one, think it is insulting to minorities to imply that they can’t figure out how to get an I.D. if they don’t have a driver’s license. I also think it is insulting when any politician or pundit refers to simply showing an I.D. as “Jim Crow” laws come to life again. As one who lived through the Jim Crow laws, I find it is a slap in the face of all the good men and women who fought against Jim Crow laws. Every Voter law that is passed or is trying to be passed, has gone out of it’s way to make sure all the poor and/or those without driver’s license can easily obtain an voter I.D. The laws make them free. What else can one do to make this more fair??
No one and no party should be against ensuring the integrity and sacred nature of our vote. Spreading false narratives of racism is particularly galling. In 2010, a Rasmussen poll of likely voters showed overwhelming support (82 percent) for requiring photo ID in order to vote in elections. This support ran across ethnic and racial lines.
Catherine Engelbrecht was not a politician. She was just a normal person like you and I. What she has had to endure to simply want to protect voter integrity is appalling to me. She has been called names, gotten threats, and endured lies written about her. A brave soul.
If voter integrity means a great deal to you, then join True The Vote and become a poll watcher. If we lose this precious right to fraud, in any way, then we have lost our very freedom.
Lastly, I want to talk about the Military Voter Protection Project. Sadly, because of the nature of our military men and women’s travel, they face significant challenges when it comes to voting. In 2008, for example, less than 30% of military voted. Over 100,000 absentee military ballots were lost in the mail. This is unacceptable. The very people who fight for our freedom to vote, should be able to know their own votes count. For more information go to MVPProject.org
Just an aside, which I’ve published before. It’s ironic that liberal groups who oppose Voter I.D. require I.D. to get into their offices. I guess they are racist, right?