The Republican Party of Wisconsin and its running dogs in radio, the press and the interwebs are trying to whip up fears of voter fraud in Milwaukee, and, indeed nationwide. A conspiracy so great, Charlie Sykes fears, that it could tip the election.
Exhibit A in their effort to pull off this hoax are reports that some vote registrars hired by Acorn have turned in fake names. Left unmentioned is the fact that Acorn has flagged many of the fake registrations – which they are obligated to submit under law. Also unmentioned is the fact that there is no demonstrable link between voter registration fraud and voter fraud. Quite the contrary.
Also left unmentioned: Republicans have a history of voter registration fraud as well!
The California Republican Party ran into the same issues when it mounted a massive voter registration drive in 2006. One big difference between Acorn and California Repubs – Acorn actually flagged the dubious registratiosn.
From Alternet:
Faked names on voter registration forms. Error rates as high as 60 percent. Firing the people responsible for these errors. Investigations launched by local and state police. Sound familiar? This is not ACORN in the 2008 election's final days.
This is the California Republican Party and its contractors in 2006, when the same problems that are now dogging ACORN and providing political fodder for GOP attacks plagued an effort by California Republicans to register 750,000 people.
The details were all spelled out in a series of Los Angeles Times stories, which quoted former California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres saying these kinds of errors are inevitable "when you use private vendors." Even the state's top election official in 2006, Republican Bruce McPherson, was forced to investigate his own party's actions.
The efforts by RPW Chairman Reince “I’m tired of losing elections because of voter fraud” Priebus, Charlie Sykes et al to whip up fears of voter fraud always have been cynical. They’re now hypocritical as well.
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