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Barnard
Political Scientist Lori Minnite Co-Authors New Study on Voting
Fraud
 Barnard
Political Scientist Lori Minnite has co-authored a new study
that found voting fraud is a negligible problem in the United
States, despite frequent allegations to the contrary. "Securing
the Vote: An Analysis of Election Fraud," which was released
by the non-partisan public policy and advocacy organization
Demos, provides the first empirical evidence that reforms
aimed at making voting easier – like computerized voting
or election day registration – can broaden participation
without risking increased fraud. In fact, the study finds
that in many instances, such reforms make voter fraud much
less likely.
"The report’s central findings make it clear that
overstated allegations of election fraud should not be used
to unnecessarily restrict access and make voting more difficult,"
says Minnite. "In fact, the report makes a compelling
case that we can implement reforms that make regi stering
and voting as accessible as possible to all Americans with
great confidence in the outcome."
The report found little evidence that election reforms such
as the National Voter Registration Act, election-day registration,
and mail-in voting have resulted in increases in election
fraud. Instead, the researchers found that the disenfranchisement
of voters through antiquated voting systems, system error,
and improper management of registration databases – as
occurred in Florida in the 2000 election – is a far bigger
problem than traditional forms of election fraud.
The report’s release coincides with state-level implementation
of the 2002 federal election reform bill, the "Help America
Vote Act" (HAVA). While election reform advocates hope
that HAVA will be a major step forward, many are alarmed by
HAVA’s new voter ID requirements – adopted to address
the alleged threat of voter fraud – which could make
it harder for Americans to vote.
"As states move forward in implementing the new election
law, their mandate is to remove the barriers and inefficiencies
that deny qualified voters their right to cast a ballot,"
says Steven Carbó, Director of the Democracy Program
at Deomos. "Instead, some states are using HAVA to pursue
onerous ID requirements that threaten to exclude voters, especially
poor voters, voters of color, young people and new citizens."
"Too often, hearsay and anecdotal tales of voter fraud
have stalled valuable election reforms that could help address
one our nation’s most challenging issues – low voter
participation," says Miles Rapoport, President of Deomos,
and former Secretary of the State of Connecticut. "This
report brings much-needed analysis to the debate and provides
a framework to make informed decisions about election reform."
The full report, which includes a concise Q&A, extensive
documentation, a stand alone executive summary and numerous
policy recommendations, is available on the Deomos web site
at www.demos-usa.org/pubs/securing.
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