For all intents and purposes, voter fraud does not exist in the United States.
With a president accusing as much, this year in particular, election officials have been on the lookout for irregularities, and, fortunately, have found no more than the usual slip-ups.
So no, ballot boxes weren’t stuffed with fake ballots, people didn’t vote multiple times using aliases (dead or alive), poll workers didn’t falsify counts, and ballots weren’t burned or tossed into drainage ditches.
But don’t take our word for it.
Instead, take that of the U.S. justice system, which has found no credible evidence of election fraud or irregularities alleged in the 50-plus lawsuits brought forward by the Donald Trump campaign and his allies.
This, folks, is wonderful news, and segues into Monday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that denied an appeal by Kansas to revive a punitive law requiring citizens to show proof-of-citizenship documents in order to register to vote.
The law was the brainchild of former Secretary of State Kris Kobach, and was passed by a spineless legislature in 2013.
Over the next three years, an estimated 31,000 legal Kansans — one out of eight applicants — were prevented from voting because of the law’s heavy-handedness. Truth is, most people don’t carry their passports or birth certificates when they register to vote. For some, such documents simply don’t exist.
Which shouldn’t make them any less eligible to vote.
Most states, in fact, require residents to only sign an attestation form or write down their driver’s license number verifying they are citizens.
The Americans for Civil Liberties Union of Kansas took the case to court alleging voter discrimination and intimidation.
U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson ruled the law unconstitutional in 2018 when Kobach’s defense of widespread corruption was proven as porous as a sieve based upon the simple fact he had no proof.
For whatever reason, Scott Schwab, current secretary of state, appealed the case to the country’s highest court, which dismissed it in short order.
KANSAS was the only in the Union to have such a law.
Kobach and Schwab likely envisioned themselves as trailblazers. But the justice system simply saw them as prejudiced, with a bent to punish.
— Susan Lynn
