Monday, November 8, 2010

Voter Fraud

Adam Serwer:

"In the modern era, there's never been a proven case of someone stealing an election through the deliberate casting of fraudulent ballots, although in the conservative media it's a given that it happens all the time. That's because conservatives think Democratic victories are inherently illegitimate, if not by the letter of the law at least in the sense that liberals and Democrats aren't genuinely American. But the selective nature of voter fraud claims is another hint at the self-conscious nature of this scam. Voter fraud only 'occurs' when Republicans lose, and even then only as an explanation for why a Republican lost."

1 comment:

Monkey RobbL said...

Wait - so all of that noise in 2004 from the left about voter intimidation, manipulation of poll closing times, and Bush having the owner of Diebold in his back pocket doesn't count? Not to mention Florida 2000. It seems to me that Serwer's employing an artificially narrow focus when it comes to accusations of election tampering. (Not to mention mind-reading: "conservatives think Democratic victories are inherently illegitimate"? How about backing up that claim?)

I'm not defending the Republicans or their enablers, of course, just pointing out that there are hypocrites and sore losers across the spectrum.