Hold on to your hat - it's time to Halt Holt!

In my post on March 16, “”Failure to pursue voter fraud is not a plausible reason for purging prosecutors, I linked to a report by ProjectVote.org, the Politics of Voter Fraud.

Here are the key findings of that report:

• Voter fraud is the “intentional corruption of the electoral process by the voter"
• Voter fraud is extremely rare
• The lack of evidence of voter fraud is not because of a failure to codify it
• Most voter fraud allegations turn out to be something other than voter fraud
• The more complex are the rules regulating voter registration and voting, the more likely voter mistakes, clerical errors, and the like will be wrongly identified as voter fraud
• There is a long history in America of elites using voter fraud allegations to restrict and shape the electorate.

Since January of 2004, I’ve been dogging voting issues, jeopardizing my health in the process. I've been keeping my eye on the Elections Assistance Commission, whose commissioners are appointed by the White House. It’s responsible for implementing the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which was supposed to correct the voting problems that occurred in the 2000 election and has actually made them worse.

This morning, when I saw the online article at the New York Times, Panel Said to Alter Findings on Voter Fraud, I wasn’t as surprised as some people. The opening paragraphs of the article: “A federal panel responsible for conducting election research played down the findings of experts who concluded last year that there was little voter fraud around the nation, according to a review of the original report obtained by the New York Times. Instead, the panel, the Election Assistance Commission, issued a report that said the pervasiveness of fraud was open to debate.”

Ha! So if this didn’t surprise me, I’ll tell you what does: Both MoveOn and Common Cause are supporting legislation, the Holt Bill, H.R. 811, which would increase the powers of the Elections Assistance Commission. If this bill passes, the Elections Assistance Commission would be given permanent power and control over all voting equipment. Do we want an appointive body which alters reports to be given more power?

Why do you need to hold on to your hat? Because there's a whirlwind of action regarding halting Holt. Go to ElectionDefenseAlliance.org, (EDA) to find out how you can help. To learn more about why H.R. 811 should be stopped in its tracks, go to H.R. 811 Unsafe for Democracy - Halt Holt! Link here to learn more about Why the Election Assistance Commission Must Be Abolished.