Rowley: Progressives and the Wild, Wild West
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
American voter fraud is historic and documented, a simple reality that any Google search can verify. Yet, there are still some people, so utterly naïve and ignorant of left-wing urban radicalism and the veracity of machine politics, that they continue to stand against common sense reform – reform such as Rhode Island’s new voter ID law.
According to the political Left, a voter ID requirement is akin to “Jim Crow laws” that “disenfranchise” certain groups. And, actually, the entire issue is a charade. The voter ID law is a “solution looking for a problem,” because polling place fraud is, in fact, a “myth.”
Recently, the Left’s denial of polling place voter fraud culminated in this writer being challenged on A Lively Experiment to cite a single conviction of such a charge.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe proposal to provide a conviction is, of course, an asinine distraction. If there were numerous convictions to speak of, that would suggest that appropriate law enforcement measures were already in place. But before any law is established, common sense and a reliable collection of anecdotes are what provide the justification for the new legislation. I can just see liberals demanding that Wyatt Earp provide examples of convictions in order to justify his presence in Dodge City. No need for a sheriff here, Mr. Earp. Sure, there are dozens of dead bodies piling up in the saloons. But nobody’s even been convicted yet!
If this progressive logic had ruled the day, the Wild West would never have been tamed.
On that note, convictions of voter fraud will most certainly be rare when hundreds of polling stations remain as perfect hit-and-run locations for corrupt community organizers to bus in the fraudulent masses. You know, places that are known to be absent of voter ID laws, cameras, conservative activists, and ICE agents.
Convictions
Despite this lack of supervision, in 2005 thirteen voter fraud cases were brought forth in East Providence. All of the defendants were accused of “voting in a district where they did not live, and voting in a district knowing they were not a qualified elector” according to a news report at the time. The accused were charged with using “business addresses, such as an auto-body shop and the Taunton Avenue Dunkin’ Donuts, as their residence.” One pleaded no contest to a lesser charge and was given a deferred sentence. Two had their charges dropped, but “eight additional alleged violators were recommended to attend the attorney general's Adult Diversion program, which offers first-time, nonviolent offenders a dismissal in exchange for community service.” It was also reported that “the fate of one person was still undecided [because] he is yet to be found.”
Just one American’s voting rights being negated by one illegal voter should be a call to action. Not just because of a devotion to democracy, but because reason tells us that if one person is entering a polling location illegally, then he must be part of a larger force of fraud. After all, the mission is to tip an election. And just one counterfeit vote is sure to accomplish nothing. In East Providence only thirteen people were charged, but Republicans “found the names of 75 people who claimed retail stores, auto body shops and the like as their home addresses in their voter applications,” and claimed that “the city’s voter list contained 287 people who no longer lived in East Providence.”
Reliable Collection of Anecdotes
With Democrats nationwide still resisting voter ID legislation, enough Rhode Island Democrats have begun to see the light – most notably from Providence. After years of Democrats insisting that Republicans were pushing for voter ID measures in order to “suppress the black vote,” leaders of the minority community are now joining the conservatives’ efforts.
Senator Harold Metts (D), the bill’s lead sponsor, now admits that his “constituents – both African-American and Latino – have complained to him about voter fraud for almost two decades.” For elected Democrats, a 20-year delayed response is referred to as “listening to the people in my district.”
After two decades of warnings, Metts now testifies to personally witnessing voter fraud in his district, and has seen his colleague Rep. Anastasia Williams (D) become a victim of voter fraud herself, when Williams and a family member walked into a polling station last year and discovered that others had already voted under their names. Williams is now also speaking of “numerous [voter fraud] complaints” and claiming that she has personally witnessed polling place voter fraud occur. She argues that “voter fraud, at the very least, exists in her district.”
Legitimate tales of polling place voter fraud exist all over the country. Even beyond the public comments from community leaders and the suspicious stories of dead people casting ballots, the RI Board of Elections has heard official testimony from Providence residents who claim to have witnessed known illegal aliens voting in local elections.
The Rhode Island Left – progressive advocates, union activists, radical community organizers, and stubbornly progressive Democrats – remain the only ones in defiance of this common sense legislation.
They are also the top suspects of the organization of mass voter fraud.
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Travis Rowley (TravisRowley.com) is chairman of the RI Young Republicans, and a consultant for the Barry Hinckley Campaign for US Senate.
