This Voter Fraud is Teabuggery

Across the country, in states where Republicans are in power, they are implementing draconian voting laws designed to disenfranchise the poor, the elderly, minorities, and students, because these are more likely to vote for Democrats.  The excuse Republicans are using is that there is massive voter fraud.  That lie has peen proven false again and again.  The irony is that, in those very few cases where voter fraud has actually been documented, the perpetrators are almost invariably Republican, such as in this case.

In the news this week, James O’Keefe was at it again, proving that voter fraud is a fever-dream of the far right. But alert Kossack rm1948 sent a tip on a story that shows voter fraud isn’t just a Republican stunt to try to prove that it’s a problem: it’s a governing strategy for the Right. The story comes from Montgomery County, Texas.

More than a year since a state district judge ruled 10 Montgomery County residents voted fraudulently in a Woodlands election, a grand jury last week indicted seven of those individuals for illegal voting.

The indictments stem from the May 8, 2010, election of The Woodlands Road Utility District No. 1. Ten individuals listed their voter registration address as that of a hotel in order to take control of the RUD board.

Former Montgomery County Judge candidate Adrian Heath heads the list of people charged with the third-degree felony. Heath declined comment, saying he was looking into hiring an attorney. […]

According to indictments released by the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the defendants voted in an election they knew they were not eligible to vote.

Heath is also a tea party activist, and (this is perfect) judicial candidate. The group decided that they were afraid that someday the Woodlands Road Utility District would decide to start taxing residents of the area, instead of just commercial businesses, so he engineered an electoral coup, and a conspiracy to commit voter fraud… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Tsk, tsk!  Thou shalt not commit Teabuggery!

There is, however, a form of election fraud, about which we do need to be concerned.  In areas where Republicans control the use of electronic voting machines without paper trails, there has been a predictable inconsistency between exit polling and actual results ranging from 3% – 5%, always favoring Republican candidates.  I suggest you find out how the election will be overseen in your community, and unless all ballots have a paper record under bipartisan control, work to change it at the local level.