Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Sunday May 14 2017, @05:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the you-may-even-get-tired-of-integrity dept.

A press release, dated 11 May, posted to the White House Web site (archived copy) announces (all links and party affiliations were added by the submitter):

[...] the issuance of an executive order forming the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Integrity. The President also named [Republican] Vice President Mike Pence as Chairman and Kansas Secretary of State [Republican] Kris Kobach as Vice-Chair of the Commission.

Five additional members were named to the bipartisan commission today:

        Connie Lawson [Republican], Secretary of State of Indiana
        Bill Gardner [Democratic], Secretary of State of New Hampshire
        Matthew Dunlap [Democratic], Secretary of State of Maine
        Ken Blackwell [Republican], Former Secretary of State of Ohio
        Christy McCormick, Commissioner, Election Assistance Commission

[...]

The Commission on Election Integrity will study vulnerabilities in voting systems used for federal elections that could lead to improper voter registrations, improper voting, fraudulent voter registrations, and fraudulent voting. The Commission will also study concerns about voter suppression, as well as other voting irregularities. The Commission will utilize all available data, including state and federal databases.

Secretary Kobach, Vice-Chair of the Commission added: "As the chief election officer of a state, ensuring the integrity of elections is my number one responsibility. The work of this commission will assist all state elections officials in the country in understanding, and addressing, the problem of voter fraud."

Additional Commission members will be named at a later time. It is expected the Commission will spend the next year completing its work and issue a report in 2018.

According to Wikipedia's biography of Mr. Kobach (citation style changed by submitter):

Kobach has come to prominence over his hardliner views on immigration, as well as his calls for greater voting restrictions and a Muslim registry.[cite][cite][cite] Kobach regularly makes false or unsubstantiated claims about the extent of voter fraud in the United States.[cite]

As Secretary of State of Kansas, he has implemented some of the strictest voter ID legislation in the nation and has fought to remove nearly 20,000 properly registered voters from the state's voter rolls.[cite] After considerable investigation and prosecution, Kobach secured six convictions for voter fraud; all were cases of double voting and none would have been prevented by voter ID laws.

additional coverage:

related stories:
Kansas Secretary of State Finally Convicts an Immigrant of a Voting Irregularity
Former Colorado GOP chairman charged with voter fraud
Hundreds of Texans may have voted improperly
Donald Trump is Filling Out His Transition Team
Hacking Voter Registration Data in Indiana
Study Finds Texas Voter Photo ID Requirement Discourages Turnout


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @05:52PM (13 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @05:52PM (#509558)
    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +5  
       Troll=1, Informative=3, Underrated=1, Touché=2, Total=7
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @06:02PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @06:02PM (#509564)

    Your first link spent a ton of words to really say nothing except, 'the only comment we have about the videos we're discussing is that since we can't see the entire unedited videos things might have been taken out of context'.

    As a word of advice from somebody who genuinely doesn't have a strong position one way or the other - quality over quantity. Seeing a link like that as what I assume is supposed to be a rebuttal tends to lead me in the exact opposite direction since it looks more like an attack than a reasoned consideration of the evidence. In any case it made me decide to not check out the other links you provided.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @06:53PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @06:53PM (#509576)

      You tl;dr morons can't even be bothered, huh? Or are you functionally illiterate? [snopes.com]:

      But it appears that, once again, O’Keefe’s videos are not be what they seem. The first serious questions about them were raised on (I swear!) The Blaze, a Glenn Beck-affiliated website.

      [...]
      It is now clear that O’Keefe’s editing of the raw video from his interview with NPR’s top fundraiser, Ron Schiller, was selective and deceptive. The full extent of this distortion was exposed by a rising conservative Web site, the Blaze. O’Keefe’s final product excludes explanatory context, exaggerates Schiller’s tolerance for Islamist radicalism and attributes sentiments to Schiller that are actually quotes by others — all the hallmarks of a hit piece … In this case, O’Keefe did not merely leave a false impression; he manufactured an elaborate, alluring lie.

      Interest in the four current Project Veritas videos has run high on social media. Politico addressed them from the perspective of legality, such as whether Project Veritas violated the law in Florida by ostensibly not adhering to the state’s wiretapping laws. The article also included a statement from Florida State Democratic Party spokesman Max Steele regarding the allegations about voter registrations:

              According to Max Steele, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party, Mao or anyone else would lose their jobs for destroying voter-registration forms.

      “Sexual assault and harassment, and destruction of voter registration forms, are serious offenses,” Steele said in a written statement. “There is no question that a staff member who engaged in this kind of behavior would be immediately terminated, and we are investigating the claims. Remarks like these do not represent the Florida Democratic Party and are completely inappropriate.”

              The video neither shows nor alleges that anyone affiliated with Clinton’s campaign actually destroyed any forms. Florida Democrats are surpassing Republicans in signing up voters. The state party has submitted 503,000 voter registration forms for this election; the state Republican Party only 60,000. The Florida Democratic Party said it trains volunteers on proper handling of the registration forms and tracks the documents to make sure none is destroyed in violation of state law.

              Under state law, a “person may not knowingly destroy, mutilate, or deface a voter registration form or election ballot or obstruct or delay the delivery of a voter registration form or election ballot.” The third-degree felony carries a maximum five-year-prison term and $5,000 fine.

              However, the video itself could constitute a third-degree felony on the part of Project Veritas because of Florida’s law that requires consent before someone is recorded. A person must give explicit consent or give “implied consent” by continuing to talk after being told he or she is being recorded.

      As the piece noted, the “rigging” clip and claims of voter registration form destruction did not stem from activity surreptitiously recorded by Project Veritas. Instead, the viral video simply depicts an operative of the organization attempting to bait campaign workers into “admitting” they would tolerate such behavior. And as with the video involving Manhattan Board of Elections Commissioner Alan Schulkin, what Project Veritas’ targets appeared to be doing was going along with leading questions rather than disputing them.

      Now that your spoon-feeding is done, do you need a diaper change too?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15 2017, @04:28AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15 2017, @04:28AM (#509759)

        Everything you posted is talking about videos from 2011. The vast majority of their article is just a hit piece on the person doing the filming. Their only comments related to the video itself was:

        [quote]Project Veritas’ October 2016 election-related sting videos (embedded above) reveal tidbits of selectively and (likely deceptively edited) footage absent of any context in which to evaluate them. Unless his organization releases the footage in full, undertaking a fair assessment of their veracity is all but impossible. [/quote]

        Why didn't they simply contact the people recorded and get them to go on the record clarifying if and exactly how anything was taken out of context. For instance they could have had a side by side video of the people speaking clarifying the context of discussion. Again, I think articles like this are more about preaching to a choir rather than reaching out to inform people.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @06:59PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @06:59PM (#509578)

      As a word of advice from somebody who genuinely doesn't have a strong position one way or the other - quality over quantity. Seeing a link like that as what I assume is supposed to be a rebuttal tends to lead me in the exact opposite direction since it looks more like an attack than a reasoned consideration of the evidence. In any case it made me decide to not check out the other links you provided.

      Knock yourself out. Ignorance seems to be working for you.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15 2017, @01:44AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15 2017, @01:44AM (#509675)

    Yet we've all seen the violence [youtube.com] and "hate crime" hoaxes from the left with our own eyes. We've seen the veritas videos and it doesn't matter if the snippets were out of context because dumb fucks admitted exactly what they were doing on fucking camera. [youtube.com]

    The left lost by embracing identity politics in place of class struggle, they are the new puritans and the cool kids are not done mocking them yet! [youtube.com]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15 2017, @02:07AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15 2017, @02:07AM (#509685)

    Snopes, factcheck, and politifact are all partisan sources.

    Trump's estimate of non-citizen voters does seem high, and rather conveniently just enough to win the popular vote. The more-neutral and legit estimate, out of liberal-favoring academia no less, is "only" 800,000 non-citizen votes.

    When you consider how close Florida was in both Bush Jr. elections, that 800,000 matters. We easily could get an incorrect result. I'm guessing you don't mind as long as it goes to your team, hmmm?

    It's racist to think that ID discriminates by race. Yes, black people have ID. We require ID for all sorts of trivial things. No matter if it is right or not, an adult without ID risks at least a few days in jail if stopped by the police. You need ID to drive, to buy tobacco or alcohol, to board an aircraft, to visit a person in prison or the hospital, to pick kids up from school...

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Monday May 15 2017, @03:01AM (1 child)

      Snopes, factcheck, and politifact are all partisan sources.

      Because you said it, it's true? I've presented evidence (in other comments over the past few years, the most recent about Snopes just a few days ago [soylentnews.org]) that says you're talking out of your ass.

      Present some actual evidence for those assertions, if you can. Otherwise your rant is just a misinformed garbage.

      Given that you're posting as AC so you don't have to associate your (even pseudonymous) name with such obvious bullshit, which implies that even you don't believe the crap you're spewing. -- Oh, and yes, I have no evidence for that, but hey, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, eh?

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15 2017, @09:56AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15 2017, @09:56AM (#509908)

        Because you said it, it's true?

        It is literally the driving force behind modern conservative media (AM radio, fox news, infowars, breitbart, etc).
        There is a huge consumer demand from people immensely frustrated by "reality's well-known liberal bias."
        And so modern conservative media have abandoned conservative principles in favor of chasing the dollars of those people who want to be assured that reality is a lie.
        And they've made a ton of money in the process. Not just a ton, a fuckton. [businessinsider.com]

        Accusations of partisanship made against news sources that make a genuine effort to be neutral (while being un-apologetically partisan themselves) is exactly how the conservative media ecosphere has captured so much of that market. De-legitimizing fact-checking sites as being liberally biased is their gamebook in a nutshell. Its especially ironic because it was Dick Cheney who really brought FactCheck to fame by citing it during it a debate. [washingtonpost.com]

    • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Monday May 15 2017, @03:04AM (4 children)

      by butthurt (6141) on Monday May 15 2017, @03:04AM (#509726) Journal

      > Snopes, factcheck, and politifact are all partisan sources.

      Of course. Let's disregard what they say, because they are biased.

      /comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=19451&page=1&cid=508023#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]

      > The more-neutral and legit estimate, out of liberal-favoring academia no less, is "only" 800,000 non-citizen votes.

      What is the source, please, so we may evaluate it for ourselves?

      It's racist to think that ID discriminates by race. Yes, black people have ID. We require ID for all sorts of trivial things.

      As reported in the liberal media, Mr. Kobach not only wants ID as a prerequisite for voting, but also proof of citizenship:

      Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach in Colorado on Saturday was pushing states to adopt the Secure and Fair Elections (“SAFE”) Act, model legislation he wrote to prevent vote fraud by requiring voter identification and proof of citizenship.

      -- http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/08/13/kobach-pushes-states-adopt-voter-id-laws/ [breitbart.com]

      As I understand it, proof of citizenship might take the form of a birth certificate or a passport. Not everyone has those on hand: recall how long it took for Mr. Obama to produce his birth certificate. Acquiring them represents an expense. Someone who travels internationally would have a passport. It's reasonable to assume that people who make such travel are more wealthy on average than those who do not. The wealthy tend to favour the Republican Party, do they not? I don't see where someone asserted that "ID discriminates by race"; however that is probably supportable: it's not necessarily racist to note a connection between race and wealth in America. Measures that were tried previously didn't explicitly distinguish by race, yet had that effect:

      Between 1890 and 1910, ten of the eleven former Confederate states, starting with Mississippi, passed new constitutions or amendments that effectively disenfranchised most blacks and tens of thousands of poor whites through a combination of poll taxes, literacy and comprehension tests, and residency and record-keeping requirements.

      -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws [wikipedia.org]

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15 2017, @03:18AM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15 2017, @03:18AM (#509733)

        Conservatives tend to stay home. Most passport holders are liberal. They like to experience alternative cultures and all that nonsense.

        Barely more than half of the wealthy are conservative. The real conservative base is the middle class, particularly those who are insecure in that class. The liberal base are poor. In terms of votes, wealthy people are non-existent.

        • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Monday May 15 2017, @07:37AM (2 children)

          by butthurt (6141) on Monday May 15 2017, @07:37AM (#509825) Journal

          > Conservatives tend to stay home. Most passport holders are liberal.

          That sounds plausible, and I can't be bothered to look it up. However I'll assert that the fees for obtaining a passport are a few hundreds of dollars; the poor could find it beyond their means.

          > The real conservative base is the middle class, particularly those who are insecure in that class. The liberal base are poor.

          Let's agree to conflate conservatives with Republicans and liberals with Democrats. If we agree to that, then we agree that the poor are more likely to vote Democratic. I'll agree that the the Republican party has made a successful appeal to the lower middle class, at least in the 2016 election. Now, if a small monetary expenditure is needed before someone is allowed to vote, won't that tend to most strongly dissuade the poor, whilst having less effect on the participation of the middle class, including the lower middle class?

          In Wisconsin, a judge

          [...] found that 9 percent of registered voters lack the sort of qualifying ID required under state law — enough to change the outcome of the election [...]

          “[T]he photo ID requirement results in the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race or color” in violation of the Voting Rights Act, Adelman concluded.

          -- https://thinkprogress.org/striking-down-wisconsin-voter-id-law-judge-finds-no-rational-person-could-be-worried-about-voter-99edd9befffc [thinkprogress.org]

          Paul Weyrich [wikipedia.org] said in 1980,

          I don’t want everybody to vote [...] our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.

          -- http://www.pfaw.org/blog-posts/the-voter-fraud-fraud/ [pfaw.org]

          Here's a brief video with an excerpt from his speech:
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN7IB-d7Hfw [youtube.com]

          • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday May 16 2017, @07:55PM (1 child)

            by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday May 16 2017, @07:55PM (#510707) Journal

            How would you know which person is voting without a photo-ID ?

            • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Tuesday May 16 2017, @10:37PM

              by butthurt (6141) on Tuesday May 16 2017, @10:37PM (#510802) Journal

              Except in North Dakota, a list of eligible voters is kept.

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_registration_in_the_United_States [wikipedia.org]

              When someone comes to the voting place, they can be asked their name, and their name may be marked on a printed copy of the list.

              According to the North Dakota Secretary of State,

              North Dakota's system of voting, and lack of voter registration, is rooted in its rural character by providing small precincts. Establishing relatively small precincts is intended to ensure that election boards know the voters who come to the polls to vote on Election Day and can easily detect those who should not be voting in the precinct.

              -- https://ballotpedia.org/Voting_in_North_Dakota [ballotpedia.org]

              In some other countries, ink is applied to a voter's hand as a way of detecting and preventing double voting. I'm not aware of that being done in the United States.

              During the Zimbabwean presidential election, 2008, reports surfaced that those who had chosen not to vote were attacked and beaten by government sponsored mobs.

              -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_ink#International_use [wikipedia.org]