Early Voting Fraud: Rhetoric Or Reality?

CBS Evening News: Election Officials In 17 States Say There Have Been Very Few Problems With Fraud Or Suppression

(CBS)  Nationwide 40 million voters are expected to cast early ballots this year. And they're doing so amid charges from both parties of attempts to steal the election through either voter fraud or suppression. CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian takes a hard look at whether, at least for now, those fears are justified.

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To separate fact from fiction, CBS News conducted a detailed survey of 17 states that allow early voting - in person. What we found is that charges of widespread voter fraud or suppression are far more rhetoric than reality.

As of Friday, nearly 7 million people had voted early in those 17 states. CBS News made dozens of calls to top election officials, state party leaders from both sides, and watchdog groups, asking for clear cut examples of Americans being denied the right to vote, or voting improperly.

In virtually all of those 17 states the response was: No problems. No issues. No complaints.

"We're taking aggressive action to stop suppression," says Bob Bauer, general counsel for the Obama campaign.

"As yet, have you seen any evidence of people who wanted to vote, who were eligible to vote, that were turned away from voting?" Keteyian asked.

"No," Bauer said.

In Ohio, Colorado and Florida political squabbles have sparked questions over the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of voters. Yet officials there could only point to a handful of people who were denied the right to vote or have committed voter fraud.

"It's hard to put an actual number on voter fraud and say it's 'this big' or 'that big,'" says Brian Jones, an advisor to the McCain campaign on voter issues. "I think to just discount voting irregularities and say, 'Well, it's just a small number,' is a very slippery slope."

It's a big part of an election battle that looks right now to be, little more than a high-stakes war of words.

[jamesbrad1]

I just voted in Norwalk CA and no one asked me for any ID. If I was fraudulently registered nothing would have stopped me from voting. This makes the leap from voter registration fraud to voter fraud a very small one.

[nowoolinmyey]

"OOOooooOO. Socialism; socialism! Bugga bugga!"

Come on folks. Get with the spirit of the season. It''s almost Halloween, and you are supposed to be scared. I see that Logansprings and Neederbaur have peed their pants, but most of you are not shaking in your boots. Let''s try again.

SOCIALISM; SOCIALISM!

***! What am I doing wrong? Most of you act as though you don''t think the world will end when Obama is elected President. I''m sure you have been given the word that if anything socialistic occurs in this country, life as we know it will vanish from this planet. What do you mean that this country has embraced socialistic programs for more than a century? Are you serious? If that is the case, then the doomsayers, the ones that say that the sky is falling and want to scare the rest of us -- do you think they are posting from the psych ward?

[rickwar]

silver1237
WeroInNM

SOS different day

[rickwar]

erasmus81:

You can post under different logons, but your message still comes out the same.

If you are a Canadian, then the presidential election is none of your business, you socialist weasel.

Get your socialized version of real medical care, and quit whining about what goes on here.

And, if you are getting sick, get in line and wait to get an appointed doctor and facility.

Hey?


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Posted by Logansprings at 05:41 PM : Oct 28, 2008

You just might want to consider this, the US ranks lower in health and higher cost than Canada.

Ask yourself this why is America the ONLY major country that does not have a sponsored healthcare system?

In case you haven''t noticed, American actions can affect the whole world, or weren''t you alive the last few weeks on the financial front. How about this, who''s floating us financially? Answer. The rest of the world.

It''s always helpful to dismiss the other than United States interest and then wonder why they won''t support us.
Thanks for showing us that the "Ugly American" is still alive.

[nowoolinmyey]

NEEDERBAUR -- At best, you are a racist of extremely limited intellect. At worst, well you wouldn''t know a true socialist/marxist if he/she lived next door.

[yehlingling]

Voter fraud has been found in other elections. Please do take this very seriously.
Yeh Ling-Ling, Oakland, CA

[silver1237]

thought the numbers out of Illinois were very telling%u2026%u2026%u2026.then scan down%u2026..
CHICAGO POLITICS
BODY COUNT IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS
292 MURDERED IN CHICAGO
221 KILLED IN IRAQ
OUR LEADERSHIP IN ILLINOIS ;
SEN. BARACK OBAMA
SEN. *** DURBIN
REP. JESSE JACKSON, JR.
GOV. ROD BLOGOJEVICH
HOUSE LEADER MIKE MADIGAN
ATTY. GEN LISA MADIGAN
MAYOR RICHARD DALY
ALL DEMOCRATS
THANK YOU FOR THE COMBAT ZONE IN CHICAGO
OF COURSE THEY ARE BLAMING EACH OTHER.
CAN''T BLAME THE REPUBLICANS, BECAUSE THERE AREN''T ANY.!!!!!
STATE PENSION FUND $44 BILLION IN DEBT, WORST IN THE NATION.
COOK COUNTY (CHICAGO) SALES TAX 10.25%, HIGHEST IN THE NATION.
CHICAGO SCHOOL SYSTEM ONE OF THE WORST IN THE NATION.
THIS IS THE POLITICAL MACHINE THAT OBAMA SAYS HE COMES FROM IN ILLINOIS.
AND NOW
OBAMA SAYS HE''S GONNA ''FIX'' WASHINGTON POLITICS.!!!!!
SPREAD THE WORD ***** SAVE AMERICA
VOTE the facts not the glamour

[logansprings]

cyn508;

We have all read the posts by people who were supposedly McCain supporters and miraculously "see the light" of Lord Obama, "today, tomorrow and next Tuesday."

We don''t believe them and we don''t believe you.

At least have enough courage to say that you are a bonafide worshiper of Lord Obama and will follow him until the "chickens come home to roost" as you "g--d--n America."

[logansprings]

erasmus81:

You can post under different logons, but your message still comes out the same.

If you are a Canadian, then the presidential election is none of your business, you socialist weasel.

Get your socialized version of real medical care, and quit whining about what goes on here.

And, if you are getting sick, get in line and wait to get an appointed doctor and facility.

Hey?

[Confidential416]

We don''t have early voting in Pennsylvania... but I wish we did... there is nothing mccain and his imploding campaign can say or do at this point that would change my mind. It''''s funny... I started out believing I would vote for mcshame..... after he chose palin, I thought him reckless and got on the fence...when he started with the character attacks and fear mongering... I recognized mcsame....
Voting Obama... today, tomorrow and next Tuesday!