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?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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!

[erasmus81]

Besides you guys coughed up your gun rights now all you own is rocks and sticks to fight off a suppressive Government.Taxes? Well more is not better.

Posted by insite4u at 02:05 AM : Oct 28, 2008

We didn''t cough up anything. We choose not to have guns. And in so doing, we don''t have to worry about every Tom, ******** and Harry having one. We can walk down the street without worrying that some whackjob will shoot us.

And I think that you are a little confused. We don''t have a suppressive government. That would be YOU that has a suppressive government. We have a say in our country, you don''t.

And as far as taxes go, we may pay a little more, but it''s worth it. We ALL have health care. We have CLEAN hospitals. There ain''t no one here dying from lack of health care, or infections from dirty hospitals.

[karela33]

I live in Michigan. The Michigan Republican Party obtained a list of people whose homes had been foreclosed on and intended to use that list to challenge voters who were no longer living at the address of their foreclosed home. We had to have a law suit here to prevent them from doing that. I''d call that pretty slimey politics. Why do we have to go through this every election. Bush put the DOJ on a hard effort to turn up voter fraud after the last election. After a long investigation they found seven cases of people who voted who shouldn''t have. In comparison, the republican party tried to purge 200,000 voters in Ohio this month. And in other states they have purged many thousands. When those people show up to vote they find out, but then it''s too late to register. So, who''s trying to disenfranchise Americans from voting? Why is anyone allowed to purge names during an election year at all? Why not do it in other years so that people have a chance to find out and reregister? The answer to that is that they don''t want them to reregister. It is always republicans doing this fine voter purge, prove you''re a citizen, prove where you live work and it''s always in poor and minority areas. Hasn''t America had enough of this yet? We should all do signature verified voting like Oregon does. They''ve worked out the kinks and there is no voting fraud and every American gets to vote. Period.

[jebdiah]

why does the democratic party want to wreck america?why does the obama people hate us people who work hard?i dont understand.i work hard why does obama want to give away what little money i have.

If Obama wanted to emulate McCain''s attack ads, we would hear robocalls in the Heartland informing America''s patriots that McCain:

a) was in the pocket of former Lincoln Savings & Loan president and convicted criminal Charles Keating;

b) was buddies with fellow convicted criminal Republicans Ted Stevens, Tom Delay, Scooter Libby, Bob Allen, Trent Lott, Jack Abramoff, Don Young, Larry Craig, Randy %u201CDuke%u201D Cunningham, Tom Feeney, Alberto Gonzoles, Bob Ney, Rick Renzi, Richard Curtis, Steven Griles, Mark Foley...etc;

c) accepted political donations from the Watergate convicted criminal G. Gordon Liddy;

d) picked a runningmate mired in scandal (Troopergate) and has acted "unethical" according to her own people - - and doctored expense reports to bilk her taxpayers;

e) gave up information to his communist captors in North Vietnam, whereas other American prisoners did NOT;

McCain has a lot to answer for. You can%u2019t call yourself a patriot while voting for criminals.

[mkzornes]

October 27th, 2008 10:29 PM Eastern
Gov. Palin %u2018Effigy%u2019 in a Noose: Halloween Fun or Going Too far?
by Greta Van Susteren

A house in West Hollywood, California features as part of its Halloween decor a mannequin dressed as Gov. Sarah Palin hanging by a noose from a chimney.

The homeowner says it%u2019s all in the spirit of Halloween and only meant to be fun. But does this go too far? What do you think?

[palindromeda]

Already, probably, election fraud is being committed in the early election process as there have been widespread reports of electronic voting machines changing the votes from Obama to McCain and from Democrats to Republicans. http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2008/10/27/early_voting/index.html?source=newsletter

[ofbyfor3]

For all you liberals saying that we were lying about Obama being a socialist and thinking we were smearing. WHAT YOU THINK NOW. TURN ON EVERY NEWS STATION THERE TALKING ABOUT OBAMA BEING A SOCIALIST.

www.exposeobama.com

Posted by wntrpls at 09:20 PM : Oct 27, 2008

Maybe because all you idiots on the right are using the word, regardless of the facts?

PS--there are other stations besides FOX.

[erasmus81]

Whoever thinks that Canadian health care is great has never been there to participate.

Posted by Logansprings at 04:03 PM : Oct 27, 2008

And you have? If you say yes, then that would be a LIE.

"For sure, it is free, but you get what you pay for."

Again, you have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about! Our health care is not FREE! We pay monthly for our health care.

And no one chooses anything for us.

People like you make me sick.

[erasmus81]

And, service under socialized medicine in Canada does not allow you to choose your health care provider or facility. You lie through your teeth and have apparently never participated in socialized medicine.

Posted by Logansprings at 04:34 PM : Oct 27, 2008

You don''t even know what you are talking about. I live in Canada and we all choose our own family doctors.

It amazes me how many people spew their garbage and have no clue about what they are saying.

"You lie through your teeth and have apparently never participated in socialized medicine."

I think that this is YOU, isn''t it?

[wntrpls]

For all you liberals saying that we were lying about Obama being a socialist and thinking we were smearing. WHAT YOU THINK NOW. TURN ON EVERY NEWS STATION THERE TALKING ABOUT OBAMA BEING A SOCIALIST.

www.exposeobama.com