As you read this story, I want you all to remember something very important: voter fraud does not exist in Arkansas. At least, that’s what we’ve been repeatedly told by left-wing pundits and liberal legislators who are pulling out all the stops to block election law reform in Arkansas. Indeed, some have asserted that “not a single case of voter impersonation at the polls” exists.
Now, thanks to some great investigative work by KATV’s Jason Pederson, the existence of voter fraud is becoming much harder to deny. We can now confirm that voter fraud absolutely does not exist in Arkansas — except, of course, when it does.
According to Pederson’s report, Lee County has three voter registration forms for Dapheontay Davis. But according to Davis’s grandmother, Lillie Palmer, only one of the forms bears her actual signature — a valid signature is required on all Arkansas voter registrations:
“She don’t know nothing about it,” says Palmer. “She just filled out one of them she said. But the other two…she don’t know nothing about.”
Pederson asked Palmer if she thought this appeared to be fraud:
“Yes,” says Palmer. “It is. Because the signatures don’t even match.”
Pederson also interview the Lee County election coordinator, Katie Story:
“One of these applications could truly be this lady trying to register to vote…Which I think is wonderful. But the other two is somebody else. It really is. And that is what people have got to realize. This is not about the voter not voting. This is about…there is fraud…in this.”
Story told Pederson there are “many, many more” instances of multiple applications and questionable signatures.
As for whether or not this episode could impact Davis’s right to vote:
Story says no…that if a person registers to vote, even more than once, and proper ID is provided on election day that he or she will be allowed to vote.
Interesting statement, considering that voters are not required to show ID before voting in Arkansas. You can read the full story and see video of the interviews here.
Earlier this year, Blue Arkansas Blog calmed all fears about voter fraud in Arkansas with this eloquent declaration:
You would think if voter fraud was this big of a problem, Republicans would be ready and able to point to proven examples of its occurrence. But of course this alleged tsunami of voter fraud is a myth and what Republicans are really trying to do is suppress the right to vote, specifically of voting blocks they think are likely to vote for Democrats-the poor, minorities, etc. It’s Jim Crow all over again…
In that piece, they also mention the investigation into (now former) state Rep. Hudson Hallum’s voting scheme in east Arkansas — but they dismiss it, saying “there is no proven example of fraud occurring, just the investigation into it. “ In September, Hallum pled guilty to absentee voter fraud, a felony, and resigned from office.
The same day Hallum entered his plea, state Rep. Uvalde Lindsey was quoted in the Democrat-Gazette saying proposed voter ID laws are a “solution chasing a problem that doesn’t exist.” (Maybe Lindsey will learn a bit more when he enters the Senate; a few years ago, a unanimous Senate committee determined that Sen. Jack Crumbly’s election victory was “flagrant with fraud.”)
Oh, and Democrat candidate for state senate “Zac” White has been encouraging voters on his campaign website to “vote early and vote often.”
With all of the evidence of voter fraud in Arkansas piling up, will liberal talking heads now admit that voter fraud exists in Arkansas? Will Max Brantley finally quit calling proponents of reasonable election reform “racists” and stop making demonstrably false claims about voter ID laws? Will liberal state legislators now unite behind an effort to ensure the integrity of our electoral process? Don’t count on it because, after all, voter fraud doesn’t exist in their world.
Being anti-reform is not enough for these people — they stake their position on the notion that there is no problem, despite the evidence to the contrary. Therefore, there is no need for a solution and any effort to reform elections is obviously a conspiracy to disenfranchise minorities and the elderly. (Keep in mind: these are the same people who expect you to believe that light bulbs are destroying the earth and that Mitt Romney wants old people to die without medicine.)
It’s time for everyone to stop pretending these problems do not exist and start working together towards reasonable, constitutional solutions to protect the integrity of Arkansas elections.
(For more discussion on election reform, check out Advance Arkansas Institute president Dan Greenberg’s paper on voter ID laws and his interview with KATV on the subject here.)
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