No basis for claims of election fraud

Iwant you to think back real hard on the outcomes of past elections. Do you recall any reports of widespread voter or election fraud in the county or local municipalities? Arkansas? America? I can think of times when results were close and ballots were recounted to guarantee accuracy, but I recall no reports of widespread fraud in the election process. Period.

Isolated cases, sure. Widespread, no.

So why then are we hearing such clamoring from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump about rigged elections? He is warning of large-scale fraud based on NOTHING — other than the fact he needs someone to blame besides himself if he loses.

During Wednesday’s presidential debate, Trump refused to acknowledge whether he would accept the outcome of the Nov. 8 general election, saying he wants to keep everyone in suspense — as if he were participating in a reality television program.

Trump has repeatedly raised questions about the integrity of the nation’s voting systems and called for his supporters to monitor polling places in “certain areas” to guard against voter fraud. He’s made the comments during campaign stops in battleground states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, singling out Philadelphia as a city to watch. He also has said the election is being rigged “by the dishonest and distorted media” for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

And, according to the Associated Press, half of those who view Trump favorably said they have little or no confidence in the vote count. The AP partnered with the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research to conduct a poll, which yielded the voter confidence results. NORC is located at the University of Chicago and is among the nation’s premier survey and research organizations.

So Trump is willing to undermine faith in our county’s election process to save face. But what does it mean if he wins — if the process is rigged, as he suggests? Will it mean Clinton and other candidates on the ballot were cheated? Or all of a sudden, will it be fair?

Interestingly, as Trump warns of rigged elections, other Republicans are expressing confidence. That’s because HIS party is in charge of elections in 29 states, including Arkansas. Yessiree, the majority of those serving as Secretary of State across our great land are Republicans. He’s worried about fraud and singled out Michigan, where SOS Ruth Johnson is a Republican.

To commit the type of fraud Trump is suggesting, large pools of ineligible voters or impersonators nationwide would have to cast ballots for their preferred candidate. “Experts say this would be an inefficient way to rig an election, given the fraud would have to be conducted one voter at a time, and would only be effective in places where the race is close enough that the outcome could be swayed,” the Associated Press reported.

This is rare, according to the AP. In one study, a Loyola Law School professor found 31 instances involving allegations of voter impersonation out of 1 billion votes cast in U.S. elections between 2000 and 2014. Another study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School found reports of people voting twice or ballots being cast on behalf of dead people, but those cases were the result of clerical errors not fraud.

“Voter fraud is so incredibly rare that it has no impact on the integrity of our elections,” said Wendy Weiser, head of the democracy program at the Brennan Center, told the AP. “You are more likely to be struck by lightning, more likely to see a UFO, than to be a victim of voter fraud.”

And in Philadelphia on where Trump is fretting over fraud, Republican election commissioner Al Schmidt dismissed the idea that election fraud could take place in the nation’s fifth-largest city. “The real threat to the integrity of elections is irresponsible accusations that undermine confidence in the electoral process,” he told the AP.

I agree with Mr. Schmidt. There are safeguards in place to protect the integrity of the election process. Both parties have poll watchers. Qualified people will be available to assist voters and monitor for any problems at the polls. The AP noted in one of its reports that voting machines are not connected to the internet, and the majority of ballots are cast on systems that allow for a paper record to verify electronic results. Also, the process of counting the votes is not done on systems connected to the internet, and tabulation systems are not connected to a single network, the AP said citing the National Association of Secretaries of State.

Worry over election fraud if you want — but if I were you, I’d save that angst for the integrity of your presidential candidates.