Republican vote fraud

This is not the first time Republicans have been caught doing this.

By Jay Bookman
September 7, 2016

Well, there it is: A probable case of attempted, systematic voting fraud, right here in metro Atlanta.

Of course, it’s not the type of voting fraud that might be thwarted through strict voter-ID laws. Even without such laws, that particular type of voting fraud remains extremely rare and isolated. Instead, this type of scam involves an effort to cheat eligible citizens of their constitutional right to vote and take part in our democracy.

According to a memo sent this week to students by Michael Sanseviro, dean of students at Kennesaw State University, “unauthorized individuals are walking around with clipboards claiming they are registering students to vote. Some of these unauthorized individuals are targeting particular student populations,” specifically black students. The goal appears to be to falsely convince these students that they have been registered to vote. Then, when they appear at their voting precincts in November, ready to cast their ballots they discover that no registration was turned in to state officials and they are ineligible to participate.

“If you or anybody you know completed a form for one of those unauthorized individuals, please complete a NEW voter registration online at kennesaw.turbovote.org or visit vote.kennesaw.edu,” Sanseviro warned in his memo. “We have had students in the past not be able to vote on election day because they completed a form with an unauthorized person and were never properly registered.”

If so, that’s a pretty insidious little scam, but let’s be honest: It differs only in scale and audacity to the years-long, highly orchestrated effort by the Republican Party to try to win elections by suppressing valid turnout of minorities and the young through strict voter-ID and other legal restrictions.

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