The Tribune-Review Tries (and Lies) AGAIN WIth The "Voter Fraud" Myth

Our friends on the Tribune-Review editorial board are at it again - this time with a little help from a favorite Scaife Funded think tank.

But let's back up a little.  All the way up to Wisconsin:

Rep. Glenn Grothman (R), a far-right freshman from Wisconsin, generated national headlines this week when he admitted on television what many have long assumed. Looking ahead to this year’s presidential election, the Republican congressman expressed confidence about the GOP doing well in the Badger State, thanks in part to one specific policy.

“[N]ow we have photo ID,” Grothman said, “and I think photo ID is going to make a little bit of a difference.”

At least in public, Republicans are supposed to say voter-ID schemes have nothing to do with rigging elections by suppressing voting rights, though some on the right occasionally slip and accidentally tell the truth, as Grothman helped prove.

Now, another shoe has fallen. A former Republican staffer in the Wisconsin legislature wrote a Facebook message this week, confirming that he saw GOP state lawmakers who, while considering voter-ID measures, “were giddy about the ramifications and literally singled out the prospects of suppressing minority and college voters.”

So it's hardly a surprise that we see this on the pages of the Trib:

As rosters of voters swell during this presidential election year, expect considerably more voter fraud in states such as Pennsylvania, where spurious arguments over “disenfranchisement” have derailed reform and opened the door to mischief.

Nationwide, The Heritage Foundation voter-fraud database lists more than 400 proven cases of vote-buying, ineligible voting, absentee-ballot shenanigans and bogus registration. Then there are the abuses committed by election officials.

Wow. 400 cases.  In a nation of 300 million.

But anyway.  Let's take a look at that database - specifically the 6 cases they found in Pennsylvania (they start at page 174 in the report).  2 are listed as "Impersonation Fraud at the Polls", 2 are listed as "Fraudulent Use of Absentee Ballots" and the final 2 as "False Registrations" (those two are ACORN prosecutions).

You'll note that the braintrust is, yet again, using this story to pitch:

Commonsense measures to ensure the integrity of elections — such as voter-identification laws in Pennsylvania and elsewhere — have been sidelined by ambiguous claims of minority disenfranchisement.

And that Voter ID laws would only have impacted only 2 of the 6 (the Impersonation Fraud).

Do my friends on the braintrust need to be reminded of this?

As the Justice Department investigates Pennsylvania's voter ID law on the federal level, a coalition of civil rights groups is gearing up for a state trial starting Wednesday examining whether the law is allowable under Pennsylvania's constitution.

In that case, Pennsylvania might have handed those groups and their clients (including 93-year-old Viviette Applewhite) a bit of an advantage: They've formally acknowledged that there's been no reported in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania and there isn't likely to be in November.

The state signed a stipulation agreement with lawyers for the plaintiffs which acknowledges there "have been no investigations or prosecutions of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania; and the parties do not have direct personal knowledge of any such investigations or prosecutions in other states."[Emphasis added.]

I guess not.

No voter fraud - certainly not "rampant" (or even approaching rampant) voter fraud.

The braintrust is lying to you, yet again, about the need for Voter-ID laws.  Laws whose only real purpose is to make it just a little bit harder for poorer or older (ie Democratic Party supporters) voters to vote.

Reprehensible.  Absolutely reprehensible.