Cameron Nolet
Mrs. Blackburn
British Literature
12 November 2016 Election Fraud may be Over Exaggerated The definition of voter fraud is the illegal interference with the process of an election. Looking at the history in the United States it does reflect periods of time where different forms of election fraud took place. It seems that over the past two decades during every major election cycle at least one of the candidates will bring up the issue of possible election fraud. In particular when he or she is down in the polls. In an examination of the different types of fraud claims that have been reported the majority can be traced back to some sort of misunderstanding or a clerical error. There are eight different types of election fraud. …show more content…
As noted by political historians Howard W.Allen and Kay Warren Allen, who took an extensive look and analysis of “the published literature” on “fraudulent election practices.” Their conclusion is resolute: “The evidence to demonstrate the existence of election fraud in the {cotemporary} literature is not only anecdotal, it is unsystematic, impressionistic, and by and large inconclusive. Almost all contemporary allegations of vote fraud were based primarily upon sweeping, generalized, often highly emotional charges substantiated in most cases by only the most fragile evidence, if supported at all.” (Argersinger 1) The issue of voter fraud was brought back as a main topic of discussion after the 2000 Presidential vote. Florida had many irregularities. The race between Bush and Gore was so close that even today no one knows who really won. “Florida state election law required a mandatory statewide machine recount.” (Levy 2) The machine recount was completed by November 10, 2000, and Bush led by 327 votes out of six million votes that were cast. “Court challenges were issued over the legality of the hand recounts in select counties, news stories were filled with the obscure vocabulary of the election judge.” (Levy 2) “The County officials tried to determine voter intent through the cloud of “hanging chads” (incompletely punched paper ballots) and “pregnant chads” (paper ballots that …show more content…
“New Perspectives on Election Fraud in the Gilded Age.” Political Science Quarterly, vol. 100, no. 4, 1985, pp. 669–687. www.jstor.org/stable/2151546.
Dianis Judith Browne, “Five Myths About Voter Fraud” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-voter-fraud/2011/10/04/gIQAkjoYTL_story.html
Eric Lipton and Ian Urbina “In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud “, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html
Levey, Michael, “United-States-presidential-election-of-2000” www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-2000 Levitt Justin, “A comprehensive investigation of voter impersonation finds 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast “, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/06/a-comprehensive-investigation-of-voter-impersonation-finds-31-credible-incidents-out-of-one-billion-ballots-cast/
Levitt Justin, “The Truth About Voter Fraud”, The Brennan Center For Justice: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1647224
Shafer, Jack, “Stolen Elections-as American as Apple Pie,” Slate, October 21, 2008 (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2008/10/stolen_electionsas_american_as_apple_pie.single.html)
“Voter fraud”
Mrs. Blackburn
British Literature
12 November 2016 Election Fraud may be Over Exaggerated The definition of voter fraud is the illegal interference with the process of an election. Looking at the history in the United States it does reflect periods of time where different forms of election fraud took place. It seems that over the past two decades during every major election cycle at least one of the candidates will bring up the issue of possible election fraud. In particular when he or she is down in the polls. In an examination of the different types of fraud claims that have been reported the majority can be traced back to some sort of misunderstanding or a clerical error. There are eight different types of election fraud. …show more content…
As noted by political historians Howard W.Allen and Kay Warren Allen, who took an extensive look and analysis of “the published literature” on “fraudulent election practices.” Their conclusion is resolute: “The evidence to demonstrate the existence of election fraud in the {cotemporary} literature is not only anecdotal, it is unsystematic, impressionistic, and by and large inconclusive. Almost all contemporary allegations of vote fraud were based primarily upon sweeping, generalized, often highly emotional charges substantiated in most cases by only the most fragile evidence, if supported at all.” (Argersinger 1) The issue of voter fraud was brought back as a main topic of discussion after the 2000 Presidential vote. Florida had many irregularities. The race between Bush and Gore was so close that even today no one knows who really won. “Florida state election law required a mandatory statewide machine recount.” (Levy 2) The machine recount was completed by November 10, 2000, and Bush led by 327 votes out of six million votes that were cast. “Court challenges were issued over the legality of the hand recounts in select counties, news stories were filled with the obscure vocabulary of the election judge.” (Levy 2) “The County officials tried to determine voter intent through the cloud of “hanging chads” (incompletely punched paper ballots) and “pregnant chads” (paper ballots that …show more content…
“New Perspectives on Election Fraud in the Gilded Age.” Political Science Quarterly, vol. 100, no. 4, 1985, pp. 669–687. www.jstor.org/stable/2151546.
Dianis Judith Browne, “Five Myths About Voter Fraud” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-voter-fraud/2011/10/04/gIQAkjoYTL_story.html
Eric Lipton and Ian Urbina “In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud “, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html
Levey, Michael, “United-States-presidential-election-of-2000” www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-2000 Levitt Justin, “A comprehensive investigation of voter impersonation finds 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast “, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/06/a-comprehensive-investigation-of-voter-impersonation-finds-31-credible-incidents-out-of-one-billion-ballots-cast/
Levitt Justin, “The Truth About Voter Fraud”, The Brennan Center For Justice: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1647224
Shafer, Jack, “Stolen Elections-as American as Apple Pie,” Slate, October 21, 2008 (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2008/10/stolen_electionsas_american_as_apple_pie.single.html)
“Voter fraud”