FTP-MD: Meeting notice & the truth about voter fraud
Charlie Cooper
January 14, 2024
Colleagues,
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We had positive meetings with House of Delegates Majority Leader David Moon and with the chief of staff for Ways and Means Vice Chair Jheanelle Wilkins. Join our teleconference tomorrow, Monday, January 15, 7:30 pm. See details in the box at the bottom of this message. |
Election fraud is a fraud
While there is every reason for states to pay attention to election security issues, especially those stemming from foreign nations or well-funded organizations, there is no meaningful individual voter fraud in the United States. Automatic voter registration, early voting, mail-in voting/drop boxes, and other recent innovations designed to make voting more accessible have not caused election integrity problems. The voter fraud debate, which has spawned new voter suppression laws in more than 20 states over the past decade, intensified with the Supreme Court's finding in Shelby County v. Holder (2013). The Court ruled that Section 5 of the voting rights act could no longer be enforced because it found that voter suppression based on race was no longer an important phenomenon. But charges from conservative Republicans of massive voter fraud in cities with large minority populations long predated that ruling.
Despite the bluster, however, states with Republican trifectas and Republican attorneys general have not uncovered significant voter fraud. We'll look at Texas as an example, but the story is the same everywhere. In the 2020 presidential election, 11.3 million votes were cast. Voter fraud convictions from 2016-present, according to the conservative Heritage Society were fewer than 25.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton talks big about voter fraud, but his record of convictions is paltry. He has attempted to prosecute cases that local district attorneys had dismissed. For example, he accused Thomas Ramirez III of "illegally possessing absentee ballots of 17 voters during the 2018 GOP primary in which he toppled a Republican incumbent by nearly 100 votes. But according to the Texas Tribune, “…. the state’s highest criminal court ruled that the Texas Constitution’s balance of powers forbids the attorney general — an elected member of the executive branch — to unilaterally pursue criminal charges that wend through the judicial system. Ramirez is among at least seven people — collectively accused of committing 152 offenses of election fraud — whose cases have been dismissed or are awaiting dismissal due to the recent court finding, according to records from Paxton’s office."
Texas attorney general Ken
Paxton. Chip Somodevilla/Getty via
texasmonthly.com
In the same article, we learn about Paxton's charges against a Black sheriff, Zena Stephens. Although the county attorney declined to prosecute, Paxton charged her with tampering and accepting a $100 campaign contribution during the election. "In December 2021, the all-Republican Court of Criminal Appeals sided with Stephens in an 8-1 ruling: The attorney general did not have the authority to unilaterally prosecute election crimes unless asked to get involved by a district or county attorney. Six days after the ruling, a district judge in Bandera County also dismissed Ramirez’s indictment." It appears that Paxton's purpose in pursuing these cases is to keep the myth of voter fraud alive rather than to protect election integrity.
GMOM and For the People -- Maryland teleconference
Meeting Monday, January 15, 2024, 7:30 pm
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Onward together,
Charlie Cooper
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Get Money Out - Maryland · Baltimore, MD 21209, United States
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