10 Millionths of a Percent
No matter what you hear on social media, or on grainy black and white commercials on TV, or on your favorite podcast; Democrats want US citizens to vote, and non-citizens not to vote. That, quite literally, is still the American way. And if you think that’s “doubtful”, go to that conservative bastion of thought, the authors of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation. They studied illegal voting for years. The bottom line: it does happen, but it’s so rare, that it doesn’t impact the outcomes. How rare? Here’s what I wrote in an earlier essay (Your Vote):
In data for every state going back forty-four years, there is a total of 1,382 criminal convictions for voter fraud. That’s an average of 31.4 a year (Heritage). Just counting Presidential elections over that time, over 1.4 Billion votes were cast. The number of illegal votes is vanishingly small (about one 10 millionth of a percent).
And keep in mind that twenty-seven of the fifty states have Republican State Attorney Generals. They have every opportunity to “fix” the problem, the one that doesn’t really exist. So the argument that our elections are being determined by illegal, non-citizen aliens that were allowed over the border by Democratic machinations is, quite simply, not true.
Sooth Their Fears
The next point that some Republicans make, is that there’s a “public perception” of cheating, so we need to fix the process to assuage their fears. But that perception is only among the Republican supporters who have spent now more than a decade, listening to Donald Trump. The President has been crying “sore loser” since 2015 when he came down the Golden Elevator in Trump Tower. For the thirty-some percent of his followers who will wear the Red Hat to the end; they are unassuageable. For others, they believe the lies presented by some Republicans.
In short, Republicans created a perception that there is a problem, crying from the rooftops about an issue that doesn’t really exist, then presented all sorts of ways to fix it. It’s like the person who sets up a “Go Fund Me” for cancer treatments, but doesn’t have cancer.
At What Price?
But, some say, what’s the “harm” in making elections more secure?
After all, doesn’t everyone need a state ID. You can’t cash a check, or buy cigarettes or beer, or get into a night club without one. And, doesn’t everyone have a driver’s license anyway? Here’s a surprising statistic: 10% of Ohioans of driving age do not have a driver’s license (FHWA). Who doesn’t have a license, or doesn’t cash checks, or go to bars, or the other things? A lot more folks than you think.
You have to access a load of documents demonstrating your identity, your citizenship (usually by birth), your address, your job, and your social security status (Ohio). For folks who don’t have all the paperwork, or don’t have a job, or a permanent residence; they can’t access a State ID. In Ohio that means you can’t exercise your right to vote.
What the “paperwork” laws really do is narrow who has the right to vote. When the Founding Fathers were writing the Constitution, most states restricted voting to US and state citizens who were white men, at least the age of twenty-one and owned property. It’s taken two-hundred and forty years to reach our current requirements: a person eighteen or older who is a US citizen and a resident of the state.
Burden of Proof
Now Republicans are demanding a “reinstatement” of restrictions, based on employment, income, and access to paperwork. Here in Ohio, we have the most restrictive voting laws in the Nation. Back “in the day”, when I proudly registered to vote in Cincinnati, I filled out a form and sent it in. My signature was my “bond”, and the single way that the polling placed checked my identity. Today, laws “protecting the vote” are really squeezing the doors shut on legal Americans who want to vote, should vote, and have the right to vote.
So where should the “burden of proof” be? For most areas of our legal system, there is a presumption of innocence, of truth; one that is only overturned by clear evidence of falsification. When I signed my voter application, I acknowledged the truth of my application. If there was suspicion that I lied, it was up to the Board of Elections to do the (easy) investigation to prove my crime – a felony in Ohio.
Republicans are shifting the “burden of proof” onto the voters. The assumption is that our citizens will lie, cheat, and try to vote illegally. That’s not how our system is supposed to work. But it is does work, at least for one side of our political equation.
Access
It used to be that you could walk to your polling place. Where I grew up, voting was at the elementary school, just down the street. Here in Pataskala, the “village” voted in the old Fire Hall at the center of town.
But “modernization” has placed multiple precincts in a single place, not necessarily close or convenient to the voter. Sure it’s about “economy of scale”. There’s computers and scanners. It’s not just dropping a paper ballot into a box anymore. But access is now limited to those who can get transportation. It requires time; to get there, and time to wait in line.
And so many folks who can’t get off work during voting hours, vote by mail. But we all know what’s happened to that process. Even if all of the President’s plans to disrupt mail-in balloting fail, my beloved Post Office has already fallen. Just in the past month, multiple letters that should have arrived in a couple of days took weeks. How can we depend on them to deliver Absentee Ballots in a timely manner?
Voting has become a “luxury” activity. It requires time: to gather the paperwork, register, to vote early, or get an absentee ballot, or to line up to vote. And time is a luxury that many Americans don’t have, with two or more jobs, kids, and life. Not surprisingly, the folks squeezed out are the ones most likely to vote for change. Here in Ohio, that means those lost votes are mostly Democrats.
And Republican think that’s just fine.
