Among true believers on the right, there is no sturdier fiction — no fairy tale more popular — than the one that insists American elections are plagued by voter fraud. “Election integrity” is the hallmark of GOP activists, and stories that purport to show voter fraud are a staple in the right-wing media-sphere. Every now and then, conservative pundits come up with an actual case of ballot-box shenanigans. But as numerous studies have shown, the incidence of voter fraud is infinitesimal. The real problem in American elections is that so few citizens trouble themselves to cast a ballot. Still, the myth has been circulating for decades now, having gained popularity around the same time that the Voting Rights Act guaranteed black citizens access to the ballot. (Wonder why?) The truth is that the GOP has long practiced the political art of intimidating voters of color at the ballot box, using tactics both subtle and not-so-subtle.
With Donald J. Trump as president, however, the GOP has abandoned any pretense of subtlety. Trump has plumped up the myth of voter fraud with outrageous accusations, incredible theories and charges that could not possibly be true. He claims that he lost the popular vote because of massive voter fraud, an accusation that makes the wild conspiracies on ABC’s “Scandal” seem like reports from “60 Minutes.”
Then there’s his Election Integrity Commission, a panel whose title turns the truth on its head. Charged with ferreting out the massive voter fraud that Trump invented, the panel is stacked with hacks who have spent decades trying to suppress the votes of people of color. The voter fraud commission is itself a fraud.
Full Article: ‘Election integrity’ means voter suppression.