OTM: The Myth of Voter Fraud

In this election season there are many hot topics being brought up by the media and by the presidential candidates. One of these topics being brought up, which is common among those losing in the pre-election polls, is voter fraud. Donald Trump has claimed that dead people are voting and have been doing so for the last 10 years. In a portion of the On The Media episode entitled "The System is Rigged" they discuss the myth of voter fraud. Bob Garfield interviews Michael Wadman. Michael is the president of The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and author of the book, The Fight to Vote. He gives evidence of a study the Washington Post conducted and only found 31 documented cases of voter fraud or voter impersonation out of billions of votes caste. He also explains that there have been 15 laws now put in place in order to stop the ability of people to commit voter fraud. Through these laws it has hit the minorities and younger generation the hardest. Trump says that it will happen in Philadelphia and targets other inner cities which brings in a racial element to it (1). This seems interesting to me as he has been seen as a racist with different comments and now he is targeting those groups of people for potential voter fraud.

I believe that there is going to always be ways for people to work around the system and find loopholes to so call "rig the system" but to be worried about and say that dead people are voting and have been for ten years is ridiculous. In the study done by the Washington Post shows that only 31 out of billions of votes says to me this problem is so small it isn't an issue. We should focus on other problems. Also, when will the racial profiling stop? We are proud to say that we are the land of the free but it seems like when it comes to a problem it is always part of the minorities fault. Why did he have to pin-point Philadelphia's inner city? Why didn't he name Salt Lake City where he may lose to Evan McMullin? He can't accept blame so if he ends up losing it has to be because of another reaon other than his own fault. It seems to me that in the pre-election polls he is losing and needs some way to say that if he loses it isn't because he is a bad politician but it is someone elses fault. It reminds me of someone who makes a mistake but can't accept the blame and needs to cast the blame onto someone else. He didn't finish his homework but of course it wasn't his fault, his dog ate it.


1. The Myth of Voter Fraud