Republicans are energized now that the Supreme Court gave its stamp of approval to restrictive state voter ID laws. And they’re wasting no time promoting that dark underbelly of a nonexistent problem that supposedly takes each and every one of our votes away. Double voting! It’s happening right here in our own communities too, but we just don’t know it. That’s about to change.
Cape May County, NJ, is clamping down on people who are registered to vote in more than one place. These individuals often times have homes in both locations, leaving open the possibility of double voting, a criminal offense. Why anyone would risk a felony to vote twice is beside the point. They even had 19 voters testify about there double registration. The judge of course dismissed any allegations of wrong doing, stating that people should be able to vote in the place they intend to live. The Republican response: Outrageous.
But wait, there's something missing in this story. After watching this Fox News expose of possible voter fraud, it should be pointed out that no one was ever accused of double voting. People with homes in to locations, voted in one of them. Those that even testified in court, which might lead the casual viewer too think someone broke the law, never admitted to ever voting twice. No one in the story did anything illegal. What Fox News did manage to do was cast a dark cloud over evil vacation home owners who might want to elect a Democrat by gaming the system.
Clearly, Fox found no one who actually VOTED more than once; nor did they find any official who TOLD THEM anyone voted more than once. Beyond that, the report gives short shrift to the reasons WHY someone might register more than once -- just a reference to an official's remarks about the propriety of voters "intending to vote" in a place where they don't actually live. That sounds worse than it is in many cases, including college students wishing to vote in the community where they reside nine months of the year. I have worked with Eric Shawn and know him to be both a decent person and a hard-working reporter, but it's clear -- as is so often the case with Fox News Channel -- that his report SET OUT to give his bosses, Roger Ailes and John Moody, the Republican slant they desperately want. Eric, you can do much better -- at an honest news channel.
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