WSJ: GOP already preparing voting challenges.

[SirNitram]

Link

As Barack Obama tries to draw hundreds of thousands of new voters to the polls, Republicans are beginning to scrutinize registrants' eligibility as both sides draw a major battle line over voting rights.

Republicans are moving to examine surges in voter registrations in some states. A Republican lawyers group held a national training session on election law over the weekend that included campaign attorneys for Sen. John McCain and other Republican leaders. One session discussed how party operatives can identify and respond to instances of voter fraud.

Republicans said they are particularly worried about prospects for fraud in Virginia and Pennsylvania, and are beginning to comb thousands of new registrations in those states for ineligible applicants. In some cases the huge numbers threaten to swamp their efforts -- and those of state and local governments to verify and process applications.

Election officials in Virginia and other states say there is no evidence of widespread fraud so far. Numerous studies have found fraud and other voting irregularities in past elections to be infrequent and generally not prevalent enough to influence the outcomes of most contests. Some Republican lawyers say that despite the huge numbers of new registrations in some areas, this year's problems could be fewer compared to prior years, because of improved procedures and tougher rules.

Obama campaign general counsel Bob Bauer last Tuesday said in a memorandum to campaign supporters that their own voter legal defense operation is under way, earlier than those of previous Democratic campaigns, including legal counsel on the ground in 50 states. The campaign is working closely with the Democratic Party, which said it has spent three years building a voter-protection program that includes more than 18 paid staff and 7,000 lawyers. The personnel deployed Aug. 1 and are dealing directly with local elections officials.

In just about every election, understaffed polling sites, malfunctioning voting machines and outdated voter data are reported. Such bureaucratic problems often are rolled into the divide between Democrats and Republicans over who should vote and how -- a battle that has become more intense since the 2000 Florida recount.

Traditionally, Democrats favor fewer checks on verification and greater access to voting to encourage larger turnouts, particularly among lower-income and minority voters, who tend to favor Democrats. Republicans usually push for closer monitoring, in such forms as laws with strict requirements for voters to present identification, which can result in lower turnout.

The nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, which monitors elections, projects registrations this year will surpass the total from any previous single election year, building on momentum from the record 20 million registrations for the combined election cycles of 2004 and 2006. Newcomers helped drive turnouts for the Democratic primaries, which drew roughly 19.5 million more voters than in 2004, according to the Democratic National Committee.

"State elections systems have shown signs of stress, and there's a serious concern that they won't be able to handle the number of voters," said Wendy Weiser at the Brennan Center.

In Pennsylvania, where improper registrations have been a problem in past elections, state officials say rolls have increased by about 230,000, to 8.4 million, since the 2006 midterm elections. Some observers believe the large increase could invite more potential for voter-fraud problems, said Lawrence Tabas, general counsel of the state Republican Party. "When you get so many new registrations like that at record numbers...it's very difficult for people to monitor the validity of it," he said.

The Republican secretary of state in Alabama has asked the Justice Department to investigate claims and monitor polling sites on Election Day. On the Republican National Committee's Web site, an interactive U.S. map is used to track recent fraud allegations, proven or not, in a number of states. An RNC official said the Web page was launched in August 2007 and is compiled using news articles.

The efforts are on a collision course with those of Sen. Obama, whose strategy hinges on the success of efforts to boost the number of first-time voters, particularly among African-Americans, and people under the age of 30.

Other efforts are aimed at registering new voters around the country. In the largest effort, Project Vote and Acorn, a community organizing group, are teaming up with the aim of registering 1.2 million people nationally by Labor Day.

Project Vote's executive director, Michael Slater, acknowledged occasional problems with voter registrations, but said that many are the result of poor record keeping. He said a greater risk comes from Republicans' efforts to police the rolls. "We don't have a real history in the last 10 to 15 years of large-scale voter fraud," he said. "What we do have a problem with is getting everyone on the rolls and making sure their votes are counted."

Sen. McCain's campaign is keeping distance from rank-and-file Republicans' efforts to police the new registrations. "State and local parties have the primary responsibility for monitoring local voter registration and identifying problems," Trevor Potter, the campaign's general counsel, said in a written statement provided to The Wall Street Journal in response to questions. But, he added, "Our view is that advance monitoring of legal developments can avoid real legal problems later on -- especially on Election Day."

The St. Louis weekend training session, held annually by the National Republican Lawyers Association, featured a session on voter fraud and possible Republican responses. The panel included Sen. McCain's Election Day coordinator, Michael Roman, as well as Foley & Lardner lawyer Cleta Mitchell, a vocal critic of Democratic-allied groups' efforts to fight what many Republicans regard as necessary ballot-integrity safeguards.

Ms. Mitchell warned about what she regards as a long pattern of abuses in registration by groups such as Acorn and their Democratic allies. "We're all for getting people involved in the process...and getting them to the polls," she said in an interview later. "What we're not for is registering fake people at fake addresses, and creating barriers to trying to identify voter fraud where it exists, which is everywhere. It's a growing problem, because of the professional vote-fraud denier industry."

She urged lawyers working on behalf of state and local party groups and campaigns to monitor new registrations. She also pointed out that Sen. Obama himself -- in his past life as a community organizer -- was "involved" with some of the groups that have been responsible for abuses in recent years.

Obama campaign spokesman Corey Ealons said, "Then, as now with his national campaign for the president, Barack Obama has always worked to inspire individuals to exercise their right to vote. He sees that as a key to his victory this fall."

Years before he took elected office in Chicago, Sen. Obama ran Project Vote's operation there. This year Acorn's political action committee, which the organization said is entirely separate from its voter-registration operation, has endorsed Sen. Obama's campaign. The Obama campaign has said it doesn't accept financial contributions from the PACs of interest groups that both register voters and endorse candidates.

We would like to take this moment to remind everyone that individual voter fraud has repeatedly been shown to be virtually non-existant. Even by the GOP's massive efforts to turn the DoJ from real work into chasing the Sasquatch of conservative theory.

[Patrick Degan]

We have to keep in mind this one salient fact: the object of the GOP is to avoid any danger of a fair and legitimate election in which Barack Obama could not only be elected, but with a clear and unimpeachably legitimate mandate.

[General Zod]

The irony of Republicans being concerned about voter fraud is hilarious.

[Guardsman Bass]

This is why I despise the patchwork nature of American voter registration. It keeps a lot of people from voting, which, when you think about it, was what it was designed to do in part back in the Progressive Era; it was designed to break the use of illiterate, poor voters in political machines, and it was used by Southern states to disenfranchise black voters. They really ought to do something like nation-wide Same Day Registration, although the Republicans would probably scream bloody murder.

[Vendetta]

The irony of Republicans being concerned about voter fraud is hilarious.

Of course they're concerned about voter fraud.

Concerned about getting away with it, mostly.