McCain Advisor has no examples of voter fraud

In the last presidential debate, McCain breathlessly charged -- as he is prone to do -- that ACORN "is on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

Except that they can't even show a single example of a fraudulent vote.

In an interview with Pro Publica, a McCain spokesman comes up dry,

For weeks Republican leaders have warned that widely reported problems with fake voter registrations could result in a flood of phony votes in pivotal states.

But Ronald Michaelson, a veteran election administrator and member of the McCain-Palin Honest and Open Election Committee, said in an interview that he could not name a single instance in which this had occurred.

"Do we have a documented instance of voting fraud that resulted from a phony registration form? No, I can’t cite one, chapter and verse."

While ACORNS practices are embarrassing, facts matter and when you consider that there is no evidence of actual voter fraud (as opposed to registration fraud in which ACORN is the victim)it becomes clear that the objective of the GOP is to disenfranchise the poor and illicit class warfare as they did over 'welfare fraud' in the 80s and 90's.

A review of prosecutors’ statements and documents filed by Republicans in the most serious new cases alleging voter fraud shows that none offer an example in which a fraudulently registered person managed to cast a valid vote. While several cases argue that such frauds are possible, none sketched a scenario for how massive numbers of people could fake registrations and then vote.

Asked for specifics about the dangers of fake registration, Ben Porritt, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, provided links to 13 news clips and a 2003 Missouri state auditor’s report. Eleven of the cases did not involve registration fraud. Two recounted how felons appeared to have cast illegal votes under their own names. The lone example of a forged registration leading to an illegitimate vote comes from The Wall Street Journal’s John Fund, who in April 2006 wrote that a community organizer had improperly registered a noncitizen, and then “someone eventually voted in [the noncitizen’s] name.”

What is patriotic about using lies to undermine the integrity of America's democracy?
Michaelson -- who served for 27 years as executive director of the Illinois Board of Elections -- is himself concerned about the false charges he and others are making on behalf of the McCain campaign as undermining our democracy. Go read the whole piece.