Texas Holds Hearing on Voter Fraud Solutions

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has prosecuted 22 cases of voting or other election fraud in nearly six years, and none would have been prevented with a law requiring photo IDs at polling stations, officials from his office told state lawmakers on Friday.^[1]

Most involved mailed ballots, which were exempt from proposed photo ID bills that the legislature twice tried unsuccessfully to pass in Texas, and only one actually happened at the polls.^[2]

The divisive issue has gained national traction as three states have passed such laws, researchers struggle to measure their effects, and some advocacy groups challenge them in court.^[3] The issue prompted a hearing on Friday, Feb 25 on voter fraud; held by the Texas House Elections Committee.

Proponents insist that requiring a photo ID or multiple nonphoto IDs – such as utility bills – would reduce fraud and increase turnout. Opponents say it would disenfranchise minorities, the poor and the elderly, who tend to vote Democratic.^[4]

One study found that voter turnout increased 2 percent in Indiana after that state's law went into effect. Proponents cited it as evidence that photo IDs boost confidence in the voting system.^[5]

County elections officials from Bexar, Tarrant, Travis, Comal and Starr counties said they'd only seen a few cases of voter impersonation that could have been prevented with an ID requirement.^[6] Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt brought in boxes of what he said was documentation of voter fraud but acknowledged under questioning from the panel that most of it didn't occur at the polls.^[7]

Voter fraud is extremely rare. At the federal level, records show that only 24 people were
convicted of or pleaded guilty to illegal voting between 2002 and 2005, an average of eight people a year. The available state-level evidence of voter fraud, culled from interviews, reviews of newspaper coverage and court proceedings, while not definitive, is also negligible.^[8]

The Justice department defines election fraud as “conduct that corrupts the process by which ballots are obtained, marked, or tabulated; the process by which election results are canvassed and certified; or the process by which voters are registered.” ^[9]

---

^[1] Karen Brooks, ID views heat up voter fraud hearing, The Dallas Morning News , January 26, 2008, available at http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/local/stories/DN-voterid_26tex.ART.State.Edition1.37ee870.html (last visited January 26, 2008).
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Lorraine C. Minnite, Ph.d., The Politics of Voter fraud, Columbia University, available at http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/PoliticsofVoterFraudFinal.pdf (last visited January 26, 2008).
^[9] Craig c. Donsanto and Nancy Stewart, Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses, 6th
edition, U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Public integrity section (January 1995), 21