Americans owe Joe the Plumber a debt of gratitude this morning -- for helping to show the nation what the real issue with voter fraud, which is not that it's too easy for Americans to cast fradulent ballots, but that it's too hard for legitimate voters like Joe (hey, we're all on a first-name basis now) to make their vote count:
The Toledo Blade reported today that "Joe the Plumber's" name appears on Ohio voter registration rolls with a slight misspelling -- as Worzelbacher, not Wurzelbacher.
And that sort of data-entry error might be enough -- were Joe a new registrant -- to have him disqualified from voting in Ohio, Florida, or Wisconsin this year, depending on the outcome of ongoing litigation.
Purging voters or blocking their registration because of data errors is disenfranchisement by typo," said Michael Waldman, the executive director of the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal legal group involved in litigation in those states. "Joe is a perfect example. If he were anew voter, he would be being challenged right now as not eligible to vote."
"Joe the Plumber is not committing voter fraud by having his name spelled differently on two different lists," he said.
No, he's not. If Republicans believe that voter fraud is truly a widespread problem in America, we want to see the names and the facts about actual votes that were cast illegally. Because mostly what we're seeing instead is good citizens like Joe facing a government hassle on Election Day because of other people's mistakes and laws that err on the side of undemocracy.
Well, when groups like ACORN register the entire Dallas Cowboys team in Ohio, it brings more scrutiny to all registrations. And allowing fraudulent votes has the exact same effect as disallowing somebody to vote.— jfar86- Since he's not a musician or actor, I don't pay attention to what Joe the Plumber says.— Ramon
Comment removed.- "And allowing fraudulent votes has the exact same effect as disallowing somebody to vote...." Try again, jfar. People being registered to vote under fictitious names does not equate to fraudulent votes. The actual instances of people voting fraudulently after registering fraudulently are few and far between. What do you think will happen when some little ol' lady walks in to vote as a 6'7", 340 lb Flozell Adams. Lol!— Talking point sleuth
I'm glad all those voter fraud issues you libs have been complaining about since 2000 got cleared up. Now with Obama poised to be elected, the system is clean as a whistle. By the way, when you get a name or a fact regarding all of the left's conspiracy theories from the 2000 election, please let me know.— jmc- Joe should have known that if you try to make the Messiah look bad, the full wrath will come down upon you.— Ramon
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- jmc. "Libz" complained about actual voter fraud - whether you agree that the fraud occurred or not - not people being registered to vote under fictitious names. You do understand the difference, don't you?— Talking point sleuth
- How about a fraudulent plumber? "‘Plumber’ says he has no plumbing license" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27207215/— Some Boca Dude
- Notice also, jmc, that I said that people voting fraudulently after registering fraudulently are few and far between. Other types of voter fraud are arguably more common. The reason behind that is exactly why the kind of voter fraud Republicans are whining about occurs so infrequently. How many people do you know that are willing to risk serious jail time in order to vote more than once for a candidate?— Talking point sleuth
- Comment removed.
- TPS, there is nothing to prevent people from voting on the fraudulent registrations. And people were willing to risk jail time for a few cigarettes to fill out the phony registration forms. Why wouldn't they be willing to risk it to vote?— jfar86
- "Libz" want to investigate voter registration fraud... after all, it was ACORN who brought these things to the attention of authorities in the first place.— Politburo
Liberals would risk a few fraudulent votes to insure everyone's vote counts. while cons would risk denying legitimate votes to avoid the risk of fraudulent votes. Which is the greater threat to democracy - facing the problem inclusively or exclusively? Maybe we could ask the veterans who actually risked their lives and sacrificed their youth to defend democracy and our right to vote.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
PLEASE COMMENT WITH PASSION...
...but not with racial slurs, potentially libelous allegations, obscenities or other juvenile noise. Such comments will, at our discretion, be deleted in their entirety, and repeat offenders will be blocked from commenting. ALSO: Any commenter advocating killing any government official will be immediately banned.
Thanks.
- Atrios
- Kiko's House
- Suburban Guerilla
- Booman Tribune
- All-Spin Zone
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Afro-Netizen
- Rowhouse Logic
- MyDD
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- iFlipFlop
- CorrenteWire
- upyernoz
- Tattered Coat
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- Slacktivist
- Citizen Mom
- The Next Mayor
- Philly Future
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Young Philly Politics
- Phillyblog
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Phawker
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Keystone Blog
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- BlankBaby
- Above Average Jane
- Phillyist
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- The Clog
- Josh Marshall
- Daily Kos
- Juan Cole
- Oliver Willis
- Andy Borowitz
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- BuzzFlash
- Raw Story
- Cursor
- Crooks and Liars
- Swing State Project
- Kevin Drum
- Talk Left
- AmericaBlog
- Hullabaloo
- Mad Kane
- Think Progress
- Jesus' General
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Majikthise
- Echidne of the Snakes
- David Sirota
- Glenn Greenwald
- TBogg
- Fire Dog Lake
- Taylor Marsh
- Matthew Yglesias
- Jon Swift
- Drudge Report
- Beer Leaguer
- The 700 Level
- Dick Polman
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Shallow Center
- Philling Station
- Phillies Nation
- A Citizen's Blog
- The Good Phight
- Romenesko
- Editor and Publisher
- Pressthink
- Buzzmachine
- The Inksniffer
- Media Bloodhound
- Eat the Press
- Mickey Kaus
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Blinq
- The Corner
- Instapundit
- Andrew Sullivan
- Free Republic
- James Taranto
- Blonde Sagacity
- ScrappleFace
- Blogorrhea
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- January 2008
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
