The American Center For Voting Rights Legislative Fund ("ACVR Legislative Fund") today released the most comprehensive and authoritative review of the facts surrounding allegations of vote fraud, intimidation and suppression made during the 2004 presidential election.
The ACVR Legislative Fund report, "Vote Fraud, Intimidation & Suppression In The 2004 Presidential Election," finds that while Democrats routinely accuse Republicans of voter intimidation and suppression, neither party has a clean record on the issue. The report finds that paid Democrat operatives were far more involved in voter intimidation and suppression activities than were their Republican counterparts during the 2004 presidential election. Examples include paid Democrat operatives charged with slashing tires on GOP get-out-the-vote vans in Milwaukee and an Ohio court order stopping Democrat operatives from calling voters telling them the wrong date for the election and faulty polling place information.
The report further finds that thousands of Americans were disenfranchised by illegal votes cast and a coordinated effort by members of certain "nonpartisan" organizations to rig the election system through voter registration fraud in more than a dozen states. Examples include a law enforcement task force finding "clear evidence of fraud in the Nov. 2 election in Milwaukee," including hundreds of felon and double voters and thousands more ballots cast than voters recorded as having voted in the city and multiple indictments and convictions of ACORN workers for voter registration fraud in several states.
ACVR Legislative Fund presents eight key recommendations focused on punishing those who engage in acts of vote fraud and voter intimidation and strengthening legal safeguards against such activity in future elections. The report’s central recommendation calls for both national parties to formally adopt a zero-tolerance fraud and intimidation policy that commits them to repudiate any effort to intimidate voters or volunteers or commit vote fraud.
"Until political parties and candidates are willing to adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards election fraud, the American public will have little confidence in other reforms," said Brian Lunde, ACVR Legislative Fund board member. "There is no room for politics when it comes to the right to vote." |