Election 2008: There Will Be Blood

Voter fraud and rumors of voter fraud... No matter who gets elected, we're looking at post-election violence. I'm not talking a few fistfights, I'm talking nationwide Detroit wins the World Series rioting. Rampaging partisans torching buildings and turning over cars, either in anger or in celebration...

Charges of election stealing will fill the air like clouds of angry hornets. Yes, whoever is elected will be immediately and permanently delegitimized by half the population. And that's a shame because a few simple changes in voter registration laws and voting procedures could have prevented it all, but partisan bickering and billion dollar solutions somehow got in the way.

John Fund has been a lone voice in the wilderness, crying out for reform of our voting laws.

A new federal mandate requires that all voters be allowed to cast a provisional ballot if their names don’t appear on registration lists. Liberal groups are suing to have such ballots counted even if they are cast in precincts where the voter doesn’t live. ... Candidates may have to hope their vote totals are beyond the “margin of litigation.”

The issue of photo ID has become symbolic of the clash of values on election standards. Supporters say it is bizarre that most states don’t require a photo ID to vote, at a time when one is needed to buy an airline ticket, rent a video or cash a check. A Rasmussen Research poll found 82 percent of Americans believed voters should show photo ID, including 70 percent of Obama voters. But liberal groups insist that even laws that allow voters to use a paycheck or utility bill as ID discriminate against minority voters and could lead to “profiling.”

But when voters are disfranchised by the counting of improperly cast ballots or outright fraud, their civil rights are violated just as surely as if they were prevented from voting. The integrity of the ballot box is just as important to the credibility of elections as access to it.

Our stupid, bloated federal and state governments can't even do elections right. And it's been eight years since the Election 2000 Theater of the Absurd in Florida. Do you really think this election will be any different? I pray that I am wrong.