Why Arguing About Voter Fraud is a Waste of Time
Voter fraud has been at the tips of many tongues for several months leading up to the 2012 election, with almost a perfect split between Republicans and Democrats opposing one another. While the potential crime has been dispelled as myth by many completely ridiculous to generally strong studies, many fears persist among some groups associated with the Republican Party.
Though not many politicians in the election have made it a point to bring up voter fraud in front of a large audience, support groups and media pundits have been all over the airwaves spouting off one way or the other. The true trouble is, those battling on both sides of the argument have very strong opinions, but little power over what will actually be put in place to either prevent voter fraud, or what will not be put in place.
Some states have already strengthened voter identification requirements, with various opposition speakers bringing up that it might be reaching the point of civil rights violation. Though we have put a man on the moon (more than 40 years ago) and mapped new solar systems, for some reason people don’t look to technology for half the things they should, like detecting and revealing fraud.
Quick overview of the fighters
The current type of voter fraud in question is impersonation, hence why several states have increased identification requirements. While potentially violating several portions of the Constitution related to voting, the very crime it is working to defend against has been deemed nonexistent by several researchers.
The Daily Caller recently cited explained one battle between the Republican National Lawyers Association and News21, a research group that conducted one study of voter fraud. The latter’s results showed roughly 2,068 cases of fraud in the nation over the past 12 years, though how many convictions were made is a mystery. This, and the fact that News21 asserted only 10 of the cases were tied to impersonation, led David Norcross of the NRLA to strike back, the Caller added.
“News21′s articles are biased and error-ridden,” Norcross affirmed, according to the source. “They analyzed data they admit was incomplete in a results-driven manner borrowed from radical liberal activists who have a record of distorting statistics.”
Enter things that generally don’t lie for political gain
Technology, if you haven’t been reading the news in a while, has become quite impressive. Big data analytics, a complex and relatively novel approach to analyzing vast universes of raw information, has been used to successfully predict events with incredible accuracy. Even better, predictive coding and other technology associated with eDiscovery have a wealth of applications in almost every sector, including government.
The government has already used such technology to find other types of fraud, such as cases that involve Medicaid or tax fraud, quite successfully. If both parties believe that there has been a serious case of voter fraud effecting the national elections, they’re not going to sift through every vote and look at security cameras! No, they will contract firms with a deep understanding of chain of custodcy methodology, computer forensics, and analytics software to figure out what went wrong, where it went wrong, how often it went wrong and so much more.
In short, the constant battle rocking the airwaves involving voter fraud should be put to rest, on both ends. Technology will take care of the this highly sensitive issue, while the other groups and media pundits can simply focus on what they’re good at, like what Taylor Swift is wearing to the Kid’s Choice Awards.
Sources:
https://dailycaller.com/2012/09/19/gop-group-dismisses-study-saying-voter-fraud-cases-infinitesimal/#ixzz2BPNjG016
https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/intro/intro_b.php
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