As evidenced by opinions expressed in letters to the Sentinel, there is an “urban legend” among local “conservatives” – perpetuated by Republican legislators nationwide – that “voter fraud” is a “massive problem” necessitating stricter “voter ID” laws which could (unfortunately[?]) prevent some bona fide citizens from voting.

However, all objective evidence gathered during the Bush Administration’s prolonged investigation – and since – establishes that actual “voter fraud” is virtually nonexistent.

Bloated registration roles do not equate to “voter fraud”.  Even if millions of dead or relocoated voters are still “registered”, there is no evidence that anyone attempts to vote on their behalf by committing “voter impersonation”—which is a crime.

Thursday, the Sentinel timely reported – “Suspected ineligible voters are U.S. citizens”—that our Republican Secretary of State’s efforts to purge voter roles of suspected aliens revealed that 85% of names checked against federal databases were U.S. citizens—and did not prove that any of the remaining 2800 “suspects” were not.

Friday, the Sentinel failed to report that a federal three-judge panel unanimously ruled Thursday that Texas’s “voter ID” law is unconstitutional – because Texas offered no credible evidence of “voter fraud” and its law’s purpose and/or effect would disparately deny minority (e.g., Hispanic) citizens (i.e., Democrats) their right to vote.

Since 2000, 33 Republican-controlled legislatures have enacted “voter ID” laws (citing “voter fraud”), when their apparent (and occasionally admitted) purpose is to suppress the Democratic vote.

Consequently, as in 2000, the outcome of the Presidential election may once again be decided in courts.  While Indiana’s “voter ID” law was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2008 – opining that such laws were not per se unconstitutional, but could be – the Texas case was the first time that the Justice Department used the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to challenge state voting laws in twenty years.

Republican Attorneys General are now calling for repeal of the Voting Rights Act and Texas vows to appeal the decision.  Meanwhile, similar cases arising in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Ohio (and, perhaps, Colorado) may ultimately decide the Presidential election.

                  Bill Hugenberg        
                  543 Rim Drive, GJ 81507
                  257-1998
                  .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

When Romney says we “need a real American to lead us”, what does he mean?

Despite the Romneys’ tax deductibe charitable contributions to the fight against MS, her efforts to garner votes for Mitt by citing her own MS and breast cancer betray the callous insensitivity of the wealthy for the millions of others who suffer from the same or other maladies—when Romney-Ryan would entirely defund Planned Parenthood, repeal the Affordable Care Act, and drastically reduce federal funding for virtually all other federally-funded programs to help those not born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Darleen Gsell’s letter in Sunday’s Sentinel – “Gessler unfairly targeted for seeking valid elections” – perpetuates the “urban legend” that widespread “voter fraud” justifies strict “voter ID” laws, even if they deprive bona fide citizens of their fundamental constitutional right to vote.

While Gsell opines that “handwringing about possibly depriving eligible citizens of their votes is bogus”, she is woefully “under-informed” – as both the Sentinel’s Sunday editorial and federal courts have recently confirmed.

What is “bogus” is Gsell’s reliance on bloated registration roles as “proof” of fraud.  While millions of deceased and/or relocated voters remain on registration roles, the former can actually facilitate detection of “voter fraud by impersonation” of a dead person, while rare cases of voting in multiple states have been detected by ever-vigilant county clerks. 

Nevertheless, all objective evidence gathered during the Bush Administration’s five year investigation – and since – establishes that actual “voter fraud” is virtually nonexistent.

Thus, it should “really bother” Gsell that—while “some Republican county clerks” (including Mesa County’s own Sheila Reiner) – “continue to say there’s no problem with voter fraud” – which is manifestly true, others (like Gsell) continue to buy into hysterical propaganda disseminated by “True the Vote” – which is false.

Since 2000, 33 Republican-controlled legislatures have enacted “voter ID” laws (citing “voter fraud”), when their apparent (and occasionally admitted) purpose is to suppress the Democratic vote.  While Indiana’s “voter ID” law was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2008, last week a similar law in Texas was declared unconstitutional.  South Carolina’s, Pennsylvania’s, and Wisconsin’s may be next.  Now, Republican Attorneys General are calling for repeal of the Voting Rights Act. 

Moreover, Gessler deserves no “applause” for his failed “efforts to run clean, valid elections”, because he has entirely failed to do “his job”—by allowing clerks to subvert the “secret ballot”.

              Bill Hugenberg                   543 Rim Drive, GJ 81507
              257-1998

I knew it would be just a matter of time before someone would blame Palisade’s sidewalk imboglio on the current administration, and letter-writer Richard Doran from Parachute gets the prize.  “Yes, the timing is perfect,” he says, “to get a new administration in the White House and to get elected representatives at all levels of government…”  I interpret from his remarks that he believes Mr. Obama is somehow responsible for Palisade’s sidewalk travails.  If he had read the original article more carefully, however, he would know that the law mandating those Federal requirements for clerical and engineering support was passed in 2005, at a time Mr. Bush was in the White House and both houses of congress were controlled by Republicans.  Let’s not insist only that freedom ring and justice prevail, Mr. Doran, but also that we abide by the truth.