Who’s Counting? Interview: Hans von Spakovsky on Voter Fraud
Just in time for the potential chaos on Tuesday, I talk with Hans von Spakovsky, the co-author (along with NRO’s John Fund) of Who’s Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk. As you may know from his frequent contributions to PJM, Hans is a Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and a former commissioner on the Federal Election Commission.
During our interview, we discussed:
● Did a 2008 article that appeared on a Website owned by the Washington Post really claim that “Believing in vote fraud may be dangerous to a democracy’s health”?
● On the flip-side, is discouraging voter fraud actually an attempt to suppress minority voters?
● We need to produce ID when we drive a car, purchase liquor, get on an airplane, and go to the hospital. Why don’t we need it to vote?
● Whatever happened to that 2008 case of the New Black Panthers brandishing billy clubs in front of a Philadelphia polling place on election day?
● The late Andrew Breitbart instructed readers that thanks to flip-cams and the Internet, they were now the media. Does that same Army of Davids spirit also allow individuals to be better poll watchers, as well?
● How did voting fraud impact the Minnesota race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken in 2008, and how did the election of a former Saturday Night Live writer to the Senate have ramifications for the entire nation?
● How quickly — or how slowly — could we know the winner this Tuesday?
And more.
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David Horowitz outlined in his book Shadow Party how the so-called voter reforms of the Clinton adminsitration, under the guise of trying to get more people to vote in elections, implemented a system whose purpose is to undermine American confidence in their election system. So far, it’s working. We used to be able to know by the Wed. or Thurs after the election who won. Not any more. The nightmare scenarios laid out by several, including Ken Blackwell, have the results not being known until Dec., if then.
” Those who cast the votes are nothing.
Those who COUNT the votes are everything.”
Joseph Stalin
Excellent interview! I’ve long admired Hans von Spakovsky’s work, and it’s great to finally hear his voice. I’d never have guessed he has a slight southern accent.
Paper ballots are not the answer, though. Electronic ballots with a paper+email receipt are the answer.
It seems only one of the two major parties is always opposed to measures to ensure the integrity of the vote, and that is the one that uses a jackass for its symbol.
I realize it would mean extra work for you folks, but I would like to say how much I prefer text to audio and video in instances like this. I won’t take the 12 minutes to listen to this, because I could have read it in a quarter of that time or less. And if there was a quote I liked and wanted to send to someone or post on Facebook, it would be a simple copy and paste. Just my 2¢.
I live where I have NO access to broadband connectivity. I live in a motorhome. At the RV park where I stay (and where I need to stay for work/family reasons), the local ISPs will NOT put in a hardline connection. It’s pretty much the same deal at other RV parks.
The connection that I use is via cellular modem which means it runs at dial-up speed – when it’s running at all.
Text uses far less bandwidth than audio or video, which means I stand a better chance of getting your message successfully. Being a “seasoned citizen” I don’t hear as well as I used to, but I can still see well enough to read blogs. Do us all a favor and provide transcripts with your audio blog posts!
Good interview, van Spakovsky is always interesting. Voter ID is unfortunately necessary with so many people voting risking felony convictions by voting more than once. Perhaps he could speak to to the people in Florida waiting for 4 – 9 hours to vote this past weekend. There has to be a better way while still protecting the sanctity of the vote. But maybe Mr. van Spakovsky isn’t interested in the most number of people voting, just the right people voting. Thank you Paul Weyrich! The American electorate is changing and we are losing….
Call True The Vote at 855-444-6100 to report election fraud or voter intimidation. Details HERE.
Well, you could do what they do in Russia — have a webcam in every polling station.