News

In today’s Washington Post, the editorial board takes Virginia GOP Chair Jeff Frederick to task for taking a page right out of Karl Rove’s playbook:

As registration drives accelerate, including those run by the Barack Obama campaign and its allies, it’s no wonder that Republicans are increasingly anxious about retaining their hold on a state that GOP presidential candidates have carried since 1968. What is surprising is their utterly baseless charge of “coordinated and widespread voter fraud . . . throughout Virginia.”
That rhetorical hand grenade, lobbed the other day by the state Republican Party chairman, Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick of Prince William County, bears little relationship to the facts. Nor do Mr. Frederick’s attempts to frighten prospective voters by warning that they could be victims of identity theft if they sign up to vote in registration drives by “a whole lot of groups out there that nobody has ever heard of.” In fact, there is not even a whiff of evidence that identity theft is taking place in Virginia under the guise of registration campaigns. Mr. Frederick’s message amounts to a classic attempt to suppress votes.
The allegation of a “very serious and troubling trend” of registration fraud, identified by Mr. Frederick alone, is unsupported by election officials, police or prosecutors. It is couched in the toxic language of gauzy innuendo, insidious suggestion and simple fear. Virginians, he says, “have to wonder” about efforts to corrupt the vote in November by means of tainted registration. Anyone who signs up with a stranger to vote should “exercise extreme caution.” Asked for proof of identity theft in voter registration drives, he told us, “I bet it exists somewhere.”

It’s time to put an end to the Republican Party’s same old politics of fear. Make a contribution today or sign up to volunteer with FCDC. With your help, we can bring change we can believe in to Virginia.
— by Eric Reif