Voter Fraud, Voter Supression, Cyber Crime: What's the Bigger Threat to Democracy?

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A democracy is obligated to conduct free and fair elections. It should be reasonably easy to vote; elections should be untainted by fraud.

Since it came up on another thread, if you're interested in the subject, here's some information about voter ID laws and election fraud:

The Disconnect Between Voter ID Laws and Voter Fraud

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...d-voter-fraud/

Nate Silver four years ago estimated voter ID laws suppress voter turnout by somewhere between 2 and 3 percent:

Measuring the Effects of Voter Identification Laws

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes...fication-laws/

Slate looked into why so many of the people affected are minorities:

Why Do Many Minorities Lack ID?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a...he_polls_.html

It's preposterous to imagine that without voter ID laws our elections are affected by anywhere near 2 to 3 percent voter impersonation fraud. We should have no tolerance for fraud, but it's reasonable to believe voter ID laws cause much more harm than good, and unevenly.

The facts are voter impersonation fraud rarely ever happens.

New York University's School of Law compiled a trove of academic research on voter fraud. Its title betrays their conclusion:

The Myth of Voter Fraud

http://www.brennancenter.org/issues/voter-fraud

They wrote a paper summarizing their research:

The Truth about Voter Fraud

http://www.brennancenter.org/publica...ut-voter-fraud

Like Lowell said in another thread, maybe the answer is to require voters to present acceptable ID while also making obtaining an acceptable ID much easier, particularly for those citizens who currently have little need to possess one. But let's make sure we're putting our effort in the right places.

I suspect long lines at polling locations are a much bigger problem. Here's a position paper on the subject, also from New York University's School of Law. They provide links to lots more information there too:

End Long Lines

https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/end-long-lines

One study estimates that in the 2012 election, long lines discouraged 201,000 people from voting in Florida, alone. Some had to wait more than 8 hours:

Analysis: 201,000 in Florida didn't vote because of long lines

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/...te-ken-detzner

201,000 Floridians would have to go through the trouble of impersonating someone and voting twice to distort the vote count as significantly. It just doesn't happen.

Meanwhile, a federal appellate court panel recently struck down Michigan's law banning straight ticket voting. The panel's rationale was specifically to avoid longer lines in minority polling places:

Michigan AG Bill Schuette to fight for ban on voting by straight ticket

http://www.freep.com/story/news/poli...ting/88895656/

Minority polling places are already disproportionately affected by long lines:

Long Lines at Minority Polling Places

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/op...ng-places.html

...Otherwise, like some others here have said, there is good reason to be concerned about hacking and voting machine fraud. It's not hard to imagine how that could make an impact. With Russia on his side, maybe Trump has a better chance than polls show.

In any case, cyber security is definitely not something I'd trust the Federal Election Commission to manage. Let's hope there are people with much better expertise on the subject watching vigilantly.

P.S.: My inspiration to write this was the discussion that developed from what began as a foul turd of another thread. Like a plant that sprouted from manure, some good came of it. But I thought it was time to re-pot the plant.