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January 23, 2005

Fraud and Politics

It is virtually impossible for me to believe that Republicans don't engage in vote fraud when they think they can get away with it. Stuffing ballot boxes probably dates back as far as ballot boxes, and it is highly unlikely a political party dedicated to winning would not avail itself of such methods when it thinks it can get away with them.

Still, when it comes to actual concrete examples of electoral shenanigans, it does seem that the Democrats are at least a lot sloppier than the Republicans. Via Captain's Quarters comes this report of five Democrats facing felony charges for slashing the tires of roughly 20 cars and vans intended for use by the local Republican party to ferry people to and from the polls on November 2. Captain Ed notes that, while each Democrat is being charged with felony vandalism, the DA has declined to bring charges of conspiracy, apparently either accepting that five people acted together without talking about it first or fearful that charging the children of two powerful Wisconsin pols might not be a good career move.

I could point out that it seems rather hypocritical of the Democratic Party (motto: count every vote) to clam up when it comes to the efforts of some of its own to ensure Republican votes aren't counted because they're kept from the polls. But that would constitute an assumption that the Democrats are being honest when they call for every vote to be counted. As we saw in 2000, when the Gore campaign successfully had military overseas ballots thrown out in Florida, the only votes they're interested in getting counted are those that have checked the D block. And this should surprise no one at all.

The function of political parties is to win elections, as I noted above. You win elections by getting more votes than the other side. How those votes are secured is not the issue: only getting enough to win. It could be argued that the parties ought to focus their efforts on get out the vote efforts and other attempts to convince people to vote for their candidates, but this ignores the fact both parties do just that. Fraud is another weapon in the arsenal, and one that a refusal to use places one side at a disadvantage. Few Democrats are going to listen to Republican complaints about the actions of these five people because they believe that Republicans do the same, only worse. Each side justifies its actions in the assumption that the other side is even worse.

Is one side worse than the other? I would be lying if I said that I knew that. Both parties try to do what they can to bring victory to their candidates, and vote fraud is one way to do that. The fact that neither side seems overly interested in pressing for reform suggests that they are both hiding actions that would not withstand the light of day. It is rather hypocritical of Democrats to claim they only want to count all the votes, but it seems an effective political technique, and that is all that counts in the end. A party that is able to convince the people it is right is far more effective than one that is right but fails to explain it clearly. Who can blame the Democrats for espousing a slogan they do not believe if doing so is effective?