The Fraud of Voter Fraud

Today, the House is taking up House Bill 1462, a bill from Rep. Bill Zedler that would allow the attorney general to investigate voter fraud cases in individual counties – currently, cases of fraud must be alleged to cross county lines before the AG steps in.

So what's the problem? "Voter fraud" under AG Greg Abbott means disenfranchising minority voting and enrollment. A story last year in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (now offline) has been brought up on the floor, detailing how an elderly black female assisting with mail-in ballots was spied on by Abbott's GOP storm troopers:

Gloria Meeks is being investigated by the state attorney general's office, apparently in connection with complaints about the handling of mail-in ballots in a school board race. Gloria Meeks said she was just drying off from her bath when she saw the two men looking into her bathroom window. She screamed, setting off a confrontation that is expected to land in federal court today with a tangle of allegations about voter fraud, overzealous investigators, and racism. Meeks, 69, of southeast Fort Worth, said the two men were investigators with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office, working to undermine efforts in the black community to get out the vote. … The attorney general's office has prosecuted just over a dozen people for voter fraud since 2005. All appeared to be supporting Democratic candidates, although the office is investigating cases involving Republican candidates as well, said Angela Hale, a spokeswoman for the office.

How bad is Abbott's office? In a guide to spotting voter fraud, he cited registrations mailed in with sickle cell anemia stamps – a largely African-American affliction – as suspect. Because they may be, you know, black.

It basically goes to the heart of the U.S. attorneys scandal at the Justice Department, as prosecutions of faux "voter fraud" are the foundation of Karl Rove's dream of a rigged, permanent Republican majority.