It's like clockwork. If there's a high-profile election that results in a narrow Republican defeat, Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund will make vague allegations of "voter fraud" against ACORN or unions or whoever the right-wing boogeyman of the moment is.

Fund was at it again this afternoon on Fox News' America Live, claiming that the stench of “voter fraud” hangs over the April 5 Wisconsin Supreme Court election, in which incumbent conservative Justice David Prosser trails challenger Joanne Kloppenburg by about 200 votes with a recount pending. Fund suspects there might be fraud because of “scattered examples of people being asked to fill out their ballots in pencil, which is not supposed to happen because you can erase a pencil.”

Watch the video:

That's an interesting allegation, given that the Election Administration Manual, put out by the Elections Division of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, directs municipal clerks that “Pencils or appropriate marking pens must be provided” at polling places.

That would help explain why this sample ballot for the April 5 election from Sheboygan County, and this sample ballot from Winnebago County, instruct voters in large capital letters: “IMPORTANT: USE A #2 PENCIL OR THE MARKING PEN PROVIDED.”

It's almost like John Fund just makes accusations of voter fraud without knowing what he's talking about or doing basic research.

h/t Abram Sauer