Fox News has repeatedly promoted GOP-led efforts to implement voter ID laws, but yet another conservative media figure acknowledged on Fox's own airwaves that there is no widespread voter fraud problem in the country.
Voter ID laws have long been a priority for right-wing media outlets even though experts say that such laws burden the voting rights of millions of Americans, particularly minorities, the poor, and the elderly.
In the last two days, Fox has picked up the torch for voter ID laws again, pointing to a story of a dog in Virginia who apparently received a voter registration card by mail. The group that sent the card said that the registration card went astray because of an error that occurred with the mailing list they received from a vendor and that it is unlikely to be a widespread problem because of the steps the group takes to ensure their lists' integrity.
Furthermore, no new voter ID laws are necessary to deal with this case. No vote can be cast in the dog's name because the Help America Vote Act already requires voters who register by mail to show identification such as a driver's license, a utility bill or the like, in order to vote.
But while pushing voter ID laws, one conservative media source went off-message yesterday. When Democratic strategist Christopher Hahn noted on Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight that there is no evidence of “broad-based voter fraud,” Wall Street Journal editorial board member Mary Kissel agreed, saying that “nobody's alleging” that broad-based voter fraud exists.
Experts also agree that there's no widespread voter fraud. Moreover, Kissel is not the first right-wing media figure or conservative to make such an acknowledgment. Fox News host Megyn Kelly has said that while there have been some instances of voter fraud, “it's not overwhelming.” And even pro-voter ID activist Hans von Spakovsky acknowledged that there is no “massive fraud in American elections.” And according to Fox News correspondent John Roberts, Republican Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann supports voter ID laws but “admits that there's not a whole lot of voter fraud that he's aware of in Mississippi.”
None of this has daunted Fox, however. Here's Fox News host Brian Kilmeade attacking the Department of Justice for not rubber-stamping voter ID laws on the basis of the dog story.
Voter ID laws burden the rights of people to vote. The people who are most burdened are minorities, the elderly, and the poor. Experts say that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could be cured by voter ID laws. Right-wing media figures actually agree with the assessment that there's no widespread voter fraud. Yet Fox continues to act as if voter fraud is a huge problem and voter ID laws are the solution.