Author hints Pa. voter-ID foes trying to hide something

An author who has written several books about voter fraud decried on Sunday efforts to portray supporters of Pennsylvania's new voter ID law as racists, and implied that its opponents were trying to hide something.

John Fund, a conservative commentator who is the coauthor of a new book on voter fraud, told a group of tea party activists on Sunday voter fraud exists, despite arguments there is little evidence of impersonation at the polls.

"I'm not saying it's rampant, but it's more than zero," said Fund, a senior editor at American Spectator. He said voter fraud was largely undocumented because it was relatively easy to accomplish and prosecutors were reluctant to pursue cases.

But Fund said allegations of voter fraud can undermine faith in the electoral process. He cited President George W. Bush's election in 2000, which hinged on 537 votes in Florida and which many opponents regarded as illegitimate. And he cited Sen. Al Franken's 2008 victory in Minnesota, in which the Democrat won by 312 votes in an election in which 1,100 felons were shown to have voted illegally.

"This shouldn't be a partisan issue, because it's in all of our interests to have clean and fair elections," he said.

Fund said Pennsylvania's new voter ID law, which is undergoing a court challenge, was reasonable and would not disenfranchise voters, as opponents have said.

He said the Pennsylvania law allows voters without photo identification to cast provisional ballots and provide identification later. If unable to obtain identification, voters can sign an affidavit and their votes are counted.

"This has sadly become a much too passionate and much too partisan and much too polarizing issue," he said. "I don't think it needs to be."

As Fund was speaking, opponents of Pennsylvania's voter ID law were preparing to rally Sunday at Bright Hope Baptist Church in North Philadelphia, where they portrayed the measure as an effort to disenfranchise voters of color.

About 75 people attended Fund's appearance and book signing at the Independence Hall Visitor Center, an event cosponsored by tea party organizers and About American Majority, conservative grassroots organizations. Fund's most recent book, Who's Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk, was coauthored by Hans von Spakovsky, a Heritage Foundation fellow and former Bush Justice Department official.

Don Adams, spokesman for the Independence Hall Tea Party, said the voter-fraud issue resonated with his group, which supported the voter ID law.

"What's the problem with showing ID when you come to the voting polls?" he asked.

Fund said voter ID laws were popular and had withstood legal challenges in other states. "Yelling racism about everything is ridiculous," he said.

He implied the opponents of voter ID laws wanted to protect a corrupt system rather than the rights of voters.

"I will tell you this much, there may be some people who know a lot more about what goes on behind the curtain than I do, or anybody in this room does, and that maybe they're not interested in letting us see what's behind the curtain," he said.

Fund cited Philadelphia's voter rolls - the city has 1.03 million registered voters and 1.18 million people 18 or older, according to the Census Bureau, suggesting that nearly every adult is registered to vote, which is highly unlikely.

"We call this a clue that mischief may be afoot," Fund said.

He also cited a recent study by the Pew Center on the States that found that more than 1.8 million dead people are currently registered to vote.

"If you go in and vote in the name of a dead person, they're not likely to complain," he said. "This is why I'm opposed to representation without respiration."