America's days of blatant fraud are very likely behind us


New Mexicans might be riled up by Republican claims to have found 28 fraudulent votes cast in the June Democratic primary election — were the complaining party itself not under a cloud at least as dark.

The party's charges had to do with Albuquerque's state House District 13, where incumbent Dan Silva was defeated. The voter-registration process appears to have had a hand in the as-yet unproved fraud. ACORN, the union-backed operation that's been behind big voter-registration increases here and around the country, claro, is the GOP's designated villain in the Albuquerque case.

ACORN — Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — is the bunch John McCain blasted in the last presidential debate and tried sticking on Barack Obama's shoes. It's been highly effective in many states, including ours, where it has put 80,000 new names on the rolls. Yet the voter-registration boost in New Mexico doesn't appear to have increased Democrats' long-held margin over McCain's party: Voter registrars must accept Democrats, Republicans or independents.

There've been foul-ups, many as a result of registration forms with phony names — written in by registrars or registrants? The organization has anticipated such problems, and has its own system for ferreting them out — and telling election officials.

But Republicans have long been fearful of voter-registration drives, because, they say, they're wary of voter fraud going hand in hand with wholesale registration increases. What they really fear, we suspect, is that more of the great unwashed will show up at the polls — and vote against their candidates.

In fact, that was another facet of the David Iglesias case:

Iglesias, the Bush-appointed U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, says he was under pressure from Sen. Pete Domenici, Rep. Heather Wilson and the White House to unleash a barrage of voter-fraud prosecutions in our state.

Iglesias went to work on it — but found no compelling cases of voter fraud.

For that, and his failure to bust Manny Aragón and the fraud-and-bribe gang in time to benefit Wilson's 2006 re-election campaign, Iglesias was fired.

And politics continues nosing into elections: Mere accusations that people aren't eligible to vote — and hints that they might be arrested if they show up at the polls — can keep eligible voters from voting. And The New York Times reported recently that tens of thousands of voters in this year's battleground states have been thwarted, in what might be violation of federal law, from registering.

Which is the greater wrong — ballot/registration fraud, or voter suppression? What about fliers that tend to show up about this time of election year warning would-be voters that they risk arrest, for everything from improper registration to welfare fraud to unpaid traffic tickets, if they try voting? If that's not an affront to the American Way, what is?

Yet here in New Mexico, in a manner reminiscent of the early 1950s, a GOP legislator stages a press conference and brandishes a list of suspect ballots? Cast nearly five months ago? In the other party's election? And she waits to do so until a couple of weeks before the most important election of our times? Hmmmm.

The charges bear investigating, to be sure; prosecutors are on the case. But America's days of blatant fraud — of entire cemeteries casting ballots, and "Cook County coming in" for a candidate in trouble — are very likely behind us. Election in and election out, there's been precious little evidence of folks voting who aren't supposed to. For that, we can thank vigilant citizens of all political persuasions — who should keep up the good work, but take late-October outrage, real or contrived, with more than a grain of salt.