McCain Campaign On Voter Fraud And Other Reaction

On yesterday's longish post about Republicans scaling back their voter fraud efforts, Trevor Potter, McCain's lawyer, sends along a statement: "Any impression that we’re not committed to stopping voter fraud is 100 percent false. Make no mistake: both the McCain campaign and the RNC will ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to vote and that ONLY eligible voters have their vote counted in November."

(Note: nowhere does the article suggest that the campaign suddenly favors voter fraud).

Brian Rogers, a McCain spokesman, said that the campaign is "committed to working with Republicans, Democrats and nonpartisan groups to ensure a fair election this November."

And Carlo LoParo, who experienced the 2004 election as Ken Blackwell's press chief, sends along a dissent:

Regarding Ken Blackwell and your anti-voter fraud post, I'm afraid your source doesn't have all the facts when it comes to the 2004 Ohio presidential election. As a former director of media and voter services for the Ohio Secretary of State, please allow me to set the record straight.

Blackwell did not tighten provisional ballot rules ahead of the 2004 election. Ohio's provisional ballot laws had been in place since 1992. Democrats did petition the court to loosen the law but the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their argument. It was an interesting lawsuit
because 27 other states had the same provisional ballot rules as Ohio. Even so, according to Electionline.org, only three states did a better job of counting provisional ballots in 2004.