A Small But Important Point on the AZ Supreme Court Case Today

The far left and their allies always cite lack of vote fraud prosecutions as “proof” that vote fraud does not exist. This laughable claim came up in today’s Supreme Court hearing on the Arizona case requiring proof of citizenship. At one point it was explained that there were so few prosecutions because the people committing the crime were told to do so by “solicitors”, people who told them that registering as an illegal alien was legal. More details from news articles. First USA today:

 

In this case, Arizona Attorney General Thomas Horne argued that the federal registration form -- which can be mailed in -- "is essentially an honor system. It does not do the job."
Conservative justices were sympathetic to that argument, noting that people who want to vote illegally may think nothing of committing perjury by declaring themselves citizens on a piece of paper.States can challenge those forms, but the burden is on them, and prosecutions are slow and difficult. As a result, Arizona voters approved Proposition 200 in 2004, requiring more specific proof of citizenship. A federal district court upheld the referendum, but the appeals court overturned it.

Or as Catholic Online wrote:

Although the oath on those forms is signed under the penalty of perjury, such cases are rarely prosecuted since voter fraud appears to be rare in the U.S.

However, it is uncertain just how rare voter fraud is because authorities have rarely investigated it as a phenomenon in the U.S. 

Many years ago I read a story on how there were three prosecutions for jaywalking in that year in New York City. Those who have been to New York City know jaywalking is extremely common and laws against it are not enforced. Lack of prosecutions does not mean it does not exist. And there are some on the left that will argue jaywalking is more serious than vote fraud. 

Quite to the contrary it can mean that people don’t want to enforce the law. And just think if you prosecute vote fraud at a minimum you will be charged with being a partisan and more likely be called racist. The difficult of prosecuting vote fraud is what led African American liberal Democrats like Harold Metts in Rhode Island to pass Voter ID to stop vote fraud before it happens. And it is a reason the people of Arizona voted to verify that people are citizens before they vote.