August 9, 2012
Photo:Flickr/Jeff Gitchel
Last month, the Associated Press reported in a story titled “Legitimate voters blocked by photo ID laws” that anti-voter fraud measures are keeping voters from the polls.
But the story has a major hole, as Heritage Foundation election law expert Hans von Spakovsky notes on Big Journalism:
It turns out, though, that the article lacked key information about two Indiana voters that might have changed the whole tenor of the story. The reporter, Mike Baker, failed to reveal that the voters in question actually have photo IDs and have used them in previous elections.
He further reports that these voters have multiple forms of photo ID and have in fact used them to vote in previous elections. Moreover, the voters failed to follow simple procedures that could have allowed them to verify their provisional votes. The AP story failed to report any of these facts.
“Too many members of the media are promulgating a completely false narrative about a common-sense election reform that the American people overwhelmingly support,” von Skavovsky concludes. “It’s high time for the full story about voter ID to be accurately reported.”
Are voter ID measures an effective way to combat fraud? Or are they counterproductive?
