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The Political Scene | The New Yorker

Three Views of Voter Fraud

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

President, Barack, News, Politics, Wnyc, Obama, Lizza, Washington, Wickenden

4.33.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2017

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Donald Trump memorably claimed, without a shred of evidence, that millions of votes cast by undocumented immigrants had given Hillary Clinton the popular vote in the 2016 election. More circumspect conservatives argue that voter fraud is a real problem requiring more stringent checks on voting; their opponents see this position as a pretext for voter suppression of groups that favor Democratic candidates.  Here, three views on voter fraud: a Kansas lawyer who defended a woman charged with fraud; the columnist John Fund, who argues that voter fraud may exist widely, whether we see it or not; and Lorraine Minnite, a political-science professor who researched the topic exhaustively, and who tells the staff writer Jelani Cobb that purposeful fraud in the electoral system essentially does not exist.

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Transcript

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I'm Dorothy Wickenden on today's Politics and More podcast, three perspectives on voter fraud.

0:55.4

First, the story of one of the very few voter fraud cases that are actually prosecuted in this country.

1:01.8

Then David Remnick talks with the columnist John Fond, who believes that voter fraud is widespread and hard to detect.

1:09.1

But political science professor Lorraine Manetti tells staff writer

1:12.8

Jolani Cobb that purposeful fraud in our electoral system essentially does not exist.

1:21.1

For generations, the truth of American democracy has been that we seem not to like it very much.

1:26.8

We don't act on it. Ask your fellow

1:29.1

Americans to get out and vote, and it's a very tough sell, even in a presidential election

1:33.8

where we vote at much lower rates than most Western democracies. Voter turnout in a country that

1:39.2

prides itself as being one of the first democracies in the world is embarrassing, and has been so for a long time.

1:46.8

This isn't some new form of modern American cynicism. But in recent years, some of the political

1:52.0

world have diagnosed a new problem. Too many people voting. Or maybe better put, the wrong kind of

1:58.9

people. The White House is standing by President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claim that millions of people

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