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Recent investigations should silence critics who say that election fraud is non-existent or a bogeyman for those intent on vote suppression.

A few weeks ago, Washington state officials charged seven former ACORN workers - a group supposedly dedicated to encouraging voter participation -with what prosecutors called "the worst case of voter-registration fraud in the history of the state of Washington."

In Alabama, officials charged a former congressional candidate in July with arranging fraudulent voting in nursing homes. In April, Harris County, Texas officials received more than 50 fraudulent voter applications. The applications listed the same nonexistent Houston address and were mailed from El Paso, more than 700 miles away.

In Wisconsin, elections have even involved attempts to bribe with cigarettes homeless people to vote and the mentally incompetent with popcorn parties. Canvassing results showed more votes were cast than eligible registered voters in Milwaukee.

In 2005, the Commission on Federal Election Reform, led by former President Jimmy Carter, reported that the U.S. Department of Justice had conducted more than 180 investigations into election fraud since 2002. Federal prosecutors had charged 89 individuals, and convicted 52, for election fraud offenses including falsifying voter registration information and vote buying.

The report stated, "The best way to maintain ballot integrity is to investigate all credible allegations of electoral fraud and otherwise prevent fraud before it can affect an election."

John Fund, in his carefully researched book "Stealing Elections," documented the many methods used by groups to tilt elections unlawfully and rob the voters' franchise. His book described how some groups use intimidation and bribery to influence voters, and take advantage of the sick and elderly. Some criminals actually steal absentee ballots and forge the names of the registered voters. The book also describes "ghost voters," individuals who appear on the voter rolls illegally, registered by groups such as ACORN, who then cast ballots.

Since voter fraud is a problem that is well documented, why are concerned public officials and citizens not doing more to fight it? Why have some politicians and groups labeled efforts to combat election fraud "voter intimidation" or "discouraging people to vote"? Unfortunately, partisanship and ideology cause a few to hide their heads in the sand on this subject. Others argue that election fraud is too difficult to prosecute, or should be a low priority for federal and state attorneys general, because it is a victimless and non-violent crime.

The integrity of our democratic system should not be compromised simply because combating election fraud is difficult to prosecute or may harm candidates or parties with whom the fraudsters are associated.

Election fraud is not a victimless crime. Election fraud diminishes and marginalizes the votes of voters who take the time and effort to get to a polling place on Election Day. It diminishes and undermines the legitimacy of the election process and elected officials, whether or not the particular election was tainted.

Election fraud cannot be fought solely through formal investigations and prosecutions. It requires preventive efforts through educating those involved in the political process, adopting reasonable anti-fraud rules and election administration procedures, and encouraging all qualified, eligible voters to vote.

The Republican National Lawyers Association leads the effort to educate and train lawyers who along with every citizen must do all they can to prevent election fraud. RNLA seminars provide a forum where real problems and practical solutions are discussed and participants are equipped with successful tools to combat fraud.

Central to RNLA's efforts is the principle that the right to vote is a foundation of our electoral democracy, and to deny it through fraud or outright theft diminishes our constitutional right of self-governance and the freedoms that all of us as Americans expect and seek to enjoy.

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Tom Spencer of Coral Gables, Fla., is vice chair for the Republican National Lawyers Association, http://www.rnla.org" Target="_BLANK">http://www.rnla.org. Readers may send him e-mail at trsmiami@aol.com" Target="_BLANK">trsmiami@aol.com.