Special Report: How a small group of right-wing lawyers pushed voter fraud fears into the mainstream
WASHINGTON - For months, President Donald Trump has tried to convince Americans that the Nov. 3 election will be “rigged,” claiming without evidence that mail voting will open the door to mass cheating.In making these claims, Trump has seized upon the idea that U.S. elections are vulnerable to rampant fraud.
Reuters examined court records, tax filings and leaked documents from a conservative foundation to piece together for the first time how this tight network of lawyers became a force in American politics, working through nonprofit groups to secure funding from right-wing donors. “The GOP gets it now,” he wrote in an email to Reuters. “And that isn’t going to change even after Trump. Republicans are no longer wimps when it comes to fighting election fraud and vulnerabilities.”
Benjamin Hovland, a Democrat and EAC chairman, said Adams’ claim was “a pretty substantial mischaracterization” of the commission’s data. He said the 28 million figure includes the many ballots that voters receive in the mail but forget about, or simply choose not to return. Von Spakovsky told Reuters it was “false” and “defamatory” to claim the conservative lawyers’ work was motivated by a desire to make it harder for minorities to vote. “My only concern is the integrity of the process and protecting the rights of voters to a secure election,” he said in a written response to questions.With thousands of individual states and counties across the United States running a host of different elections, some voter fraud does occur.
Von Spakovsky said the fraud he has found is just the tip of the iceberg, because “many prosecutors have no interest in investigating or prosecuting such cases.” “President Trump and his campaign are fighting for a free, fair, transparent election in which every valid ballot counts once,” Trump’s deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said.The push by Republican attorneys to find and prosecute voter fraud can be traced to a cliffhanger finish in the pivotal state of Florida in the 2000 presidential election. Weeks of recounts and court fights ensued before Democrat Al Gore finally conceded to Republican George W.
Under Christopher Coates, then-head of the voting section, Adams became involved in high-profile cases that used the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 to combat so-called reverse discrimination. Coates served as general counsel for the American Constitutional Rights Union , a conservative legal group that worked closely with PILF, Adams’ legal foundation, on cases where they sought voter roll purges. This year he has filed election cases for Judicial Watch, another conservative group that works on voter fraud. Coates said he believes the Voting Rights Act “protects white people as well as racial minorities.
Bradley CEO Rick Graber, a former chair of the Wisconsin Republican Party and a former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, told Reuters that stopping ballot chicanery is part of the Bradley Foundation’s mission to “protect the principles and institutions of American exceptionalism.” The group’s founder and president, Catherine Engelbrecht, said the organization’s volunteers aren’t there to intimidate anyone, only to make sure “standard operating procedures” are followed. She said True the Vote hopes to train at least 10,000 poll watchers for November’s election, and that it was trying specifically to recruit former military personnel and first responders.
With the help of the foundations’ money, the groups have sounded alarms about the dangers of voting fraud in media appearances and lawsuits. Adams said he merely relied on county election records. “Still waiting for the government who canceled their registration to apologize,” to those put on the list in error, he said.
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