Voter Fraud In The US

By Ellen Kahle

Miami University journalism student

Politics and voter fraud were the focus of a recent Inclusion Series panel discussion at Miami University.

According to Ballotpedia, voter fraud is defined as "illegal interference with the process of an election."

First, Jacqueline Johnson of the university library talked about the history of political activism at Miami and Ohio.

She then went on to show a video of Charles Neblett, an activist during the Freedom Summer. Johnson explained that African Americans were disenfranchised in a number of ways -- including through the administration of literacy tests. She suggested that by looking to the past we can see how particular political patterns emerge.

Media's Contribution

Next, political science professor Rachel Blum talked about how voter fraud leads to questions about the franchise of the United States, which then leads to questions of citizenship and who really belongs and is one of "us."

"Sometimes we see systematic attempts to remove certain groups from the franchise, to take away their rights to exercise this citizenship... Now, the other side of this is a party's basic desire to have more people one with them, like when a party feels weak."

Following Blum was political science professor Amanda Gillespie.

During her portion of the discussion, Gillespie explained that people are more influenced by symbols and images than by news stories about policies and political practices -- these symbols and images then work to push political narratives.

"There's only a certain number of places on government's agenda and so only a certain number of problems can be fixed at a time. Therefore, political narratives are important because they are our way of conveying something urgent, something that we need to have addressed quickly."

Visiting political science professor Nicole Pankiewicz followed with a discussion of "elite domination of public opinion." Quoting John Zoller, Pankiewicz explained this as the "incidence where elites induce citizens to hold opinions that they would not hold if they were aware of the best available information."

Pankiewicz then suggested that such domination of public opinion can lead to the support of policies that might suppress the vote.

"If this elite domination is occurring, then people will be more likely to support the kinds of laws that make it harder for people to vote, even when there is no evidence of voter fraud."

The speakers explained that news media play an enormous role in the way that politicians and facts are understood. The media is supposed to be unbiased, but the speakers pointed out that every word comes with a connotation and regardless of the efforts made by media producers there will always be mixed meanings.

Nothing New

Secretary of Miami University Board of Trustees Dennis Lieberman wrapped up the panel by bringing the audience back around to the history voter fraud in the United States.

Lieberman explained that even after the 15th Amendment was passed, giving African Americans the right to vote, there continued to be things like literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses standing in the way of their ability to exercise that right. The combination of these things along with threats of violence kept African Americans away from the ballot box.

Photo: Miami's Inclusion Series was launched in order “to foster a better understanding of complex, relevant, national and/or global topics and will do so in a substantive, balanced and scholarly manner,” according to Provost Phyllis Callahan. -- Photo by Ellen Kahle