The Wall Street Journal argues that Mexico is far ahead of the United States with regard to preventing voter fraud. That’s good news in close election such as the one that just occurred in Mexico. As the Wall Street Journal reports: [1]
Mexico has developed an elaborate system of safeguards to prevent voter fraud. Absentee ballots, which are cast outside the view of election officials and represent the easiest way to commit fraud, are much harder to apply for than in the U.S. Voters must present a valid voter ID card with a photo and imbedded security codes. After they cast a ballot voters–just like those famously pictured in Iraq last year–also have a finger or thumb dipped in indelible purple ink to prevent them from voting again.
In the U.S. opponents of such anti-fraud measures as photo ID laws claim they will disenfranchise many voters and reduce voter turnout. But John Lott, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, notes that in the three presidential elections Mexico has conducted since the National Election Commission reformed the election laws “68% of eligible citizens have voted, compared to only 59% in the three elections prior to the rule changes.” People are more likely to vote if they believe their ballot will be fairly counted.
According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll in April “80% of Americans favored a photo ID requirement, with only 7% opposed.” Yet every Democratic senator opposed the McConnell amendment. This Wall Street Journal editorial calls this “a clear sign that key liberal interest groups must feel threatened by the idea of ballot security.”
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