A Curious Recommendation

In the September 9 Albuquerque Journal, a note on the editorial page suggests that the Heritage Foundation is a more credible source of information on the issue of voter fraud than is the publication Bloomberg Government. 

A reader had complained in a letter to the editor about Journal columnist Diane Diamond’s recent claims that “Thousands of recent cases of voter fraud have been identified and more than a thousand people have been criminally convicted of trying to sway elections .  .  .”

The reader points out that such claims are at odds with the July 21 Bloomberg Government article which said only 200 cases were taken to court since 2018. Alas, even the Heritage website fails to support the Diamond claims.

It’s certainly surprising that in a note below the reader’s letter to the editor, the Journal editor urges readers to “seek out more than just the one source” other than Bloomberg Government. 

Remarkably, the editor recommends the highly partisan Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that is considered a quasi-official arm of the GOP. Its annual budget exceeds $80 million and its activism arm spends millions of dollars in support of its favored officeholders and candidates.

The editor did also recommend an online U.S. Justice Dept report on elections offenses but this 2017 publication is instead a guide to what actions constitute voter fraud under federal law and how they should be prosecuted.

Finally, the Diamond claims about thousands of recent cases are not even substantiated by the Heritage Foundation’s voter fraud website. For example, a sampling of the site’s data on the number of voter fraud convictions in the period 2018 to 2021 provides: New York State 2, California 12, Texas 10, Colorado 2, Washington 0, New Jersey 6 and Illinois 13. 

A good deal fewer than thousands.