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Unwarranted screaming about voter fraud can impair confidence in elections and foster bad policy. Today’s important suit flags a different cost: when voter fraud vigilantes get sloppy, the specific people targeted pay the price. 1/7
documentcloud.org/documents/4436…
documentcloud.org/documents/4436…
I've written on the real danger of voter fraud vigilantes. That piece led with a challenge that would have cut off an Army Reservist’s voting rights as he deployed to Iraq, all b/c he sent mail to his mom while serving overseas. 2/7 campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/the…
When the defendant in today’s suit was named to the Kobach “commission,” it officially jumped the shark. His investigations into fraud were hopelessly sloppy. Law-abiding citizens were accused of felonies, and had personal info plastered on the Web. 3/7
The published personal info of people wrongly accused of felonies included name, address, phone. For some, FULL SSN. The defendant in today’s suit was repeatedly warned that his info was bad info. He published anyway. 4/7 publicinterestlegal.org/files/Exhibit-… publicinterestlegal.org/files/Exhibit-…
I talked to some of these citizens who were wrongly attacked. They were furious. And I don’t blame them one bit. 5/7
I don’t know whether wrongly claiming that people have committed felonies (and publishing their personal info) in the scope of a sloppy and overheated vigilante campaign against voter fraud is better labeled as bullying or doxxing or both. I do know that it’s toxic. 6/7
And now, the victims of the false claims are fighting back. That’s great for them, and good news for all of us. Keep an eye on this one. 7/7
