Stamping out voter fraud: Whom to trust?
U.S. Atty. Rod Rosenstein sent out notice this morning that his office is heading up a task force in conjunction with the FBI to review any allegations of voter fraud and voting rights abuses in Maryland during November's election. The announcement comes in the mist of a quadrennial partisan fight over voting, with Republicans crying voter fraud (latest bete noire: ACORN) and Democrats complaining that the GOP is trying to disenfranchise voters (to wit, the recent court case in Ohio about whether the Democratic secretary of state could be required to effectively help local elections officals to purge the voter rolls).
Democrats might find some cause for alarm that Rosenstein is stepping in. After all, one of the biggest scandals of the Bush administration has been the evidence of political meddling in the justice department and the pressure for U.S. attorneys to go after Democrats in fraud and corruption investigations.
Republicans might not be so happy about this either, though. Per DOJ guidelines, Rosenstein says, he has consulted with local elections officials, specifically state elecitons chief Linda Lamone. Yes, the same Linda Lamone that Bob Ehrlich's appointees tried to fire only to see her saved by the divine intervention of the courts and Senate Prez. Mike Miller.
So what you've got is a Justice Department that a lot of Democrats think is politicized working with a state elections agency a lot of Republicans think is politicized. What could go wrong?
