Early voting for the mid-term elections begins in a few weeks. That is why I had Eric Eggers on the Point of View radio talk show to discuss his book on voter fraud. He has put together lots of facts and statistics that election officials need to consider.

The potential for mischief is very great. Approximately 248 counties in this country have more names on their voter rolls than the total number of people of voting age in those counties. That is reason enough to clean up the voter rolls, especially since the Supreme Court ruled that clean-up procedures (like the ones used in Ohio) are indeed constitutional.

On the program, I told the story of James O’Keefe and Project Veritas.  They have used hidden cameras to demonstrate election-day ballot problems. Perhaps the most notable was a twenty-something white kid who was offered the ballot that should have been given to the then-Attorney General Eric Holder who is a 60-something African-American.

Eric Eggers gave another story of the New York City’s Department of Investigation that sent people to cast ballots on behalf of elderly citizens, felons, and people who had moved. All but two of them succeeded with no challenge or question. “One of the few unsuccessful attempts occurred when an officer attempted to vote using the name of a felon listed on the rolls, only to be informed by the poll inspector that he was requesting the ballot of the poll worker’s son.”

One study estimates more than five million noncitizens voted illegally in 2008, and the book provides perspective on those who doubt those figures. The book also provides pages of documentation for the number of double votes in Florida broken down by county. The number exceeds 2100.

Any or all of these so-called “voter irregularities” could make the difference in some close congressional and statewide races. That’s why we need to pay attention to the potential problem of voter fraud.