Election at Bernie’s

Opinion from the Wall Street Journal.

It’s election season, which means Democrats are again pushing the line that voter fraud is a myth. Allow us to introduce them to the 19 dead registered voters in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Harrisonburg Registrar Debbie Logan late last week acknowledged that her office had fielded 19 fraudulent applications, submitted under the names of dead Virginians. The fraud came to light because a long-time clerk saw an application under the name ofRichard Claybrook Sr., the deceased father of a well-known local judge. The elder Claybrook died in 2014.

According to news reports, investigators have obtained a confession from Andrew Spieles, a James Madison University student working for a voter registration shop called HarrisonburgVOTES. The outfit purports to be nonpartisan, but it is run by Joe Fitzgerald, the chairman of his congressional district’s Democratic Committee, and Mr. Spieles is a member of Virginia Young Democrats.

Mr. Fitzgerald told reporters that he fired Mr. Spieles after he confessed, and no charges have been filed, though officials say the investigation continues. Meanwhile, the Colorado Secretary of State is investigating another case of Election at Bernie’s, after a local CBSaffiliate uncovered multiple instances of dead Coloradans who cast ballots in recent elections.

Democrats are already saying the dead Harrisonburg 19 are no big deal, with Virginia House Minority Leader David Toscano claiming there was no voter fraud because “they caught him” before the votes were cast. Which is like saying it wasn’t a robbery because the thief was caught carrying the TV out of the house.

Democrats push the fraud-is-a-myth theme because it furthers their political goal of portraying any ballot-security measure as racist in order to drive minority turnout. But the integrity of the ballot matters as much as access to the ballot, and every fraudulent vote cancels a legitimate one. With trust in democratic institutions already frayed, the country doesn’t need elections that are tainted by voter fraud, which is no myth.