"No problems. No issues. No complaints," says CBS News

CBS News has joined the chorus of denial, claiming blithely that there's been no "widespread voter fraud or suppression" in the race thus far. That equation--"fraud or suppression"-- is, to say the least, misleading. 

While there has been NO (Democratic) voter fraud in this election, there have already been reports of vote suppression by, as usual, the GOP.

These are numerous specific cases of wholesale purging, long lines, voter caging, voter bullying and other stratagems in Democratic precincts only. These are not instances of what CBS calls "rhetoric," but documented instances of efforts to pre-empt a lot of votes against McCain.

(Moreover, there have been documented cases of both voter fraud and voter registration fraud --by the Republicans. See the Texas Observer, on Rainbow's End in East Texas, at http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2860, as well as the reports on the activities, in California, of YPM and Lincoln Strategies, two outfits that have been "slamming"

Democratic voters, i.e., stealthily re-registering them as Republicans.)

Meanwhile, there've now been reports of vote-flipping, from Obama to McCain (or to McKinney) in West Virginia, Tennessee, Texas and South Carolina.

CBS's verdict: "No problems. No issues. No complaints."

Either those reports are bogus, or CBS is simply out to lunch (or in the tank).

MCM

Early Voting Fraud: Rhetoric Or Reality?

To separate fact from fiction, CBS News conducted a detailed survey of 17 states that allow early voting - in person. What we found is that charges of widespread voter fraud or suppression are far more rhetoric than reality.

As of Friday, nearly 7 million people had voted early in those 17 states. CBS News made dozens of calls to top election officials, state party leaders from both sides, and watchdog groups, asking for clear cut examples of Americans being denied the right to vote, or voting improperly.

In virtually all of those 17 states the response was: No problems. No issues. No complaints.

"We're taking aggressive action to stop suppression," says Bob Bauer, general counsel for the Obama campaign.

"As yet, have you seen any evidence of people who wanted to vote, who were eligible to vote, that were turned away from voting?" Keteyian asked.

"No," Bauer said.

In Ohio, Colorado and Florida political squabbles have sparked questions over the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of voters. Yet officials there could only point to a handful of people who were denied the right to vote or have committed voter fraud.

"It's hard to put an actual number on voter fraud and say it's 'this big' or 'that big,'" says Brian Jones, an advisor to the McCain campaign on voter issues. "I think to just discount voting irregularities and say, 'Well, it's just a small number,' is a very slippery slope."

It's a big part of an election battle that looks right now to be, little more than a high-stakes war of words.