PolitiFact Grades Kampf's Voter ID Claim 'Mostly True'
The state Rep. suggested that voter turnout went up in Georgia after the state passed a voter ID law similar to Pennsylvania's.
Though it initially raised eyebrows, PolitiFact said this week that state Rep. Warren Kampf’s (R-157) suggestion that stricter voter ID laws might actually increase turnout at the polls is “mostly true.” The watchdog group’s verdict was heavily qualified, however.
First reported by Phoenixville Patch, at the conclusion of a July 30 townhall meeting at Phoenixville Area High School, the first-term representative said the following in response to a question about the likely consequences of Pennsylvania’s now-upheld voter ID law:
Georgia has a very similar law. They’ve had it for six years. And they had it in 2008 and in those communities which often are said to have been impacted by voter ID laws, the turnout was actually far greater than it should have been demographically.
The counterintuitive implication—that a law that restricts voting might actually boost turnout at the polls—got the article picked up by the Huffington Post and several other national outlets. When the story entered PolitiFact’s radar, the site’s Georgia iteration set out to investigate Kampf’s core claim: that voter turnout was higher among some historically disadvantaged groups during Georgia’s 2008 election cycle.
After talking to a representative from Kampf’s office, who backed up his candidate’s assertion by saying that the percentage of black Georgians who voted in 2008 was higher than in previous years, the fact-checking site decided to focus on black voters.
Georgia’s voter ID law—one that’s very similar to Pennsylvania’s—went into effect in 2006. The PolitiFact-checkers found that in 2004, 76 percent of black women and 66 percent of black men who registered to vote in Georgia cast ballots in that year’s presidential election while four years later an estimated 80 percent of black women and 70 percent of black men did the same. Likewise, in 2004, the site found that black voters made up 25 percent of Georgia’s electorate, while that figure ballooned to 30 percent by 2008.
Score one for Kampf.
However, PolitiFact did go on to quote a political science professor in the state who suggested that the group that is disenfranchised by voter ID laws isn't black voters, but poor black voters. PolitiFact could not find any data for that demographic.
Furthermore, the site pointed out that 2008 was special case: namely, it provided black voters the opportunity to vote for the nation’s first black president. All the political scientists the site surveyed acknowledged that this was an enormous driver of black turnout at the polls that year.
And though the site graded Kampf’s interpretation of Georgia’s 2008 election results as “mostly true,” it made no attempt to address his suggestion that Georgia’s election results have something to tell us about what will happen in Pennsylvania if its voter ID law continues to survive legal challenges. You can't, it turns out, fact check the future.
Interested Observer
9:16 pm on Wednesday, August 15, 2012
This article is good until the last paragraph. Go back to your original article: even then Kampf said he didn't know if what happened in GA would be predictive of what will happen in PA. To my mind Rep Kampf said something true (as confirmed by politifacts) and even said it may be different here. Is Paul Drucker's willingness to lie about his past position on 422 what makes Rep Kampf being honest newsworthy? I expect my Rep to be honest. Kampf has been, Drucker hasn't.
Tom Sunnergren
9:26 pm on Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Interested Observer, Rep. Kampf said this immediately after he talked about the Georgia case: "There isn’t a demonstrated situation where these sorts of laws have disenfranchised people...And, honestly, I’m beginning to feel like this law may actually enfranchise people."
David Curran
11:17 pm on Wednesday, August 15, 2012
You cannot compare GA to PA. How many citizens in GA rely on public transportation? My guess is that a state like PA, with it's large urban centers would have a higher percentage of non-drivers; and thus citiZins without a photo ID.
Blacks are not the only people disenfranchised; where is the data about the elderly? Make no mistake, this legislation specially targets Democrats and the spirit of Democracy.
C. L. Bittner
8:05 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
The law in GA was passed two years before a presidential election -NOT less than one year as hear in PA. Plus our DMV locations are not equipped with staff to process the ID requests in a timely manner. A friend took her 90 year old mom to Montco to get an ID and they waited an hour and a half!!
.
11:15 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Do you think this is an accident? It's all part of the master plan to purge Democratic votes. A Republican House official was caught on tape saying "the Voter ID law will allow Romney to win PA".
Jenna Reese
10:52 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
We have a large influx of illegal aliens and shenanigans pulled off by people who do not respect the sanctity of voting. elderly receive social security and I am sure have had to submit an id to either set up the benefits, set up a bank account etc. The infirmed can use the absentee balloting process, and the handicapped or those with various mental health diagnoses, or Autism, or any other disorder, usually have had to show an ID of some sort when applying for various govt funded programs. If a person in this day and age doesn't have an ID and they are a legal citizen then perhaps ....you fill in the blank ...maybe they don't have the wherewithall to vote . I really don't know. But the potential for voter fraud is so great given the current immoral and corrupt climate we live in - if you don't have a valid ID, then you surrender your right to vote.
.
11:13 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Your comment is wrong on nearly every level:
1) There have been ZERO, I repeat ZERO cases of illegal aliens attempting to show up at the polls and vote pretending to be someone else. In fact 98% of all of the voter fraud "shenanigans" involved absentee ballots but because those tend to be more Republican voters, the law did not address that at all.
2) Many seniors signed up for their benefits many years ago. If you are 70, 80, 90 years old and no longer drive, it is very common to let your license expire. That doesn't mean they don't have the "wherewithall" (is that even a word) to vote nor does it mean they should lose their rights as American citizens.
3) Bi-Partisan studies on this issue have PROVEN that there was nearly no "potential" for voter fraud that would be addressed by requiring valid photo ID. Again nearly all of the fraud involved either the counting process or early ballots which has NOTHING to do with ID.
Stop with the hate and educate yourself.
JK
11:44 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Jenna- I'm with you and YOU are educated on this issue. YES there are actual cases of voter fraud. How about some personal responsibility. I grew up thinking it was illegal to go anywhere without an id in case you were in an accident,... There is no use wasting your time explaining this to others especially when they name call (haters). All of this will be settled in November.
Bob Tigro
12:56 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
74% of the Electorate wanted this law passed. This is not a Republican or a Democratic issue.
David Curran
1:49 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
Bob, your facts are wrong. 74% of people think you should show ID, not approve PAs current law. FYI when you first vote (in PA) you must show ID, in subsequent elections your signature is proof of identity. This procedure evidently works for this type of voter impersonation is non-existent.
.
2:24 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
For the record, there is no way 74% of the electorate was every polled regarding ANYTHING. Maybe what Bob meant to say is 74% or those polled.....Maybe if he provided a link to his sources we could see for ourselves. In any event, this is CLEARLY a Republican attempt to supress Democratic voter turn out. Even House Majority Leader Mike Turzai admits as much. He mentioned the law as a great accomplishment made by the GOP-run legislature during the last Republican State Committee meeting"
“Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it’s done. First pro-life legislation – abortion facility regulations – in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.”
That quote really says it all regarding Republicans view on citizen rights. In their mind, only Republicans deserve rights....
Pat Campbell
2:54 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
So angry. Every comment made has a political intent. Didn't we all grow up knowing about voter fraud in Texas and Chicago? Dead people voting -- not illegal aliens. ACORN registered thousands that auditors could not document. Whether you agree with the purpose of the law, do we really need to argue that people should have an ID? And if voter fraud is real, wouldn't it go undetected? Isn't that the goal of fraud?
.
2:59 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
Pat, please provide some specific examples of people showing up at the polls to vote illegally as that is the ONLY form of fraud this law would prevent. If it is as bad as you claim, I'm sure you can find 1000s of cases.
We'll be waiting.....