Texas is making headlines today with elections happening because of a somewhat controversial law that democrats and liberals say disenfranchises poor ethnic voters. The problem has arisen because of laws that conservatives say is intended to avoid voter fraud, so it is a bit ironic that the law is being called voter fraud. Determining whether this is a serious problem or not is difficult, since both sides are making equal but opposite arguments.

Texas has been a reliably red state for its entire existence, save maybe its attempts to succeed from the union and embody the role as the lone star state. However, polls have shown that most Texans support a medical marijuana program in the state of some form. No one knows exactly what form of law Texans will support, but there is a lot of interest to have a law on the 2016 ballot using Texas’ Initiative and Referendum process.

If indeed the laws limit voter who support the initiative, the measure could fail on the ballot and send the activists into another funding and planning process. More than 20 states require some form of voter identification, and the talk seems more political than founded in realistic concerns. Voter fraud probably exists everywhere and from both sides, which is unfortunate, but making sure voters are who they say they are helps secure and validate the voting process.

Fraud is Sadly Widespread

Many states have experienced voter fraud, but there is no way of knowing just how much fraud is going on. Several states report people voting for the deceased, voting in more than one district, and even more than one state at a time. Some states us identifications like library cards which allow for easy forgeries and easier access to identification. Remember if you’ve been smoking The Church from Green House Seed Co. that your eyes will be smaller and your red eyes might not match the picture.

Likely voter fraud is an aggregate of lone individuals trying to cheat for their side, and not an institutional problem. At least we can hope. A ballot box in North Carolina was found to be automatically changing votes no matter what the users entered. Let’s hope that these people are also voting for the 4 recreational bills today, although given that they are happening all across the country, from Florida to Alaska, that would be pretty hard.