The irregularities in North Carolina voting are being called “voter fraud” (here’s one example from a good media outlet), but as far as I can tell, they’re not. It sounds like some group of persons was collecting mail-in ballots, or sending mail-in ballots to people who had never requested them. In other words, someone between the voter and the ballot collected it and apparently voted it Republican. That’s election fraud – the voters didn’t perpetrate it.
It may seem like a small distinction, but it’s important because the way that the GOP markets “voter fraud” is some person or persons going to different precincts and voting multiple times. That doesn’t happen, and if it did, it would be incredibly expensive and inefficient. Fucking the system by faking ballots and sending them in, or tampering with election machines, is far more likely. Yet little or no effort is made to secure that part of the voting chain, because better ballot and machine security isn’t going to keep Democrats from voting.
In a few weeks when the dust has settled in North Carolina, look for Fox and the rest of the usual suspects justifying more bullshit ID legislation on the backs of this event.
(The only time I’ve ever seen an election irregularity was many years ago when a volunteer collecting absentee ballots from the elderly was overly suggestive about how they should vote. When another campaign worker found out, he was immediately reported and ejected from the campaign. I was doing the same job, and old and frail people often asked me how to vote when I gathered their ballot. It was a tight election and the temptation was there.)