Pretend Voter Fraud: A Fox Guest's Senseless Attempt To Demonize Unions

Appearing on Fox News, anti-union activist Mallory Factor spun a conversation about voter registration efforts into a baseless attack on labor unions, complaining that by helping register new, eligible voters, AFL-CIO is engaged in “rampant” voter fraud.

On Fox's America's Election HQ, host Eric Shawn asked Factor about voter registration programs gearing up as Election Day approaches. Shawn stated, “There's been a lot of attention on these Republican efforts, but there are really major voter registration programs by both sides.” Factor responded: “There are major voter, ah, fraud going on. Voter fraud is rampant.”

As evidence of this “rampant” fraud, Factor bizarrely complained that union members are registering to vote. He told Shawn: “The unions have 400,000 people on the streets. [Richard] Trumka pledged it. AFL-CIO -- Trumka, head of AFL-CIO -- pledged 400,000 people on the street to help, and they've already registered 450,000 union households. 68,000 new registrants in Ohio alone.”

Indeed, AFL-CIO is helping register new voters before Election Day, but a successful voter registration campaign in no way constitutes “voter fraud,” let alone “rampant” voter fraud, as Mallory claimed. Shawn pointed this out to Factor: “That's not voter fraud. I'm sure they are having efforts to try to, you know, get the vote out.” And yet, Factor doubled down on his baseless claim, suggesting with absolutely no evidence that the union-led voter registration efforts are somehow corrupt: “I'm sure they are having efforts to get the vote out. And I'm sure -- It ain't all clean cut. Remember we have a union-label president. They need him.”

Of course, despite this groundless accusation (and Fox News' and other conservatives' efforts to unearth any voter registration fraud), instances of actual voter fraud continue to be "exceedingly rare."