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Below are five claims about voting.  Each one was reported as fact by a real organization.  Before you read further, decide for each one:  True or not?

  1. A national think tank documented more than 1,400 proven cases of election fraud.
  2. A study found 21 million American adults do not have government-issued photo ID.
  3. Federal investigators estimated 100,000 fraudulent ballots were cast in one Chicago election.
  4. 84% of Americans support requiring photo ID to vote.
  5. Ohio's Secretary of State flagged 521 cases of potential noncitizen voting.

Write down your answers.  We will come back to them.

Opinions are everywhere, and most of them cost nothing to produce.  Solutions that last have to be built on facts - which is why every factual claim we publish is tied to its original source, so you can check our work.

WARNING:  A claim can include a real fact and still mislead you.  Sometimes someone lied.  Other times it's simply a mistake.  More often, the problem is where the fact came from or how it was presented:  An exaggeration, a partial fact, one side of the data with the other side left out, or an opinion made to sound like part of the fact.

Surveys are some of the easiest data to manipulate - through the wording of a question, who gets asked, who answers, what people misreport about themselves, and small groups with much larger margins of error.  Fraud databases, audits, court findings, academic studies, and news stories can each be manipulated or misrepresented in their own ways.

The result:  Two sides can look at the same issue and reach opposite conclusions - both accurate, and both leaving something out.

The Answers

All five statements are accurate.  Not all of them prove what they seem to claim.  The better question is not "True or not?" but "What does this fact actually prove?"

#1 - 1,400 proven fraud cases.  The database is real, and it shows election fraud happens.  But the soundbite does not tell you how many people voted in those elections.  The 1,400 is a partial truth.

#2 - 21 million without photo ID.  About 11% of 987 people in a 2006 phone survey said they lacked a current government-issued photo ID, and that percentage was applied to the full voting-age citizen population.  The 21 million is an estimate, not a fact - and an outdated one.

#3 - 100,000 fraudulent Chicago ballots.  A federal prosecutor estimated 100,000.  The number proven in court was 63 convictions.  The two numbers measure different things, and the 100,000 is an estimate, not a proven fact.

#4 - 84% support photo ID.  Three polling firms with different methods and leanings found support between 77% and 84% within a few months of each other.  When independent sources land in the same place, the finding is more reliable - although watch the sources.

#5 - 521 cases of potential noncitizen voting.  Most were clerical errors or paperwork that had not caught up yet.  Only one (0.19%) led to a charge.  The 521 flagged cases were not a fact of fraud.

To make good decisions, we must discern facts from estimates, partial truths, and lies.  None of the five claims above was a lie - but many claims you will hear are.

How to Investigate a Fact:  The 4Q Scrolls

When someone makes a claim, pause and think about it.  Unless it is necessary for your survival to make a quick decision, use these four questions to discern the truth based on facts - not just feelings.

Q1 - MEANING  |  What do you mean?  Ask questions to understand what the person or group means by their claim.

Q2 - EVIDENCE  |  Why do you believe that's true?  Gather the facts, and determine whether the claim is fully true, partly true, or unsupported.

Q3 - IMPACT  |  Who and what are affected?  Know who gains, who loses, and by how much.

Q4 - SOLUTION  |  What is best for the long-term common good?  Name the solution the facts support - today and into the future.

What's Next?

Simple Liberty is regular citizens researching major issues, one at a time, and proposing solutions to America's biggest problems.  In the posts that follow, we apply this same approach to the three branches of government our Founders designed to serve us, not rule us - and other challenges we must face and overcome to restore the power of our republic.

Read our Commoners Corner posts for facts and ideas that can lead to lasting solutions.

Join the discussion in The Commons, where we present and debate issues.

Ordinary citizens - like you and me - must steward our nation out of today’s corruption and chaos.

We can do this.

Lasting restoration occurs when we - American citizens - strengthen our character, comprehend the facts, and gratefully steward the people's government for the common good.

Simple Liberty unites everyday Americans to research the facts behind our nation's biggest problems and develop solutions for the common good

…because politicians and billionaires won't do it for us.

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