As news spread that Mitt Romney received no votes in about 3 percent of Philadelphia voting divisions, many Republicans expressed surprise, outrage and disbelief.
Michael Meehan, the city's GOP party leader, wasn't one of them.
"It's not something that is new," he said.
He has seen such patterns before, most noticeably in 1999, when Sam Katz, who ran as a Republican but has since returned to the Democratic party, lost to Democrat John Street in an election divided along racial lines.
"Do I like it? No," Meehan said Thursday.
Is he concerned about the possibility that fraud explains the fact that Romney got no votes in 59 of Philadelphia's 1,687 voting divisions? Yes, he said, but he also finds the issue complicated, and says that race and the high percentage of Democrats in Philadelphia may be more likely explanations.
Meehan does not know of a way to cancel someone's vote in the system, for example.
Instead, Meehan said, he worries more about voter fraud occurring because someone impersonates a voter. Absentee ballots are another area for worry, he said.
"Our street lists are road maps for voter fraud," he said. Street lists include voter names, addresses and party identification. In theory, people can use them to identify voters who are dead or who have moved and then vote in their names.
Another problem, he said, is that proving fraud is extremely difficult.
When he has raised the issue, even with Republican law-enforcement officials, they demand evidence that could help them win a case. But that evidence, if it exists, is elusive, Meehan said. For example, it is illegal to videotape in polling places, eliminating one possible method of documenting fraud.
The divisions where Romney got no votes were in black neighborhoods, and that demographic has long identified with Democrats.
"We don't have a message or a messenger for African-Americans," Meehan said.
Read the original Inquirer story here: http://articles.philly.com/2012-11-13/news/35069785_1_romney-supporters-mitt-romney-voter-id-law.
