Former Federal Election Commissioner Hans A. von Spakovsky will discuss “The Reality of Voter Fraud and How to Ensure Election Integrity” Monday, Sept. 29 at noon in The University of Toledo’s McQuade Law Auditorium.

The free, public lecture is a presentation in The University of Toledo College of Law’s Stranahan National Issues Forum and is sponsored by the college and its chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.

Von Spakovsky, manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, says that voter fraud has plagued American elections since the founding and that it continues to do so today.

He proposes measures that states should take to deter, prevent and detect fraud without inhibiting the ability of anyone who is eligible to register and vote. The experience of states that have implemented these election reforms shows, according to van Spakovsky, that the claims made by opponents of election reform are untrue, and that maintaining the confidence of the American electorate in the election process is of vital importance.

“Hans von Spakovsky embodies a rare combination of experience and learning in the field of election fraud,” said Lee J. Strang, UT professor of law. “His time on the Federal Election Commission, his numerous books and articles, and his in-the-trenches service on local elections boards give von Spakovsky an exceptional vantage point.
“Von Spakovsky’s lecture is a perfect fit for Ohio, which faces a major election this fall.”

Von Spakovsky is co-author of Who’s Counting? How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk (Encounter Books, 2012). His analysis and commentary have appeared in many publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, Politico and Human Events. He appears regularly on national and regional TV and radio news outlets.

Previously, von Spakovsky worked at the Justice Department providing expertise enforcing the Voting Rights Act and the Help America Vote Act of 2002. He is a former vice chair of the Fairfax County (Va.) Electoral Board and a former member of the Virginia Advisory Board to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

A 1984 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law, von Spakovsky received a bachelor’s degree in 1981 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Stranahan National Issues Forum is made possible by an endowment from the Stranahan Foundation. The forum’s purpose is to address issues of national importance through the lens of the American legal system, and von Spakovsky joins a long list of high-profile speakers who have delivered the Stranahan Lecture at the UT College of Law.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Sept. 30, 2014)

Tags: College of Law