I highly recommend the Kansas district court’s findings on von Spakovsky’s “expert” testimony in the voter suppression case of Fish v. Kobach. (I have the pdf if you can’t accesss it, just DM). Here’s a quick summary of the findings on von Spakovsky’s testimony:
the Court gives little weight to Mr. von Spakovsky’s opinions. While his lack of academic background is not fatal to his credibility in this matter, the lack of academic rigor in his report, in conjunction with his clear agenda and misleading statements, render his opinions unpersuasive.
The court also found that von Spakovsky had “never testified as an expert before,” and “could not identify any expert on the subject of noncitizen voter registration” (the ostensible area of his expertise). Or how about this:
The Court gives little weight to Mr. von Spakovsky’s opinion and report because they are premised on several misleading and unsupported examples of noncitizen voter registration, mostly outside the State of Kansas. His myriad misleading statements, coupled with his publicly stated preordained opinions about this subject matter, convinces the Court that Mr. von Spakovsky testified as an advocate and not as an objective expert witness.
Cross examination did not go well. Von Spakovsky did not check facts and omitted information that contradicted his preferred narrative. The court was dismayed by his “longtime advocacy of voting restrictions.”
Naturally, piles of money from the radical right are behind this. The Guardian working with Anna Masssoglia of Opensecrets.org showed the flow of money from the Koch tied Donors Trust and the Bradley Foundation that makes it way to von Spakovsky and allies.
Professor Lorraine Minnute of Rutgers University, an actual expert on accusations of voting fraud, says of the tactics of von Spakaovsky and friends that “It’s the same thing over and over and over – say it, say it, say it – and push it out there. It functions just like propaganda.”
In 2012 von Spakovsky was the subject of a New Yorker profile by Jane Mayer titled “The Voter Fraud Myth: the Man Who Has Stoked Fears About Impostors at the Polls.”
This is nothing new for MassFiscal. In 2018 it offered up a voter suppression scheme aimed at people of color designed to aid the congressional campaign of Republican Rick Green, who coincidentally happens to be the founder of Mass Fiscal. Mass Fiscal has its own ties to Koch funding.
Let’s leave the final word on von Spakovsky to the late John Lewis:
He’s been the moving force behind photo I.D.s. I don’t know if it’s something in the water he’s been drinking . . . but over the years he’s been hellbent to make it more difficult—always, always—for people to vote. It’s like he goes to bed dreaming about this, and gets up in the morning wondering, What can I do today to make it more difficult for people to vote? When you pull back the covers, peel back the onion, he’s the one who’s gotten the Republican legislatures, and the Republican Party, to go along with this—even though there is no voter fraud to speak of. He’s trying to create a cure where there is no sickness.
Mass Fiscal’s aim here is surely to disseminate propaganda about non-existent voter fraud through the media. Let’s see who falls for it.
In the darkness of secrecy, sinister interest and evil in every shape, have full swing. . . . Publicity is the very soul of justice.”—Jeremy Bentham
[Full disclosure: as an educator in the UMass system, I am a union member. I write about dark money, democracy, and oligarchy.]