Throughout the fall, Republicans claimed that nation’s election process was being compromised by coordinated, large-scale voter registration fraud campaigns. In Lake County, Illinois, the story of Princess the Goldfish prompted Republican County Clerk Willard Helander to file a lawsuit asking for 5,000 early voting ballots to go through background checks because of a mishap by D.C.-based group attempting to boost voter registration. At one point, she even suggested that the county might institute a de facto voter ID law in certain precincts. North Shore Rep. Mark joined the chorus, claiming that “massive voter fraud” would occur on Election Day.

Across the border, a Republican member of the Lake County, Indiana Board of Elections raised similar concerns, identifying errors in 5,000 registrations submitted by individual canvassers for the community organizing group ACORN. In both cases, misinformed media reports elevated the critiques. The furor was capped off when John McCain called ACORN “a threat to our democracy” during one of the presidential debates.

As it turns out, absolutely no voter fraud was detected in either county. That’s because voter fraud is a largely nonexistent issue. The real problem isn’t that ineligible individuals are making it into the voting booth—it’s that too many perfectly legitimate voters still face roadblocks to actually casting a ballot. A new study by the Cooperative Congressional Election Survey presents the sobering data:

Four million to five million voters did not cast a ballot in the 2008 presidential election because they encountered registration problems or failed to receive absentee ballots, which is roughly the same number of voters who encountered such problems in the 2000 election, according to an academic study to be presented to the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday.

An additional two million to four million registered voters — or 1 percent to 2 percent of the eligible electorate — were “discouraged” from voting due to administrative hassles, like long lines and voter identification requirements, the study found.

The problems are well-known. Voter registration lists are not kept current because enough resources aren’t allocated to local election offices. Clerical errors during the registration process are common. Some election officials erect high barriers to participation, whether inadvertently or on purpose.

By and large, Republicans have little interest in addressing these problems. Instead, they like to stoke fears that left-of-center organizations are out to subvert the electoral process for partisan gain. But systemic solutions, such as same-day voter registration, are needed to extend the franchise.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user Big Dubya.