Steven Frias had another must-read article in the Providence Journal, earlier this week, detailing the longevity of the problems that have brought Rhode Island to its current condition — this time, voter fraud:

In the 1938 election, Rhode Island experienced it on a massive scale. A bipartisan legislative committee investigated the elections in Pawtucket and Central Falls. The committee unanimously determined that over 10 percent of the votes cast in these two communities were irregular and that hundreds of votes had been cast by floaters. In four Pawtucket precincts, there were more ballots cast than there were eligible voters. Voter fraud was also uncovered in North Providence and in the 13th Ward of Providence, which encompasses the Federal Hill neighborhood.

What followed appears to have been an example of “elect your savior” in the person of a conspiring attorney general.

Eventually, Rhode Islanders became so fed up with the fraud that they insisted on signature verification.  Anybody who’s voted recently knows how weak of a protection that really is.

In our digital age, requiring a photo ID is neither overly burdensome nor, as the history shows, unwarranted.