Orrin in Wonderland

An obscure Republican Party activist in Reno named Orrin Johnson – whom political pundit Jon Ralston calls a “true conservative” (meaning he agrees with Jon) – inked a blog post on Thursday in defense of allowing non-Republicans to show up at the Republican presidential caucus in February, register to vote right there on the spot, and cast a ballot to help choose the GOP nominee.

The fallacy and folly of Mr. Johnson’s argument is immediately apparent in the second paragraph, where he claims he “vehemently oppose(s) same-day voter registration for regular elections” because “it’s an open invitation to fraud.”

Well, um, if you admit that same-day registration is an open invitation to fraud, why in the world would you support opening the Republican presidential caucus to, um, fraud?

Mr. Johnson goes on to say that “Certainly voting should be simple and accessible,” however, “this access shouldn’t be at the expense of a reliable vote.”

And yet he endorses the notion of making the GOP presidential caucus more accessible at the expense of a reliable vote.

Later in his missive, Mr. Johnson writes: “Voter fraud is very, very real, and can and does sway the outcome of elections. And even if you don’t think it happens, why invite it?”

And yet, by supporting same-day registration Mr. Johnson is, in fact, inviting it at the Republican presidential caucus.

Mr. Johnson then points out that “If someone registers to vote illegally and then casts a ballot, there is no possible way to verify that eligibility before the vote is cast.”

And yet he supports the ability for someone to register to vote illegally and then cast a ballot in the Republican presidential caucus with no possible way to verify their eligibility before the vote is cast.

Next Mr. Johnson wrote: “In the thankfully unsuccessful effort to bring same-day voter registration to Nevada earlier this year, Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax testified that if a felon registered to vote illegally, that fact wouldn’t be uncovered until months later – AFTER the election had probably already been certified.”

And yet Mr. Johnson supports same-day registration for the Republican presidential caucus which would mean that if a felon registered to vote illegally on the day of the caucus, that fact wouldn’t be uncovered until months AFTER the caucus.

Then came this head-scratching statement: “A caucus is not an election. It is a party event designed to…choose standard bearers for that party.”

Um, excuse me? A caucus where people vote for candidates is not an election? Welcome to Orrin in Wonderland, where the word “election” means whatever he says it means.

Mr. Johnson then admits that it’s “true that ‘ACORN and SEIU’ could send hundreds of people in to register that day in an organized and coordinated effort to throw the preference poll to the weakest candidate. But if those groups are really that organized and motivated, they’ll pre-register as Republicans and do the same thing.”

Um, Mr. Johnson….if they can do it, why can’t Republicans get organized and motivated to get people to pre-register as Republicans instead of undermining a core GOP party platform and opening the party to what you, yourself, admit could be potential fraud and other shenanigans?

By the way, these arguments put forth by Mr. Johnson were characterized yesterday by Mr. Ralston – who is anything but a friend to the GOP in Nevada – as “thoughtful.”

Nuff said.