The purpose is political chicanery. No kidding.

Two things happen with predictable regularity towards the end of any national-level election campaign in the US. One is that Republicans start screaming about "voter fraud" on the registration end (see posts on ACORN here and here), and the other is that they start trying to disenfranchise those already registered.

Case in point: Republicans have demanded that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner disclose the names of newly registered voters whose driver’s license numbers or Social Security numbers don’t match records in other government databases. Why? So they can, once again, challenge voters at the polls - often on the basis of a typo or transposed digits - and slow down the voting process. If they luck out (as they did in 2006) many voters never get the chance to vote, the lines are so long and slow - and the doubt that their "provisional" ballot will ever be counted makes many turn around and go home. This isn't minor: more than 200,000 people may be prevented from voting. And two things to remember: The federal matching requirement was not meant to determine eligibility, deter voter fraud or raise added barriers for voters by forcing some to vote provisionally; ironically, it is meant to speed up the polling procedure by pre-identifying voters instead of making them show their id at the polls. And second, the vast majority of nonmatches are the result of things like a middle initial on the DMV form but not the voter registration. Others are typographical errors by government officials and computer errors; virtually none are voter ineligibility. Brunner: “Federal government red tape, misstated technical information or glitches in databases should not be the basis for voters having to cast provisional ballots." This one is still up in the air, but a provisional ruling went against voters and for suppressors. The Supreme Court on Friday overruled a federal appeals court that had ordered Ohio's top elections official to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility.

It's Democrats who run the most energetic registration programs, so among the newly registered there are far more Democrats than Republicans, Libertarians, Independents, and others - usually combined. So these efforts are directed at stopping Democrats from voting.

Another case: a recent attempt by the GOP in Michigan to use foreclosure lists to block voting - lose your house? Not think about changing your address with the Board of Elections because other things are on your mind? Too bad. Fortunately, even the Justice Department came down on that plan like a ton of bricks.

Another example is the recent attempt in Montana to challenge thousands of registered voters who live at addresses that differ from the addresses listed on their voter registration information. This attempt, too, was tossed in court (and the GOP party's executive director has lost his job). The judge who ruled on made this pointed statement:

"The timing of these challenges is so transparent that it defies common sense to believe the purpose is anything but political chicanery."

And I'm sure I don't have to remind you of polling station problems in Florida, or vote count problems in Ohio last time ...

Voter fraud is often called a "red herring" when compared to vote suppression. It's not. It's worse - it's a stalking horse. By stirring up public fear of problems at the polls, Republicans hide the truth: they don't just want to stop fraudulent voters; they want to stop Democratic ones.