Fear the Voter

So a non-profit voter registration group in Virginia found that three of its employees were falsifying names in order to meet daily quotas. The group turned in these employees to the authorities. And the chair of the state Republican Party is now urging people to not register to vote at all:

[GOP State Party chairman Jeffrey] Frederick is calling on Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell (R) to launch an investigation. Frederick is also urging residents to avoid giving their names or social security numbers to canvassers seeking to register voters.

"Identity theft is widespread problem in Virginia," Frederick said. "Today, I am encouraging voters who have filed out any of these voter registration forms to immediately contact their registrars, and Virginians should exercise caution when approached by a stranger who asks them for their information."

Fredrick also says "There appears to be a coordinated and widespread effort in Virginia to commit voter fraud...a widespread problem across Virginia." He did not, to my knowledge however, cite any substantial on either the "coordinated" or "widespread" claims, limiting himself to this one story and a single other affidavit where a resident claims her social security number was fradulently used to register someone else to vote.

Can you spell "pretext"?