The effect of voter fraud in San Bernardino County

Following our stories on purported voter fraud at Wal-Marts across San Bernardino County, we've received a few phone calls from angry readers saying that the reports of voter fraud are meaningless because it doesn't matter whether you're registered as a Democrat or Republican.

Well, it does matter for a number of reasons. One of the biggest, is that voter registration allows you to vote in the primaries. Voter affiliation also determines how boundaries are drawn in redistricting efforts, which ultimately decide who gets elected to the state Legislature. It's a little something called gerrymandering. And voter registration helps each party - whether it's the Democrats, Republicans or Green Party - determine where their voter base is weakest so they can focus on specific areas for get-out-the-vote campaigns.