Administration Republicans defended their bill by ratcheting up the rhetoric about the dangers of voter fraud. They warned that it was imperative to guarantee the purity of elections, because if citizens had any doubts on that score, they would revolt. At the very least, they would lose faith in government, and form posses to uphold the law. In language that seemed to incite the very action it purported to abhor, Lodge warned that fraud was a deadly peril because it led the defrauded voters to resort to violence.
