Noncitizens voting in elections undermine US voting system

For years, Democrats fear-mongered over foreign interference in our political system from Russia – claiming it helped Trump win in 2016.

But you’ve probably heard nary a peep regarding their concerns about foreign interference in our elections

stemming from the millions of illegal aliens that have entered our country – save for their claims conservatives’ fears about such interference are rooted in conspiracy theory.

The Republican-led House Administration Committee recently held a hearing on that matter that didn’t get a lot of attention but dispels those claims. 

During the hearing, witnesses, led by J. Christian Adams, formerly of DOJ’s Voting Section, and Hans Von Spakovsky, also formerly at DOJ in its civil rights division where he focused on voting rights matters, and later of the Federal Election Commission, testified as to some staggering truths. 

First, they asserted that illegal aliens are registering and voting based on public records.

Adams, President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation says in fact they are often at least registering unbeknownst to themselves – and at great risk. 

He stated: “What I have seen from the data is that most often noncitizens are getting on the rolls through the motor voter registration process or third party registration drives…ignoring the harm that befalls these aliens caught in the voter registration system. Indeed, because they have registered to vote – often at the behest of third parties or bureaucrats – these well-meaning green card holders face deportation”

Adams’ organization has found that federal voter registration applicants *who admitted they were not U.S. citizens* were still registered in California, Florida, Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey under the Motor Voter laws, where people are registered to vote simply by attesting to their citizenship via a checkbox.

He also notes that states are hiding records that could be reviewed to further to get a sense as to how many ineligible voters are registered – his firm has been stuck in litigation with Alameda County, California and the state of Pennsylvania seeking transparency pertaining to motor voter registration. 

As he summarizes the issue: “The NVRA’s federal form prohibits citizenship proof at the outset and simultaneously requires too little from applicants so states can perform back-end verification. Later, the NVRA clouds states’ options for voter roll cleanups.”

All told, thousands of aliens are registered across jurisdictions including Arizona, lllinois, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and sanctuary cities like Philadelphia and Chicago.

These numbers could be decisive – Adams’ PILF records that over 750 elections have been tied or decided by one vote since 2002.Then there’s the related matter of enforcement.

Spakovsky says that while serving on the Fairfax County, Virginia, election board, it found 

individuals registered to vote who were not U.S. citizens. 

117 had voted before the board was able to remove them from the voter rolls. 

Since it’s illegal for aliens to register or vote by falsely attesting to their citizenship, it submitted that information to prosecutors. Neither the local one nor the DOJ took action to pursue the cases.

“[T]oo many prosecutors refuse to enforce the law even when such illegal behavior is discovered by election officials or others,” Spakovsky testified.

What’s the end result of these issues?

A study of 2022 election data estimates that l0% to 27% of all aliens currently in the U.S. are registered to vote and approximately 5 to 13% of them will illegally vote in the 2024 presidential and congressional elections.

If so that is staggering. The fact we are reliant on estimates however – whether due to malevolence, incompetence, or some combination – is a travesty. 

And all of this is to say nothing of an issue I’ve harped on – that noncitizens including illegal aliens are counted in the census used for apportioning House seats and therefore determining electoral votes by state, as well redistributing hundreds of billions of dollars; plus the fact that federal campaign finance law prohibits foreign governments and aliens from participating in local, state, and federal elections of candidates for office, but not from participating in elections involving referenda and issue-based ballot measures – another issue brought up during the hearing.

Add in that the Biden administration is allegedly seeking to mobilize voting cohorts by registering and helping them vote, in conjunction with third-parties, without regard to whether they are interacting with lawful voters, and we heave a recipe for total chaos in our elections.

Minimally, we will witness further erosion of confidence in our system – and particularly if 2024 is as tight as other recent presidential elections.