In a 2014 study, political science professors Jesse Richman and David Earnest concluded that foreign participation in U.S. elections “has reached a scale that could materially alter the outcome of elections.” That conclusion should raise eyebrows and alarm. But apparently not the Associated Press. In fact, it reported yesterday that “illegal voting by foreigners is rare.” “But,” the paper complained, “Republicans have made it a big issue in this election.”
Ah, what comes to mind here might be a twist on what the left says about abortion: does the AP want foreign voting to be safe, illegal and rare?
The honor system. Is it protected by the dishonorable?
“The U.S. foreign-born population will reach a record high of 46.1 million in 2022,” Pew Research Center reported in July. This means that “immigrants now make up 13.8% of the U.S. population,” the site added. That's close to an all-time high. Additionally, the Biden administration has allowed more than 8 million illegal immigrants into the country over the past four years.
Now, keep in mind that citizenship is legally required to vote in federal elections, but proof is not required. It's an honor system. Also, keep in mind that even the AP acknowledges that certain (Democratic) municipalities “allow foreign nationals to vote in some local elections.” In other words, the Democrats have already signaled that they want foreign nationals to vote.
And yet the AP seems odd in writing that “Republican officials conducted a review of the voter rolls,” and that “federal law requires states to periodically maintain their voter rolls and remove ineligible voters.”
So what is the complaint: that Republican officials are essentially ignoring federal law, as is probably common in Democratic jurisdictions?
These Republican officials have also taken other actions to block foreigners from voting. For example, according to the Associated Press, they “issued executive orders and put constitutional amendments on state ballots.”
The AP suggests this is unnecessary because it says, “When I register to vote, I certify under penalty of perjury that I am a citizen of the United States.” True, but again, no proof is required. And if this is enough, why don't we apply it to other government matters? For example, why do we require proof of citizenship to get a U.S. passport? Do we not trust people?
How rare is it? Is it rare enough?
The AP does seem to trust people — at least selectively. (That is, not owning guns or participating in society without ID, but voting. Nobody lies!) The outlet argues that concerns about non-citizen voting are overblown. For example, it writes:
Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott said last week that more than 6,500 potential foreign nationals have been removed from Texas voter rolls since 2021, including 1,930 with “voting histories” that were referred for investigation by the Attorney General's office. Texas has about 18 million registered voters.
The AP also provides similar data for Ohio, Alabama, and Georgia. But the question is: how conclusive is this? Do we really know how “rare” foreign voters are?
Crime is often hard to measure. We know for sure the exact number of bank robberies in the United States, because such incidents never go unreported. Murder statistics are nearly as accurate, but not entirely (those whose bodies are effectively hidden are recorded as “missing persons”). But what is the real number when it comes to petty theft? Many of them go unreported.
Similarly, how conclusive are the voter roll studies in those states? The AP's wording does not inspire confidence.
When Texas writes that it found 6,500 potential non-citizens, “potential” is a tacit admission that the investigation is suspect. Then there's the federal mandate to maintain voter rolls, which the Associated Press described as “a process that can identify immigrants living in the country illegally.” Of course, “potential” means that the capacity exists, but the process may not actually identify such individuals.
Moreover, all of this assumes that states have the will to crack down on this election crime, which many states don't.
The real purpose
Of course, if foreign voting is truly rare, a natural question arises: Why not just make a bipartisan effort to eliminate it and solve the problem? Say, “Okay, I don't think this is worth the fuss, but if it's a challenge, let's work on it so we can move on to other things.” Why fight about it?
AP offers a theory. “Some Democrats argue that (voter integrity) measures could be an impediment to legal voters and are unnecessary,” AP writes. But the results of the aforementioned 2014 study by Old Dominion University political science professors Jesse Richman and David Earnest suggest a different theory. Reviewing their findings, the scholars write that “non-citizen voting likely changed the 2008 results, including the electoral vote and the composition of Congress.” But it wasn't a random change. The two researchers also note:
“Foreigners support Democratic candidates more than Republican candidates.”
(Eh, you don't say that?)
Is there even the slightest possibility that this is the Democrats' real motivation for opposing voter roll overhaul?
Dreamer or schemer?
Whatever the size of the foreign vote, foreigners, even illegal immigrants, certainly influence elections. In fact, in 2019, the left-leaning Los Angeles Times tacitly acknowledged this, running a headline that read, “How young immigrant 'Dreamers' made their personal quest for control of the House of Representatives.” The story?
Many of California's vote gatherers helped flip certain areas from Republican to Democratic control, but they were not actually Californians.
Note also that these operatives “help” their disinterested American citizen targets fill out ballots. In other words, each non-citizen activist can cast a proxy vote, perhaps dozens, or even hundreds of times.
We often hear the cry, “Every vote must be counted.” But counting illegal votes would invalidate the votes of Americans who voted against them. And this is another reason why people who oppose voter integrity efforts are never good people.
