Posted on Tuesday, October 29, 2024
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by Shane Harris
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New research from the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) has provided more alarming evidence of noncitizens being registered to vote – underscoring the importance of efforts like those from AMAC Action to ensure only eligible voters can access the ballot box.
“For all their breathless concerns about foreign interference in American elections, the progressives have no interest in fixing federal law which allows foreigners to get registered to vote,” PILF said in a press release last week, detailing multiple instances in which noncitizens were registered to vote in swing states.
In Pennsylvania, for instance, 139 cases of noncitizen voter registrations were reported between 2006 and 2018 in just Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located. Of those, 27 percent had previously cast a ballot. Election officials blamed a “glitch” in the county’s Department of Motor Vehicles online system which automatically registers individuals to vote.
In Michigan, election officials have removed more than 1,400 noncitizens from voter rolls between 2011 and 2024. In Phoenix, Arizona’s Maricopa County, authorities have canceled more than 400 noncitizen voter registrations since 2015. Another PILF investigation in North Carolina identified 1,454 registered voters who did not appear to be legal U.S. citizens.
Notably, these findings only detail instances where authorities or watchdogs like PILF caught noncitizens registering to vote. In many cases, states only reveal such information following protracted legal battles that mask the full scope of the problem.
Much of PILF’s research extends back a decade or more, highlighting that the issue of noncitizens voting is nothing new. However, changes to election laws since 2020 and the unprecedented surge of illegal aliens across the U.S.-Mexico border over the past four years have dramatically increased the danger to election integrity.
In total, at least 10 million individuals have illegally crossed the border since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office in 2021 – bringing the total estimated number of noncitizens in the United States to 24 million. According to a study conducted earlier this year, anywhere from 10 percent to 27 percent of those noncitizens are likely registered to vote. Even on the low end of 10 percent, that would mean that up to 2.4 million noncitizens could illegally cast ballots in this year’s election.
Another academic study from 2014 estimated that, in 2008, 6.4 percent of all noncitizens illegally voted in federal elections – with 81.8 percent reporting having voted for Barack Obama. If those same percentages held true this year, that would mean Kamala Harris could expect up to 1.2 million noncitizen votes.
With swing state polling showing close races in all those states, even a few thousand votes could tip the election. Georgia, which was decided by less than 12,000 votes in 2020, has more than 787,000 noncitizens. North Carolina, which Trump won by 74,000 votes four years ago, has 726,000 noncitizens. Arizona, with 611,000 noncitizens, went for Biden by less than 11,000 votes in 2020.
As AMAC Newsline has previously reported, there are several glaring loopholes in both state and federal election laws that allow noncitizens to gain access to the ballot box. In addition to requiring no form of ID to register to vote, 14 states also don’t require a photo ID to actually cast a ballot. 28 states, including Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina, allow voters to use a student ID – which does not distinguish between citizens and non-citizens.
At least 19 other states and the District of Columbia have also passed bills allowing noncitizens to obtain driver’s licenses, which again do not say whether someone is a citizen or an eligible voter. Some cities, including the nation’s capital, now even allow illegal aliens to vote in local elections.
AMAC Action has made noncitizen voting one of its top priorities in its voter outreach efforts this year, while AMAC members have made their voices heard in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill, demanding lawmakers take action to bolster election integrity.
Along with supporting various state-level measures, AMAC Action strongly backed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which the U.S. House of Representatives passed in July. That legislation would amend the National Voter Registration Act to require states to obtain documentary proof of U.S. citizenship and identity when registering an individual to vote in a federal election. It also would require states to establish a program to remove noncitizens from their existing voter rolls.
AMAC Action has also launched get-out-the-vote campaigns in key states targeted at informing AMAC members about critical issues, including election integrity and the threat of noncitizens voting. Notably, six states are voting this year on constitutional amendments that would prevent noncitizen voting, with AMAC members expected to be engaged in every state.
AMAC Action’s efforts will continue through Election Day, with a specific focus on early voting in the final week of the campaign.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
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