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Can Non-citizen Votes Decide U.S. Elections?
Townhall.com ^ | November 4, 2014 | Todd Gaziano

Posted on 11/04/2014 4:28:36 PM PST by Kaslin

The heated debate over voter fraud and illegal voting has largely occurred without reliable data on the extent of the problem, but that may be changing with a new study that is gaining significant attention, including Guy Benson’s piece on Townhall. The study publicized by The Washington Post has shown that noncitizen voting may be much more common than most people probably suspect, and could have changed the result in close elections. Those findings also call into question other aspects of an electoral system that is effectively policed by the “honor system,” as Hans von Spakovsky has argued elsewhere.

Federal law prohibits voting by noncitizens in federal elections, and it also requires states to periodically review and purge ineligible voters from their voting rolls, including those who have moved or are not legally eligible to vote. Despite these mandates, federal officials have refused to provide the citizenship information or assistance that state election officials need to prevent or purge illegal registrants.

Sometimes potential jurors drawn from local voting rolls object to serving by demonstrating that they aren’t citizens, but the actual number of noncitizens on the rolls is notoriously hard to establish. Many voter registration drive sponsors will help anyone register without asking for proof of citizenship, and few states require proof of citizenship to register.

Now, however, The Washington Post Monkey Cage Blog reports on an academic study by Old Dominion University scholars that is quantifying the scope of the noncitizen voting problem. The study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal, Electoral Studies, and it confirms what many election officials have been saying for years: that our safeguards against illegal voting are in need of drastic improvement.

Fourteen percent of the noncitizens in the study sample (presumably legal and illegal aliens) said that they were registered to vote, and 6.4 percent of them admitted or were confirmed to have actually voted in 2008. There have been some sporadic convictions for such illegal voting when discovered, but most election officials lack the tools or resources to detect it in any reliable manner. The survey data relied upon in the ODU study is not perfect, but it begins to fill in the gaps. It is likely that many respondents did not know that their voting was illegal, yet most registrants are required to check a box that they are a citizen, even if proof is not required. If 6.4 percent of respondents admit doing something they should know was illegal, the actual percentage could be higher.

Voter fraud and illegal voting anywhere dilutes the lawful votes of all citizens. And a legitimate concern about voter fraud and illegal voting undermines the confidence citizens have in the integrity of the electoral process, particularly in close elections.

There are many common-sense reforms that American jurisdictions could adopt to significantly lessen the risk of illegal voting and reasonable concerns about it, including simple education efforts to inform noncitizens that they are not permitted to vote in federal and most state elections. Almost every democracy on the planet does a better job than America with election integrity, although some salutary reforms have been adopted in various states. Some of these have been recommended by distinguished bi-partisan commissions, including one famously co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter. And while many voter-id and ballot protection laws have been challenged, almost all of them have been upheld in the courts after lengthy judicial review.

Unfortunately, a potent mix of partisan suspicion and fear mongering has prevented many jurisdictions from adopting needed election integrity measures. The overwhelming majority of Americans from every demographic background favor strong voter-id laws and related protections, but politicians with genuine or imagined fears have blocked many sensible reforms.

Could the resulting illegal voting have tipped many elections? With razor thin margins at almost every office level, it’s hard to deny that it is possible. We may never know for sure. Here is what the authors of the ODU study had to say about that question:

“Because non-citizens tended to favor Democrats (Obama won more than 80 percent of the votes of non-citizens in the 2008 CCES sample), we find that this participation was large enough to plausibly account for Democratic victories in a few close elections. Non-citizen votes could have given Senate Democrats the pivotal 60th vote needed to overcome filibusters in order to pass health-care reform and other Obama administration priorities in the 111th Congress. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) won election in 2008 with a victory margin of 312 votes. Votes cast by just 0.65 percent of Minnesota non-citizens could account for this margin. It is also possible that non-citizen votes were responsible for Obama’s 2008 victory in North Carolina.Obama won the state by 14,177 votes, so a turnout by 5.1 percent of North Carolina’s adult non-citizens would have provided this victory margin.”

Liberal and conservative advocates sometimes criticize each other for ignoring the best scientific research. Government officials and scholars of all stripes should join forces to improve the science on illegal voting and adopt the obvious reforms that would tend to prevent more of it.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2014elections; aliens; electionfraud; gop; illegalaliens; robthevote; votefraud

1 posted on 11/04/2014 4:28:36 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Today we vote, tomorrow we march to the food stamp office.


2 posted on 11/04/2014 4:32:03 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Ebola and Enterovirus-D68. Proud members of Viruses Without Borders.)
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To: Kaslin

Yes, why else do Ubola and his Communists fight against voter ID?


3 posted on 11/04/2014 4:32:57 PM PST by alstewartfan (Rainstorm brainstorm,Faces in the maelstromHuddled by the puddles in the shadows where drains run.)
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To: Kaslin

In a word? Yes.


4 posted on 11/04/2014 4:34:18 PM PST by ought-six ( Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule.)
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To: Kaslin

For fairness, we have deemed that non-citizens may vote five times."

5 posted on 11/04/2014 4:35:09 PM PST by Diogenesis (The EXEMPT Congress is complicit in the absence of impeachment)
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To: Kaslin

Not again!


6 posted on 11/04/2014 4:35:11 PM PST by Iron Munro (Legacy of 'Obama The Divider' - Racial Revenge)
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To: Kaslin

We can’t take two more years of Obama’s insanity and evil ways. RECALL or IMPEACH - there’s still time!


7 posted on 11/04/2014 4:43:21 PM PST by fivecatsandadog (OBAMA IS ISLAM.)
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To: Kaslin; All
"The heated debate over voter fraud and illegal voting has largely occurred without reliable data on the extent of the problem [emphasis added],"

I think that there is probably plenty of data imo. The problem is that the corrupt media is likely ignoring the data.

8 posted on 11/04/2014 4:47:17 PM PST by Amendment10
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To: Kaslin

It’s an essential Democrat tactic.


9 posted on 11/04/2014 4:47:29 PM PST by Ray76 (We must destroy the Uniparty or be destroyed by them.)
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To: Kaslin

Is it time for curtain call?


10 posted on 11/04/2014 4:49:06 PM PST by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: Kaslin

Does the Sun set slowly or is there a fire hot wind blowing? No Blues yet ...


11 posted on 11/04/2014 4:50:35 PM PST by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: Kaslin
Almost every democracy on the planet does a better job than America with election integrity

Remember that one or two elections ago, someone brought in foreign observers to ensure fair U.S. elections. Political theater, but some of the observers were surprised that we didn't use purple dye on voter's fingers to make sure nobody voted twice. Behind "almost every democracy"? Behind Afghanistan.

12 posted on 11/04/2014 4:52:34 PM PST by omega4412
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To: Kaslin
Well, yes. Yes they can. </s>
13 posted on 11/04/2014 4:59:35 PM PST by itsahoot (Voting for a Progressive RINO is the same as voting for any other Tyrant.)
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ELECTION NIGHT
KEEP FR GOING



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14 posted on 11/04/2014 5:08:51 PM PST by RedMDer (May we always be happy and may our enemies always know it. - Sarah Palin, 10-18-2010)
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To: Kaslin

I want to vote for the candidate who will pledge to fix this!


15 posted on 11/04/2014 5:26:03 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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To: Kaslin

If so, I say we get some “anti-gay” Russians in here to fix some stuff.


16 posted on 11/04/2014 5:28:26 PM PST by Politicalkiddo ("Our fertitlity is not a disease that needs to be medicated."- Lila Rose)
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To: Kaslin

Ask Bob Dornan.


17 posted on 11/04/2014 5:31:18 PM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Kaslin

Fix it without violating American freedoms.

The State of Freedom in America
By Claire Wolfe
http://backwoodshome.com/articles2/wolfe149.html


18 posted on 11/04/2014 5:37:59 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: Kaslin
I have posted this before but- I was driving for Trailways in ‘08 and on election day had 25+- Mexicans put aboard my bus in Iowa being sent to Il. with pictographic instructions on how to vote Dem. I presume they had already voted in Iowa. That's 50 illegal votes.
19 posted on 11/04/2014 5:38:36 PM PST by CrazyIvan (I lost my phased plasma rifle in a tragic hovercraft accident.)
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To: Kaslin

Depends on WHAT YOU think a citizen “IS”....


20 posted on 11/04/2014 5:44:30 PM PST by hosepipe (" This propaganda has been edited (specifically) to include some fully orbed hyperbole.. ")
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