Noncitizen Voting: the Biggest Threat to the 2016 Elections?

Throughout the current presidential campaign, a number of questions have arisen about the about the number of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections and the relative ease with which they seem to be able to register. J. Christian Adams of the Election Law Center has called illegal alien voting “the biggest threat to the 2016 elections.”

The problem isn’t limited to illegal aliens, though. At any given time, there are 10-20 million noncitizens lawfully present in the United States with very few safeguards in place to prevent or deter any of them from voting. There is evidence that these foreigners are voting. And in close races around the country, even a small number of fraudulently cast votes can swing an election. Aliens were recently discovered on the rolls in both Virginia and Pennsylvania.

What is the government doing about it? Alien voter prosecutions are rare. The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York recently charged a Canadian woman with making a false claim to U.S. citizenship in order to vote. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website lists a 2011 arrest of an illegal alien charged with voter fraud. And diligent search of the Internet will produce several accounts of state arrests for egregious instances of illegal voting but this is clearly not a prominent issue for state prosecutors.

Meanwhile, the federal courts keep striking down voter ID laws, robbing electoral authorities of the most reasonable means for ensuring the integrity of the balloting process. Measures in Kansas, North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin have all been nullified on the grounds that they would have a discriminatory impact on minority voters. This argument doesn’t make sense, since the vast majority of adults in America hold some form of photo identification and states with voter ID laws offer qualifying documentation at minimal or no cost.

Although dismissed by many as a “witch hunt” or a myth, with the 2016 election fast approaching, the possibility exists that voting by noncitizens could significantly influence the results. And, given the rate at which both the legal and illegal alien populations have been allowed to grow, the United States should be concerned with ensuring that the electoral power of U.S. citizens is not undermined by individuals and entities whose interests may not coincide with those of the American people.

 

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Matt O'Brien: Matthew J. O’Brien joined the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in 2016. Matt is responsible for managing FAIR’s research activities. He also writes content for FAIR’s website and publications. Over the past twenty years he has held a wide variety of positions focusing on immigration issues, both in government and in the private sector. Immediately prior to joining FAIR Matt served as the Chief of the National Security Division (NSD) within the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS) at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), where he was responsible for formulating and implementing procedures to protect the legal immigration system from terrorists, foreign intelligence operatives, and other national security threats. He has also held positions as the Chief of the FDNS Policy and Program Development Unit, as the Chief of the FDNS EB-5 Division, as Assistant Chief Counsel with U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, as a Senior Advisor to the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman, and as a District Adjudications Officer with the legacy Immigration & Naturalization Service. In addition, Matt has extensive experience as a private bar attorney. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in French from the Johns Hopkins University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Maine School of Law.