Virginia election officials quietly removed 5,556 voters for being noncitizens, and a new investigation suggests it\u2019s just the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n
The Public Interest Legal Foundation, partnering with the Virginia Voters Alliance, found that noncitizens in the Old Dominion voted 7,474 times between 2011 and May 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cVirginia election officials routinely fail to alert law enforcement about these illegal votes or registrations,\u201d PILF president and general counsel J. Christian Adams charged in a new report, \u201cAlien Invasion.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Edgardo Cortes, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections, discounted PILF\u2019s concerns, saying the information on illegal voters was \u201creadily available on our website.\u201d<\/p>\n But the state site showed only 1,531 noncitizens being removed from Virginia\u2019s voting rolls.<\/p>\n Adams said his group expended 100 hours rooting out illegal voters. He accused Gov. Terry McAuliffe\u2019s administration of blocking election-integrity legislation.<\/p>\n McAuliffe this year vetoed SB 1581<\/a>, which would have required local registrars to verify incoming voter applications against state and federal databases, including Social Security records.<\/p>\n The Democratic governor also vetoed SB 872<\/a>, which would have applied voter-ID protocols to absentee balloting.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of registered noncitizens in Virginia thus far identified by this investigation is just the tip of the iceberg,\u201d PILF stated in its report.<\/p>\n According to 2016 U.S. Census estimates, some 474,000 voting-age noncitizens reside in Virginia. \u201cEach of these individuals can make their way onto the voting rolls by simply checking the wrong box during a visit to the DMV. The true extent of the problem likely runs in the tens of thousands, if not more,\u201d PILF asserted.<\/p>\n Last year, FAIR reported that America\u2019s voter registration system is \u201csusceptible to abuse by noncitizens.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Reagan George, director of the nonpartisan Virginia Voters Alliance, said his group continues to scour \u2013 any may sue — counties where registered voters outnumber the voting-age population.<\/p>\n \u201cThe McAuliffe administration has done everything it could to drag this out. Trying to get a local Democratic prosecutor to act is next to impossible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n ###