Through the 2024 presidential race, former President Donald Trump and his allies, together with X proprietor Elon Musk, have promoted an unfounded conspiracy concept that undocumented migrants are being allowed into the U.S. to vote.
Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud by undocumented immigrants usually are not new. In 2020, after dropping his reelection bid, he alleged that tens of 1000’s of noncitizens voted within the battleground state of Arizona, which election officers there disputed. Trump made related claims about unlawful voting way back to 2014.
Voter fraud by noncitizens — together with each lawful immigrant residents and people right here illegally — may be very uncommon, specialists have discovered, and research have discovered no proof of widespread noncitizen voting in earlier elections. Forward of the 2024 normal election, listed here are key information to know.
Undocumented immigrant voting is uncommon
A number of research and investigations have concluded there have been only a few cases of noncitizens voting in federal elections in fashionable historical past.
After the 2016 election, evaluation by the nonpartisan Brennan Heart for Justice discovered 30 circumstances of suspected noncitizens voting reported by election officers out of 23.5 million votes forged within the 42 jurisdictions reviewed.
A Washington Publish evaluation of the conservative Heritage Basis’s database of voter fraud circumstances introduced by prosecutors discovered simply 85 circumstances involving allegations of noncitizen voting over a two-decade interval from 2002 to 2023.
The info signifies noncitizen voting shouldn’t be going to sway the election end result this November, in line with Alice Clapman, senior counsel for voting rights on the Brennan Heart.
“You take a look at the margin between candidates in a presidential election, and it’s vastly greater than even probably the most inflated determine of the handful of noncitizens who’ve been discovered to have voted,” Clapman stated.
There are extreme penalties for noncitizens who attempt to vote illegally
It’s unlawful for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. Violators danger not solely deportation, however fines and as much as one 12 months in federal jail. Moreover, falsely claiming U.S. citizenship whereas registering to vote can lead to imprisonment for as much as 5 years.
If noncitizens commit voter fraud, they create authorities data of their actions — which means it is doable for them to be caught.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers officers are informed to verify public voter information in the course of the naturalization course of to see if candidates have tried to vote, in line with the Brennan Heart.
“If any person is undocumented, they need nothing to do with something that may carry them to the eye of authorities, or jeopardize their standing if they’ve non permanent standing,” Clapman stated.
Folks should attest that they’re U.S. residents when registering to vote
When registering to vote, people should attest to their U.S. citizenship underneath penalty of perjury on the federal voter registration type.
The shape doesn’t require documentation or proof of citizenship, however federal regulation requires voters to offer a driver’s license quantity or the final 4 digits of their Social Safety quantity at minimal to register in each state.
Some noncitizens licensed to work in america by the Division of Homeland Safety can have a Social Safety quantity, in line with the federal company, and unauthorized immigrants can get driver’s licenses in 19 states.
However states cross-check info of voter registration candidates with state and federal databases to maintain noncitizens off voter rolls, in line with David Becker, government director of the Heart of Election Innovation and Analysis and CBS Information’ election regulation contributor.
“If in case you have a driver’s license quantity and it seems you’ve got received a inexperienced card, the DMV has that,” Becker stated. “Are there cases when folks fall via the cracks? Sure. However this is the reason when Republican states attempt to search for noncitizens voting, they discover extremely low numbers.”
Ineligible voters are recurrently faraway from state voter rolls
The federal authorities has required states to recurrently preserve voter rolls because the passage of the Nationwide Voter Registration Act in 1993. This upkeep course of removes ineligible voters, usually those that have died or moved.
States additionally try to flag noncitizens who could have been added to voter rolls in error. As a part of this course of, some states confirm citizenship by cross-checking voter info with databases just like the federal SAVE program, which might verify U.S. citizenship.
It takes years for immigrants to grow to be naturalized residents
Trump and Musk have repeatedly implied that migrants coming into the U.S. underneath the Biden administration can shortly acquire voting eligibility in time for the 2024 election, however that is deceptive.
By federal regulation, a noncitizen should stay in america for no less than 5 years — or 3 years in case you are married to a U.S. citizen — as a authorized everlasting resident (inexperienced card holder) earlier than they will apply for citizenship.
Candidates should meet sure eligibility necessities to obtain a inexperienced card within the first place, and the overwhelming majority of candidates by no means obtain one, in line with evaluation of federal knowledge by the Cato Institute, a conservative suppose tank.
In recent times, the Biden-Harris administration has carried out extra restrictive asylum guidelines which have made it much more tough for migrants to pursue asylum and an eventual path to citizenship.
