Ever since the 2016 presidential elections, the topic of voter fraud has gained more attention.
This was especially so following President Donald Trump’s statement that if it weren’t for illegal voting, he would have won the popular vote, in addition to the Electoral College count.
To illustrate how much California’s numbers count, if one looks just at the popular vote in the rest of the nation, Trump would have won the popular vote by 1.4 million votes. Outside of California, Trump received 58,501,015 votes to Clinton’s 57,099,728 votes.
“There are varying degrees of absurdity in the fallacies President Trump peddled during his first week in the Oval Office. Perhaps the most damaging was his insistence that millions of Americans voted illegally in the election he narrowly won.”
• Approximately 24 million–one out of every eight–voter registrations in the United States are no longer valid or are significantly inaccurate.
• More than 1.8 million deceased individuals are listed as voters.
• Approximately 2.75 million people have registrations in more than one state.
Despite its age, the Pew study is still cited by sources such as the National Conference of State Legislatures, precisely because very few quantifiable, newer studies seem to exist.
• Strict photo ID required: Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
• Strict non-photo ID required: Arizona, North Dakota, and Ohio.
• Non-strict photo ID required: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Texas.
• Non-strict non-photo ID required: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, and West Virginia.
• No ID required to vote at the ballot box: California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wyoming.
“When you look at those registered to vote, and you compare and contrast those numbers with people actually eligible to vote, you come up with the 3.5 million individuals spread out across the 50 states,” Judicial Watch says in a statement on its website.
California Voter Registration
On Jan. 1, 2015, California Assembly Bill 60 (AB-60) became law. AB-60 allows illegal immigrants in the United States to apply for a California driver’s license with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). An estimated 605,000 undocumented residents received California driver’s licenses under AB-60, in the first year alone. The California DMV recently issued a press release stating that more than a million licenses had been issued under AB-60 as of April 4, 2018.State officials chose not to make non-citizen license holders searchable in the DMV database. This specific provision, by itself, opens the doors to illegal voter registration as the driver’s license becomes indistinguishable online.
Automatic voter registration makes voter registration an “opt-out” process instead of “opt-in”—eligible citizens who interact with government agencies, such as the DMV, are registered to vote or have their existing registration information updated, unless they affirmatively decline. The legislation also specifically exempts ineligible voters who end up being registered from any penalty.
“The VRC asks the applicant if he or she is a United States citizen. The voter may check either “Yes”, “No”, or not check either box.
“If the voter indicates, by checking the “yes” box, that he or she is a U.S. citizen, the registration should be processed normally.”
But the process doesn’t end there:
“If the voter indicates, by checking the “No” box, that he or she isn’t a U.S. citizen, the registration may not be entered on the voter rolls. The elections official should send the voter a returnable card or letter requesting clarification as to whether or not the voter is a U.S. citizen. If the voter returns the card indicating that he or she is a U.S. citizen, the VRC should be entered on the voter rolls. If the card is returned and the voter indicates he or she is not a citizen, or if no response is received from the voter, then the voter shall not be registered.
“If the voter does not check either the “Yes” or “No” box, do not process the registration.”
A prior version of the document was even more lenient, stating that:
Number of Illegal Aliens
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the most recent data provided, “12.1 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States in January 2014. …California remained the leading state of residence of the unauthorized immigrant population in 2014, with 2.9 million, nearly 25 percent of the total number.”Interestingly, the numbers from the DHS changed little from their prior 2012 study, in which they provided an estimate of 2,830,000 illegal immigrants residing in California. In a further note of question, the DHS cited a figure of 2,840,000 illegal immigrants in 2007—10,000 higher than in 2012 and virtually identical to 2014 levels.
That let non-citizens know that they stood little chance of being caught if they voted.
Ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections, the president has warned against voter fraud.
“All levels of government and Law Enforcement are watching carefully for VOTER FRAUD, including during EARLY VOTING,“ Trump wrote on Twitter on Oct. 20. ”Cheat at your own peril. Violators will be subject to maximum penalties, both civil and criminal!”