The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 24, 2024
Today’s Script
(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
At the Republican National Convention, Sen. Ted Cruz claimed that Democrats tolerated illegal immigration so noncitizens would fraudulently vote. Such claims might rile up the GOP base, but they are patently false.
The narrative of voting by undocumented noncitizen immigrants has been around for years, but pushed recently by former Trump election lawyer Cleta Mitchell, founder of the Election Integrity Network and the Only Citizens Vote Coalition. Mitchell alleges that because states issue driver’s licenses to noncitizens, and IDs are required to vote, this translates to massive voter fraud.
It’s not true. Noncitizen voting for state & federal elections has been illegal since the early 1900s. To register in almost all states, a birth certificate, naturalization certificate, or passport is required, and noncitizens registering are subject to fines, prison or deportation. The Brennan Center for Justice recently wrote, “Would you risk everything — your freedom, your life in the United States, your ability to be near your family — just to cast a single ballot?”
The Brennan Center’s 2016 research of 42 jurisdictions which processed 23.5 million votes found only 30 suspected cases. And investigations typically find clerical mistakes responsible, not intentional fraud. A study review by the conservative Cato Institute concluded, “. . . there is no good evidence that noncitizens voted illegally in large enough numbers to actually shift the outcome of elections.”
We’ve linked the research at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Brennan Center for Justice – Myth of Noncitizen Voting
Democracy Docket –Debunking the Myths Surrounding Noncitizen Voting
Washington Post – (Possible paywall) The truth about noncitizen voting in federal elections
NPR – Conservatives are warning about noncitizens voting. It’s a myth with a long history
Only Citizens Vote Coalition – Cleta Mitchell’s allegations of noncitizen voting
Cato Institute – Noncitizens Don’t Illegally Vote in Detectable Numbers
Brennan Center for Justice – (2017) Noncitizen Voting: The Missing Millions
Groups Taking Action:
Common Cause, Anti-Defamation League, NAACP Legal Defense Fund
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