Non-Citizen Voter Fraud Report Generates Extensive Media Coverage

By Kevin Lamb
Volume 19, Number 1 (Fall 2008)
Issue theme: "Immigration Reform and the Obama Administration"


Summary:
New study examines impact of non-citizen vote on U.S. elections.  For photos of the press conference, see the PDF version of this article.

On October 7, 2008, The Social Contract released a report on non-citizen voter fraud during a press conference at the National Press Club. The new study — How Many Non-Citizen Voters? Enough to Make a Difference: The Impact of Non-Citizen Voting on American Elections by David Simcox, a career foreign service officer of the U.S. State Department — estimates the magnitude and potential impact of the non-citizen vote.

The study points out that in 2006, the numbers of non-citizen voters ranged from:

● 127,000 to 235,000 in New York

● 57,000 and 113,000 in New Jersey

● 87,000 and 209,000 in Illinois

● 476,000 to 700,000 in California

● 146,000 and 232,000 in Florida

● 161,000 to 333,000 in Texas, and

● 41,000 to 86,000 in Arizona.

Simcox calculates the vote totals of non-citizen voters nationwide (after reviewing the 2006 election returns). The estimated totals range from 1,839,000 to 2,714,00 illegal voters. These figures comprise a substantial voting bloc for upcoming elections. The report pinpoints absentee voting as the greatest facilitator of fraudulent voting.

“Once one has registered fraudulently, he or she can obtain an absentee ballot for every election thereafter if he or she wishes. The lack of ‘in-person, at-the-polls’ accountability makes absentee ballots the ‘tools of choice’ for those inclined to commit voter fraud,” the report noted.

An estimated 1.2 to 2.7 million non-citizen immigrants who have registered to vote could tip the balance in U.S. general elections according to the Simcox study.

These figures of illegal voters were projected from a 2007 California poll demonstrating that 12 percent of adult non-citizens are registered to vote.

Noting that the 2008 elections have stimulated urgent voter registration drives by national ethnic groups, Simcox said that “there is an urgency for citizens, naturalized or native, to decide whether voting should remain an exclusive attribute of citizenship and to demand the safeguards to make it so.”

Simcox, who researches and writes on population and immigration trends, examined the U.S. Census and voter registrations along with other national data sources. Several news organizations reported the findings of the study. Links to some of these news reports are available on The Social Contract web site: www.thesocialcontract.com.

About the author

Kevin Lamb is Managing Editor of The Social Contract.