Politico Said Noncitizen Voting Was ‘Overblown.’ Now It Admits The Entire System Runs On Honor
Politico didn’t ‘expose’ an open secret; it merely started reporting the very same facts that Republicans had been citing all along.
olitico has spent months telling Americans that Republican concerns about noncitizens in our elections were exaggerated. Yet now that New Jersey admitted more than 6,000 noncitizens ended up on its voter rolls (about 400 of whom voted) — Politico has discovered the problem was apparently an “open secret” all along.
New Jersey Democrat Gov. Mikie Sherrill recently announced that a “software error” in the state’s motor vehicle system “led to the registration of roughly 6,600 people who indicated they were not U.S. citizens between June 2023 and June 2024.” The noncitizens allegedly answered “no” when asked whether they were citizens, but the system registered them anyway. Of those registered, nearly 400 illegally cast a ballot, the governor’s office said.
Now that the reality of noncitizens both registering to vote and voting is too difficult for the corporate media to ignore, they have to cover it. Politico’s Matt Friedman reports that the announcement “exposed an open secret about New Jersey’s so-called motor voter law that officials and political operatives have known for years: There’s little to stop noncitizens from registering to vote if they want to, or even by mistake.”
In fact, “election officials and campaign consultants from both parties believe that the number of noncitizens being added to the voter rolls is significantly higher than the 6,600 Sherrill cited — because the state has been automatically registering drivers since 2018, and her figure covers only June 2023 to June 2024,” Friedman writes.
One election official told Friedman that “it’s the honor system.”
That’s true. New Jersey’s system (like the rest of the federal voter registration system) can use a Social Security number or driver’s license identification number to confirm a prospective voter’s identity, but neither guarantees citizenship since noncitizens can get both of those documents. The system — as with all federal voter registration systems — merely asks applicants to tell the truth about their citizenship status. If the system registering does not require proof of citizenship in order to register a new voter, then it depends on the prospective voter being honest (and software processing those answers correctly).
But this vulnerability is neither new nor a secret. In fact, it’s the exact reason Republicans introduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which would amend the NVRA to require documentary proof of citizenship. The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) requires registration to be available at state motor vehicle departments. But to register to vote, one only needs to attest under penalty of perjury that they are telling the truth about their citizenship status.
But Democrats refuse to support the SAVE America Act, despite Friedman trying to cover for Democrats in the subhead, writing that “Democrats and Republicans agree the registration system is a mess.” (If that were true, Democrats would join Republicans in passing the SAVE America Act. Instead, they’ve refused). --->READ MORE HERE
‘It’s the honor system’: New Jersey's noncitizen voter registration brings private worries into the open:
In May, a bipartisan duo of New Jersey state senators introduced a simple piece of legislation that got little public attention.
It would add one sentence to the state’s automatic voter registration law to make sure someone who indicates they aren’t a U.S. citizen won’t be prompted to register to vote.
The bill turned out to be extremely prescient.
That’s because Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill disclosed last week that a “software error” at the Motor Vehicles Commission led to roughly 6,600 noncitizens getting added to the state’s voter rolls. About 400 of them voted, she said.
Her disclosure set off a political uproar that’s resonated well beyond New Jersey, feeding into the Trump administration’s push for voter restrictions and setting up a legal battle with the Department of Justice.
But it also exposed an open secret about New Jersey’s so-called motor voter law that officials and political operatives have known for years: There’s little to stop noncitizens from registering to vote if they want to, or even by mistake. And election officials and campaign consultants from both parties believe that the number of noncitizens being added to the voter rolls is significantly higher than the 6,600 Sherrill cited — because the state has been automatically registering drivers since 2018, and her figure covers only June 2023 to June 2024.
“It’s the honor system,” said Hunterdon County Board of Elections Administrator Beth Thompson, who also leads the New Jersey Association of Election Officials.
It’s unclear how many noncitizens have registered to vote in New Jersey beyond the one-year period Sherrill cited. The Trump administration gave a preliminary estimate of around 35,000. While New Jersey political insiders don’t know if that’s true, they’re almost certain it’s more than 6,600. Some speculated it could be slightly more. Others said it could be even above the Trump administration’s estimates. --->READ MORE HERE
If you like what you see, please "Like" and/or Follow us on FACEBOOK
here, GETTR
here, and TWITTER
here.
No comments:
Post a Comment