Illegal Voting

Is there a problem here or not?

I am proud to be an American citizen.

So, I felt it was my duty to go on to the website of The Honorable Ron Wyden, one of the U.S. Senators for Oregon, and ask him to support the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.

Two days ago, I received a polite, thoughtful, and well-written letter back from Senator Wyden’s office. It began:

Dear Dr. Merritt:

Thank you for contacting me regarding voter identification requirements. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

There have been many baseless charges of voter fraud and misinformation surrounding the past two election cycles, the November 2020 general election, and the November 2022 midterm election. I would like to reassure you that I have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections. Government officials, judges, and elected leaders have publicly acknowledged that the November 2020 election was the most secure in American history. Further, there has been no evidence that mass voter fraud occurred during the 2022 midterm elections.

Coincidentally, THIS ARTICLE appeared on the Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) website the next day. Here is the lede:

More than 300 noncitizens have been added to Oregon’s voter rolls over the last three years, after lawmakers passed a bill allowing people to obtain drivers licenses in the state without proving citizenship, according to a recent review by the state’s Driver and Motor Vehicle Services division.

According to the article, 306 noncitizens were registered to vote through a two-part state error.

1. The first is Oregon’s 2016  bill HB 2177, which expanded on existing federal law and was referred to as “Motor Voter on Steroids,” which promised to modernize voter registration in Oregon by providing a secure, simple, and convenient way for more Oregonians to become registered voters.

2. The second is from a 2019 bill that allows people to obtain driving privileges in the state without first showing proof of citizenship.

Importantly, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade said in a release on Friday that of the 306 noncitizens registered to vote in Oregon, only two have actually voted. Senator Wyden had some thoughts on the extent noncitizens voting in our elections:

Recently, some of my colleagues in Congress have raised concerns regarding the possibility of non-U.S. citizens voting in the November 2024 general election. Let me be clear, it is already illegal for noncitizens to register to vote, and to vote in state and federal elections. Further, there is very little evidence that noncitizens are registering to vote at all.

Except that there is evidence that noncitizens are registering to vote. At least 306, according to the OPB article. And if it is illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, can we expect criminal charges to be brought against the two people who did?

According to the OPB article, only two noncitizens voted. Out of a state with approximately 3.2 million Oregon voters, that does seem statistically insignificant and generally aligns with Senator Wyden’s assertions.

Senator Wyden acknowledges that some of his colleagues in Congress have raised concerns regarding the possibility of noncitizens voting in the upcoming November 2024 election. As an American citizen, should I simply disregard those concerns because the numbers reported in the OPB article seem insignificant?

Americans no longer trust the numbers:

• Two noncitizens voting, out of 306 noncitizens registered = .65% Illegal voters of those that have been registered.

How many noncitizens are living in Oregon? Did the Oregon DMV identify 100% of the noncitizens that have been added to Oregon’s voter rolls? Or, as the article suggest, is that number expected to grow? How zealous are our law enforcement agencies at tracking down these violations?

For a national election, one must consider the country as a whole. One of Senator Wyden's colleagues in Congress is the U.S. Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, who has STATED PUBLICLY that he believes “Roughly 16 million illegal immigrants have crossed into the United States during the Biden-Harris administration.”

Experts hotly debate the number of noncitizens residing within the country. Surely, not all of them have been registered to vote. But by extension of the OPB article, one must conclude that some have been. May we also conclude that roughly .65% of those registered nationwide will vote illegally? Is that significant? How much is too many?

One could adjust the percentage of illegal voters to get a higher number. One might also reduce the number of noncitizens in the country and get a smaller number. This is an endless discussion that gets us nowhere because it has gotten so bad that you can’t trust any of the “official” information that is being put out.

Our political leaders have fought so much, that the American people no longer trust them.

Is there a problem here or not?

Our political leaders disagree on the facts. Our researchers disagree about the statistics. The debate is so intense that all the data collected and bandied about has become essentially useless.

As an American citizen with a vested interest in a fair outcome in the upcoming election, the question about noncitizen voting has instead become a moral and ethical question that I will answer for myself within the confines of my own conscience. As must we all.

Morally, one must consider: What is the value of American citizenship? Is it a precious right to be guarded and protected at all costs? Or is it a commodity to be procured by political parties through legislative actions designed to boost voter rolls?

Ethically, one must weigh responsibility to safeguard against voter fraud against the potential inconvenience to our fellow countrymen who may have difficulty obtaining proof of their citizenship. How important is it for Americans to have trust in their elections? Whose job is it to ensure that trust?

Senator Wyden concluded his thoughts with this statement:

While we may disagree on this issue, I trust there are many others on which we agree. Again, thank you for keeping me apprised of your views.

I really appreciated his letter. However, I am afraid I have not done a good job of keeping him apprised of my views. In this article, I have taken care to only quote his letter and other open-source documents. I have followed the rules of etiquette and polite discourse. But these don't come close to expressing my real concerns.

This game has been played out in America for decades now. Is something nefarious and unseen going on all around me? My real fear is that voting has very little to do with the American citizenship that is so precious to me.

Instead of being reassured by our political leaders and scientists, it is much easier for me to imagine that the whole system is corrupt. You are being offered competing views of reality. Which do you think lies closer to the truth?