PERFECT STORM: Major Questions Highlighting on Security of Automatic Voter Registration
'Predictably will lead to large numbers of ineligible individuals such as aliens and felons'
A new report indicates that “automatic voting registration,” a system pursued by several Democratic-led states, may be at risk of registering voters twice and allowing foreign nationals to vote in U.S. elections, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity (CUP).
Currently, 23 states and the District of Columbia automatically register U.S. citizens to vote using various state forms they may submit, such as driver’s license applications, according to the CUP’s report, titled “Automatic Voter Registration: A Perfect Storm for Voter Fraud.” Drawing on published statistics, it argues that automatic voter registration programs enable some voters to be registered twice and may inadvertently register foreign nationals residing in the U.S. as voters, which it claims amounts to “voter fraud.”
“[A]utomatic voter registration registers the person automatically without asking – effectively without their consent – and whether they are eligible to vote or not,” the report reads. “It also would register people using information in various existing state and federal government databases, which predictably will lead to the registration of large numbers of ineligible individuals such as aliens and felons, as well as multiple or duplicate registrations of the same individual, both in the same and different states.”
The report claims that the current inaccuracy of voter registration systems makes automatic registration a risky proposition. “Pew found that approximately 24 million—one of every eight—voter registrations in the United States were no longer valid or are significantly inaccurate. About 2.8 million people were registered in more than one state, and 1.8 million registered voters are dead. In most places, it’s easy to vote under the names of such people with little risk of detection,” the report says.
Democratic Party leaders and left-wing groups have frequently touted automatic registration as a way to turn out more voters. The report cites former Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez’s statements in 2012 that “all eligible citizens can and should be automatically registered to vote…from databases that already exist,” as evidence.
“Outdated voter registration systems contribute to the United States’ low participation rates. Automatic voter registration could put every eligible voter on the rolls and give more Americans a voice,” reads a report by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which advocates for the practice.
Automatic registration was included as a provision of H.R. 1, the “For The People Act” — a large election reform package — which was passed by the Democratic-led House of Representatives in the 117th Congress but failed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, with all Republicans voting in opposition.
Regarding foreign nationals voting, which is illegal under federal law, the report indicates that even when foreign nationals do not seek to register to vote using state forms, they are often inadvertently registered. The aliens had “self-identified” as noncitizens when they applied for a driver’s license, yet were registered anyway, the report indicates, while also warning that some state processes that do not inquire about citizenship status nonetheless may be registering foreign nationals as voters.
The report cites a controversy in 2017 that took place in Pennsylvania, where it was discovered that 168 foreign nationals in Philadelphia inadvertently registered to vote in the city after applying for driver’s licenses. It also cites a similar controversy in California in 2018, when it was discovered that approximately 1,500 non-citizens had been registered to vote, also through the driver’s license application system.
John Fund, the report’s author, did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Adele Malpass, the president of the Daily Caller News Foundation, was previously a member of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.
