More Non-Citizens May Be Registered to Vote in Pennsylvania Than Initial Reports Indicated

The latest from the non-citizen voter registration problems in Pennsylvania is that the problem could be much larger than initially thought.  Back in September, Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt reported that 220 non-citizens registered to vote in Philadelphia through a "glitch" at the DMV that allowed persons to register to vote after they had proven that they were non-citizens.  41% had voted at least once.

Then in October, Pennsylvania's Democratic Secretary of State, Pedro Cortes, resigned abruptly and with no explanation.  No official explanation has been given to date, though it was revealed in November that Democratic Governor Tom Wolf forced the resignation, but rumors abound that the resignation was related to the non-citizen registration debacle.

But now it appears after some initial investigation that the problem is greater than the early estimates:

Philadelphia election Commissioner Al Schmidt told state lawmakers this past week that there may be tens of thousands of non-US citizens who have registered to vote in Pennsylvania…and that for their sake, state officials should try to contact them. 

Commissioner Al Schmidt told a Senate committee that many of the non-US citizens who registered to vote in Philadelphia, perhaps unwittingly, did so through a glitch in the state’s motor voter system. While the known cases number only several hundred, he says they are all self-reported. Schmidt says more than 100,000 PA driver’s license numbers with Immigration and Naturalization Service indicators match with voter registration records. . . . "We’re not talking about an insignificant number here,” said Schmidt. “We’re talking about a potentially very significant number of thousands and tens of thousands.”

While not all of these license number hits are non-citizens registered to vote, certainly a significant number are.  As Commissioner Schmidt points out, the victims of non-citizen voter registration and voting are not only the citizens whose votes are cancelled out but the non-citizens themselves, as voter registration as a non-citizen can hinder any future naturalization process:

Schmidt says those people should be contacted. Besides the issue of election integrity, he says registering to vote – even unintentionally – will derail an immigrant’s path to US citizenship.

We will continue to follow this story and investigation.  It demonstrates the immense importance of proper election procedures and testing of election systems to ensure that there are no "glitches," whether technical or substantive, that threaten the integrity of voter registration or elections.

After Non-Citizen Voter Registration Scandal, PA SOS Resigns Abruptly

In a surprise move, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortes resigned late Wednesday.  The reasons for his resignation are mysterious, but many speculate that the registration of non-citizens through the "motor voter" system is to blame:

Cortes’ departure was announced in a 349-word “personnel update” emailed from Gov. Wolf’s office that offered no reason and focused almost entirely on his replacement, interim Secretary of State Robert Torres. . . . J.J. Abbott, a spokesman for Wolf, said he could not offer an explanation for Cortes’ departure. 

As secretary of state, Cortes served as the state’s top election official. His departure comes a week after State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, chairman of the House State Government Committee, and 15 of his colleagues sent Cortes a letter “to express our dire concerns” about the disclosure three weeks ago that legal resident noncitizens in Pennsylvania had been offered the chance to register to vote while applying for or renewing drivers’ licenses at PennDot service centers. . . .

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for non-citizens to be placed on the voter registration rolls through the "motor voter" program, an NVRA requirement that requires the DMV (or similar agency) to offer the opportunity to register to vote.  What is striking in Pennsylvania is that the problem derived from the structure of the DMV process, and large numbers of the registered non-citizens had voted:

The Department of State then said it had records of 1,160 canceled voter registrations listing ineligibility as a reason and said the issue was under review. . . . [Philadelphia City Commissioner Al] Schmidt said his staff traced the problem for 168 of the 220 documented cases to PennDot centers, where they produced immigration documents  to show they were in this country legally and eligible for a driver’s license. 

Later in the process, the applicants were asked to check a box on an electronic kiosk if they also wanted to register to vote. . . . The Department of State last month said it started changing the order of questions on the PennDot kiosks in August 2016 to address the problem.

While it is commendable that Pennsylvania has finally taken steps to resolve what Gov. Wolf's office calls a "glitch," it is remarkable that a system that allowed people to register to vote after they had proven their ineligibility lasted for so many years. 

This may just be the tip of the iceberg.  The cases that have been reported and investigated are from people who requested to be removed from the voter rolls due to ineligibility.  There may be many more non-citizens who were registered through the "motor voter" process who remain on the rolls and are still voting.

And two days later, the mystery surrounding Secretary Cortes' resignation remains, leaving us to wonder what more will come out about non-citizen registration and voting in Pennsylvania in the coming weeks.

Brennan Center Spreads Fake News; Noncitizens Are Actually Voting

The Brennan Center for Justice (BCJ) has recently been fond of tweeting over and over:

BCJ report found total of 30 cases of possible noncitizen voting—that’s 30, not 300, 3,000, 30,000, 300,000, or 3M

Turns out their numbers are an absurdly low estimate . . .  even in just one city.  Today, Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt released the following statement:

My office has identified 220 non-U.S. citizens who were registered to vote in Philadelphia at some point between 2006 and 2017. Of the 220 non-U.S. citizen registrants, 90 (41%) voted in at least one election. Of those who voted, 44 (49%) voted on one occasion, while 46 (51%) voted in two to twelve elections in the period in which they were registered. The total number of votes cast by non-U.S. citizens we identified is 227, with the largest number of votes (47) cast in the 2008 General Election. All 220 non-U.S. citizens provided documentation (e.g., signed affidavit or letter from the registrant or their immigration attorney) canceling their voter registration status on the grounds that they were not U.S. citizens and, therefore, were not eligible to register to vote.

Commissioner Schmidt traces the illegal votes to problems with Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).  Despite having a citizenship verification procedure, PennDOT still managed to register these non-citizens (emphasis added):

The overwhelming majority (76%) of non-U.S. citizens who registered to vote either initially registered to vote through PennDOT or modified their voter registration record through PennDOT. When non-U.S. citizens apply for a driver’s license, they are required to provide stay documents to show their legal status to remain in the U.S. for at least one year.  PennDOT verifies these immigration documents electronically with the Department of Homeland Security and the applicant’s driver’s license record is marked using an INS Indicator. Nevertheless, following this interaction, non-U.S. citizen applicants – just the same as U.S. citizen applicants – are asked if they would like to register to vote using touch screen technology when driver’s licenses are issued to applicants at PennDOT offices. In addition to the possible challenge of limited English proficiency, it is also possible that – after just providing proof of their status as non-U.S. citizens – applicants believe they are eligible to vote.

“The current voter registration process at PennDOT is both harmful to election integrity and to members of the immigrant community seeking citizenship,” Schmidt said.

The last statement is important as it shows the problems with voter registration systems run through DMV.  The DMV was asking them to register to vote AFTER they had established they were not a citizen.  While the left is pushing for a much broader role for the DMV with systems such as "mandatory (or automatic) voter registration" that also serve to disenfranchise primary voters, these systems may be endangering non-citizens' immigration status.  After all, why would you ask this question after you know I am not a citizen.  

Liberal groups like the Brennan Center should stop denying that non-citizens vote and join with others that are working on fixing these problems both for election integrity and the benefit of legal immigrants seeking to become citizens.  

Connecticut & Mandatory Voter Registration - A Recipe for a Slow Motion Train Wreck

Mandatory voter registration is the most recent nonsensical idea sprouting up on the left. The basic premise is simple, at least according to their theory. However the actual implementation and execution of the process is another matter altogether especially when the DMV is involved.

The basic idea is that whenever a person goes into the DMV to procure a license or an ID, they will be mandatorily registered to vote that is unless they want to opt out. A few states that have decided to give this a try but it is unlikely to provide any benefit at the polls if our experience is similar to that of other countries that have forced citizens to register. For example, Canada attempted the same process back in the 90s only to see voter turnout decline. So what is the driving force? Votes.

Connecticut is one of the states that has recently adopted the process. However, their method could best be described as underhanded. Denise Merrill, Connecticut Secretary of State, and Michael Bzdyra, Connecticut DMV Commissioner, recently took it upon themselves to bypass the legislature and consequently the will of the people.

The "memorandum of agreement," signed Monday by DMV Commissioner Michael Bzdyra and Deputy Secretary of the State James Spallone, says the new system, under which the DMV customer would be registered to vote unless he or she specifically declines by choosing to opt out, would begin operating by August 2018.

Under the current program, the DMV customer is registered to vote only if he or she actively chooses that option.

On Tuesday, Bzdyra and the state's top elections official, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, jointly announced the agreement that accomplishes what Merrill proposed in a bill that did not win approval during the recently concluded regular 2016 General Assembly session.

Connecticut’s DMV has had numerous issues with voter registration in the past. It seems beyond reason or at the very minimum counterintuitive that a bill unable to make it through the state legislature is put in place anyway without the blessing of its citizens. This is simply deceitful and appalling. It is an affront to the citizens of the great state of Connecticut. The DMV’s track record clearly does not justify adding more responsibility to the agency. This fact coupled with method in which the system is being adopted show that the push is not about the people. It’s about a perceived benefit during elections. Something is not right with the whole situation and whenever that is the case, all you need to do is follow the money. Check out line 12.