EPEC NEWS

EPEC TEAM NEWSLETTER:

Progressive-aligned media outlets often claim (without citation) that non-citizens who vote illegally “almost never happens.”

Virginia’s own Dept. of Elections records say otherwise.

As of May, 2023, the department removed 1,481 registrations for “non-citizen status” from the Commonwealth’s official voter rolls, according to its maintenance records.

Of those removals, Electoral Process Education Corporation (EPEC) has identified voting records of over 800 ballots cast by voters the Commonwealth has designated as “non-citizen” for the reason they were removed from official rolls. Their voting histories go back to at least 2019.

If non-citizens are voting repeatedly, which the department’s public records reflect, that would mean non-legal votes are canceling out legal ballots for more than 800 votes that we know about.

Jon Lareau, who volunteers as EPEC’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), explains the findings in his recent blog post on DigitalPollWatchers.org:

Using the data provided by the VA Department of Elections (ELECT), we have identified at least 1,481 unique registrations that were identified as “Determined Non-Citizen” and removed by ELECT from the voter rolls since May of 2023.

Of those 1,481 there were 335 that also had corresponding records of recent ballots cast in the official Voter History record. There were 838 associated ballots cast since Feb of 2019.

That the VA Dept. of Elections is identifying and removing invalid or out-of-date registration records reflects an ongoing process of modernizing methods to make the voter rolls more accurate.

One of those categories for explaining removal is “if a registrant has been determined to be a non-citizen. It is required by the VA Constitution that only citizens are allowed to vote in VA elections.”

EPEC Team reached out to the Virginia Attorney General’s office to inquire if any records exist of prosecution for illegal balloting by persons unqualified to vote, which is a Class 6 felony in Virginia. It is also a Class 6 felony for anyone who “procures, assists, or induces another to vote knowing that such person is not qualified to vote.”

The AG’s office said it had no prosecution records responsive to the query.

EPEC Team is in the process of reaching out to the General Registrars in the 59 Localities where the ballots were cast, and inquiring with Commonwealth Attorneys on actions they may have taken on repeated balloting.

In Pennsylvania, state officials have admitted to registering non-citizens to vote through the motor vehicle system. How many have been voting in the Commonwealth has become so complex that the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) “filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the Public Interest Legal Foundation’s (PILF) right under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to obtain records relating to the registration of foreign nationals at PennDOT offices for more than two decades.”

See case background here.

Most of the findings of non-citizens voting were in Virginia’s most populous localities (see screenshot below).