There are few issues that animate conservatives these days more than immigration and voter integrity. Bring those two issues together, and you have a bill proposed by a conservative lawmaker from Central Illinois.
Dan Caulkins’ district includes much of rural eastern and southern McLean County. The three-term Republican lawmaker from Decatur won’t be on the ballot in November. He’s retiring. But Caulkins said he’s worried about other candidates whose names will be on the ballot and those who will be casting ballots.
“If you have an organization that is going around, particularly going around these housing areas, where we have these illegal aliens, and registering them to vote, I think that makes is pretty obvious,” said Caulkins.
Caulkins said he thinks this has been a problem in Illinois, though could not say where.
“Do you lock your house at night?” he responded.
When pressed further about where ineligible voters are being signed up, Caulkins cited Oregon where more than 1,000 non-citizens had been mistakenly registered to vote since 2021.
“If it’s not happening and people are not involved in this, then what’s the harm? Why not put a little teeth in it? Why not make a deterrent?” Caulkins asked.
Voter fraud does happen, but cases are rare. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, tracks voter fraud across the country.
It reports 20 improperly cast ballots in the U.S. this year. Many were for false registration, buying votes or voting multiple times. All but four led to criminal convictions.
Illinois has had one confirmed ballot fraud incident since 2019, a duplicate primary election voter in Macon County in 2022.
Illinois did mistakenly register more than 500 non-citizens to vote when it rolled out a new automatic voter registration system. It led to 15 ineligible voters casting ballots in 2018 and 2019. The Illinois Secretary of State’s office at the time called it a computer error.
Charlotte Alvarez is executive director of The Immigration Project, an agency based in Normal that offers services to immigrants across central and southern Illinois.
Alvarez said she’s talked with thousands of immigrants over the years, and she makes a point of asking all of them about voting.
“When I ask clients if they have ever voted in a U.S. election, they have a very clear, ‘Oh no, we would never’ response to that question. People are shocked that could be something to be asked because it’s just seen as something that’s not a viable option for folks who are not citizens,” said Alvarez, adding she’s never heard a non-citizen share that they have voted.
Driver’s licenses
These few cases haven’t stopped some on the far right from claiming voter fraud, and attempts to commit voter fraud are rampant. The voter integrity push gained steam in Illinois in July after the state started to issue driver’s licenses for non-citizens who were granted temporary, legal entry into the country.
Illinois has a motor voter system where you are automatically registered to vote when you get your license. But it does not apply to non-citizens. The Illinois Secretary of State’s office sent a letter to local election officers in early July to explain new safeguards they put in place to ensure only eligible U.S. citizens can vote.
For example, a foreign passport or consular ID card will get you a driver’s license, but those documents will block voter registration.
Skeptics argue that otherwise, there’s no way to verify a voter’s legal status. And they are correct.
The head of elections in McLean County, Republican county clerk Kathy Michael, said she hears lots of concerns from the public about the threat of illegal voting.
“We’re getting a lot of that right now. A lot of questions about that: ‘How do you know Kathy when they register to vote they are a citizen?’ I say because they tell us they are,” Michael said.
Anyone signing up to vote only needs to attest they are a U-S citizen. That’s it. Illinois does not require any identification, such as a driver’s license because that’s long been considered a hindrance to voting — a so-called poll tax.
“There’s a box that they check on the registration form and that’s it. I’m not being critical or otherwise. Personally, I think there should be more proof to prove you are a U.S. citizen now more than ever,” Michael said.
So it sounds like voter registration is all done on the honor system.
Disincentive
Matt Dietrich, a spokesperson with the Illinois State Board of Elections, said that not exactly the case.
“There’s a tremendous disincentive for a non-citizen in the United States to registering to vote and voting,” Dietrich said. “That is if they are caught, they will be deported.”
Dietrich said anyone who votes illegally, even by mistake, and later applies for citizenship or asylum or for a green card, immigration officers will check to see if they’ve ever voter or registered. That voter will face felony charges and deportation.
That takes us back to Caulkins’ bill. It would make it a felony to knowingly help a non-citizen cast a ballot illegally.
Dietrich said he can’t comment on pending legislation, but said there’s already a law for that.
“If they are knowingly out there trying to sign someone up [to vote] and if they knowingly encourage this person to commit voter fraud, which is knowing they are not a U.S. citizen, is committing a federal crime,” he said, adding it would be left to prosecutors to consider charges.
Dietrich said there’s also no evidence in Illinois that this is happening.
“I’m not aware of any case where you’ve had a third-party group going out into the field, going door to door, and telling people, ‘Don’t worry, go ahead and sign it, they’ll never catch [you]. I’ve never heard of that happening.”
The bill Caulkins introduced also calls for felony charges against any non-citizen who votes illegally. He said he plans to remove that from the bill since that’s already a felony. Again, offenders are deported.
“We failed to catch the part about it’s already a federal crime to vote. That was an oversight on my part and their part,” he said, referring to his staff. “Nobody actually caught that until the bill was drafted.”
Caulkins added he’s disappointed the bill won’t get a hearing before the November election.
Charlotte Alvarez with the Immigration Project said she’d prefer to see lawmakers spend their time addressing real problems, adding the proposal may create its own problem.
“Legislation like this in an election year could have this dampening and chilling effect that would reduce voter participation and turnout of people who are eligible and able to vote,” Alvarez said. “I think that’s unfortunate.”
Alvarez added she’s not aware of any organizations targeting non-citizens for voter registration.
Matt Dietrich with the Illinois State Board of Elections will join the League of Women Voters of McLean County for a talk on election security and misinformation. It will be at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Moses Montefiore Temple in Bloomington.
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Publish date : 2024-09-23 11:31:00
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