Originally published April 25, 2023 6:00 am PDT
Over 200 noncitizens in Maricopa County, Arizona, have registered to vote, with at least nine casting ballots in federal elections, according to a report from the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), according to a report from The Washington Times.
The study is the first in a series released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Motor Voter law, which mandates states to offer voter registration at motor vehicle bureaus.
The Motor Voter law has increased voter registration but has also led to cluttered voter rolls and a concerning number of noncitizens gaining illegal access to voting.
Since 2015, 222 individuals have informed Maricopa County officials that they were registered to vote but did not have citizenship.
Nine of these individuals had already voted in federal elections before realizing their ineligibility.
J. Christian Adams, president of PILF, stated, “This is just more evidence that there is a problem that is not being adequately addressed.”
Although the number of noncitizens voting is not as high as some have claimed, Adams emphasizes that even low numbers should be of concern: “When you have a failure in the system, whether or not it’s rampant doesn’t matter when it involves foreigners voting in American elections.”
Adams believes that Congress should authorize states to validate citizenship claims and add citizenship verification to list maintenance duties.
However, he is not optimistic about Congress taking action.
“If this problem had been detected 10 years ago, or maybe 15 years ago, I think there would have been a quick bipartisan fix in Congress,” he said. “But the Democrats have become so radicalized now about every voting issue in Congress.”
Amid the midterm elections in Nov 2022, several polling places in Maricopa County, where a majority of Arizona’s voters reside, experienced issues with vote-counting machines, The Washington Post reported at the time.
Specifically, at approximately 25% of the county’s 223 voting locations, the machines were incapable of reading some of the ballots that were printed on-demand for voters, as per county officials.
