And still have fingers left over.
Still the only voter ID anyone should need
Data compiled by the conservative Heritage Foundation shows that noncitizen voting in Texas isn’t a widespread problem and instead shows other instances of voter fraud committed by U.S. citizens are more prevalent.
Since 2017, The Heritage Foundation has maintained a database on fraudulent voting with a mission, in part, to “demonstrate the vulnerabilities in the election system and the many ways in which fraud is committed.” Its Texas data dates to 2005.
The think tank, most known for being the architect of the controversial policy blueprint known as Project 2025, divides voting infractions into nine categories. Those include “ineligible voting,” which is defined as: “Illegal registration and voting by individuals who are not U.S. citizens, are convicted felons, or are otherwise not eligible to vote.”
It states on its website that the data is not an exhaustive record, but instead “intended to demonstrate the vulnerabilities in the election system and the many ways in which fraud is committed.”
In its database, The Heritage Foundation has included only three instances of noncitizens casting ballots in Texas since 2012. They include:
- A Mexican citizen who used her cousin’s identity to vote in several elections, including the 2016 presidential election. She eventually pleaded guilty to two felony charges and was ordered to spend 180 days in jail, according to the database.
- The 2018 case of a Salvadoran man who had been in the United States since the 1980s who was indicted for falsifying documents to obtain a passport and register to vote. He later pleaded guilty to making a false statement in his passport application.
- A Grand Prairie woman who was in the country legally but not a citizen was granted parole in 2019 after spending nine months in prison for unauthorized voting. Reports indicate she voted in 2012 and in the GOP primary runoff in 2014.
- The database cites a fourth example from Texas, but it appears to be out of Austin, Minn., not Texas’ capital city.
The foundation’s data also suggests that a more pressing issue is felons casting ballots. Its analysis cites at least four times as many instances of that type of fraud when compared with noncitizen voting.
The Heritage Foundation is one of the loudest voices sounding alarm bells about noncitizen voting heading into the November General Election – a call recently taken up by Republican leaders in several states, including Texas.
This is one of those situations that would be hilarious if it weren’t so infuriating because of the extreme malevolence and bad faith on the part of the people pushing the narrative with such paltry data. Even the “at least four times as many instances” of alleged felon voting would still be about a dozen cases, over more than a decade, in a state with eighteen million registered voters. And yet this is the basis for multiple lawsuits, increasingly punitive legislation, and of course the current version of the Big Lie. Anyway, there’s more to the story so read the rest and know what we’re up against.