Posted on October 15, 2004

How Many Illegal Aliens Will Vote This Year?

Joseph A. D’Agostino, Human Events Online, Oct. 15

Even though there are an estimated 8 to 15 million illegal aliens now living in the United States, not one state in the Union requires proof of citizenship to register to vote.

When Alamance County, N.C., Sheriff Terry Johnson told county commissioners this month he plans to go after illegal aliens who registered to vote, not everyone applauded.

“What is happening to me now is that Hispanic groups are going after me for profiling,” Johnson told HUMAN EVENTS. He emphasized that his efforts were not targeting any particular ethnic group.

Johnson said his county of 140,000 people has become a magnet for illegal aliens seeking drivers’ licenses. “North Carolina’s system is open to fraud,” he said. “We’ve had tons of people from all over the world coming here with false documents. We’ll bust them in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles.”

“In the past year, we’ve arrested 115 to 120 people we’ve caught with false documents,” he said. “That’s a drop in the bucket.” Among those arrested were nationals of Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, and Slovakia.

“And when you get a drivers’ license,” said Johnson, “they ask you if you want to vote.”

“In 2002, a [local] candidate for the state legislature, Robert Sharpe, Jr., lost by 71 votes,” Johnson said. “I guarantee you there are more than 71 illegal aliens registered here,” although he conceded that he did not have proof.

“There are at least eight million illegal aliens in this country who are of voting age,” says Steve Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, who added that nobody knows how many are registered to vote. Nonetheless, he said, “I don’t think that many illegal aliens vote.”

Jack Martin of the Federation for American Immigration Reform agreed that we don’t know how many illegal aliens are registered or how many vote. “Nobody has really investigated the issue,” he said.

With many races likely to be decided by close votes November 2, illegal aliens could potentially shift some outcomes even if only a small fraction of them vote.

Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood has rejected voter registration forms on which the registrant did not check the box to indicate U.S. citizenship. But Democrats have filed suit saying that signing the form requires swearing that one is a U.S. citizen anyway.