Lonewolf wrote:
No evidence ‘many’ i*****l i*******ts v**ed in midterm e******ns, as Lou Dobbs said
In the run-up to the midterm e******n, President Donald Trump and his allies in conservative media made exaggerated claims about an "invasion" of a roughly 3,500-person caravan of mainly-Honduran migrants headed for America’s southern border.
With the e******n in the rearview mirror, the migrant caravan has mostly faded from the headlines. But a new concern over i*****l i*******ts and the midterms got play on Lou Dobbs’ Tonight, with the host claiming many non-citizen v**ers cast b****ts in the race.
"We are watching, you know, millions of i*****l i*******ts cross our borders," Dobbs said, "and many of them v****g in the past e******n that's what, just a couple weeks ago."
Dobbs said i*****l i*******ts were having an "immense impact." He then went on to cite the potential consequences on the apportionment of congressional districts.
We found no basis for the Fox Business Network host’s claim about undocumented people v****g in the midterms.
Allegations of undue influence over American e******ns have become fairly commonplace in the Trump era. Trump himself has repeatedly claimed the existence of massive v***r f***d and e******n r*****g, which we’ve debunked again and again and again and again and again and again and again.
In the case of the 2018 midterms, we’ve found no evidence to back up Dobbs’ claim that many i*****l i*******ts v**ed.
Fox News’ media contacts did not respond to our request for comment.
FEATURED FACT-CHECK
Charlie Kirk
stated on February 2, 2020 in a tweet
Says "EIGHT Iowa counties have more adults registered to v**e than v****g-aged adults living there.”
truefalse
By Daniel Funke • February 3, 2020
"There’s zero evidence of even dozens, let alone millions, of non citizens v****g in this or any other e******n," said according to David Becker, the executive director of the Center for E******n Innovation & Research, a non-profit focused on e******n integrity.
Dobbs’ claim that "we are watching millions of i*****l i*******ts cross our borders" needs context.
According to Department of Homeland Security figures, in fiscal year 2018 the U.S. Border Patrol caught 396,579 people crossing the southern border. A broader read of border crossings would also include department data on the number of foreign travelers to the United States who overstayed their visas, which was estimated at around 600,000 in fiscal year 2017.
As we’ve noted in a previous fact-check, there’s an oft-cited study among those claiming i*****l i*******ts have an outsized influence on U.S. e******ns. The study purports to show "14 percent of people who v**ed were noncitizens."
Many credible researchers have panned the study as methodologically unsound for using an opt-in Internet poll originally designed to survey citizens and not considering possible survey response error.
The federal government recently brought charges against 19 foreign nationals who v**ed in the 2016 e******n in North Carolina, where a total of more than 4.7 million v**es were cast.
Experts said the Department of Justice under President George W. Bush, and Republican and Democratic e******n officials have investigated v***r f***d extensively and found it is extremely rare. President Trump’s short-lived v***r f***d commission couldn’t find any evidence of widespread fraud before being disbanded.
As for Dobbs’ claim, we rate it Pants on Fire.
No evidence ‘many’ i*****l i*******ts v**ed in mid... (
show quote)
Eric Eggers, investigative reporter for the Government Accountability Institute
While the major media fixates on the influence of foreign powers on American e******ns, a much more serious attack has been taking place right under our noses: Good old-fashioned, home-grown v***r f***d. Let’s look at three of the worst offenses.
Example number one: bloated v**er rolls.
In 244 counties across the United States, there are more registered v**ers than there are people legally eligible to v**e. Twenty-nine states have counties with more registered v**ers than legal residents. And eight states have more registered v**ers than actual v****g-age people.
When the Supreme Court upheld Ohio’s efforts to clean up its own v**er rolls in 2018, the majority opinion cited Pew Center statistics: 24 million v***r r**********ns in the United States are either “invalid or significantly inaccurate.” And nearly 3 million people are believed to be registered to v**e in more than one state.
These numbers have a shocking implication: It’s very easy to exploit our v****g system. During an undercover investigation, New York City detectives made 63 attempts to cast illegal b****ts based on flawed v**er rolls. They were successful 61 times. Similar investigations in other cities and other states produce the same dismal results. But phony v**ers on the rolls is just one threat to e******n integrity.
Here’s example number two: b****t harvesting.
In 2016, the state of California—one of the states with more registered v**ers than citizens—became the first state to legalize the practice of b****t solicitation; that is, the collection and delivery of b****ts by third parties. With no trace of irony, this is called “b****t harvesting.”
It works like this: In California, organizations with a clear political agenda are legally permitted to go to a location—say, a nursing home or a church, and collect—literally harvest—b****ts. The third party then t***sports these b****ts to a polling place or an e******n office.
This raises an obvious question: Once this third party collects the b****ts, what’s to stop them from changing them—or from just throwing out the ones they don’t like? A guilty conscience? How do we know b****t harvesters from Democratic organizations aren’t destroying Republican b****ts? Or Republican harvesters aren’t destroying Democratic b****ts? We don’t. We have no way of knowing.
Let’s look at one specific example. On E******n Night 2018, California Central Valley Republican Congressman David Valadao held a 5,000-v**e lead over his challenger, Democrat T.J. Cox. The margin was wide enough that the networks even called the race for Valadao, the Republican incumbent.
But wait!
There were late b****ts still to be delivered by the third-party v**e harvesters. When those v**es came in, they broke so overwhelmingly for Cox (in a historically conservative district, no less) that Valadao’s 5,000-v**e victory became an 862-v**e loss.
Maybe that was just a coincidence. Or maybe not.
In the first major e******n after b****t harvesting was allowed in California, Democrats won every single congressional seat in Orange County, which had been a Republican stronghold for decades. A year earlier, no sober person would have thought that possible.
V**er corruption example number 3: V****g by non-citizens.
Should you have to be a citizen to v**e? Silly question, right? It was once. Not anymore.
According to a recent poll, more than half of Democrats—53%—support granting i*****l i*******ts the right to v**e—forget the legal ones!
Democratic National Chair Tom Perez, before working for the Obama administration, worked for a group called CASA de Maryland, which has been a longtime advocate for expanding non-citizen v****g rights.
Yes, it’s true that federal law prohibits noncitizens from v****g in federal e******ns. But 11 states, all run by Democrats, currently allow noncitizen v****g of some kind. Cities such as Chicago and San Francisco, for example, allow noncitizens to v**e in certain city-wide e******ns. Why? Because for progressives, demography is destiny, and many see i*****l i*******ts as future v**ers.
So, there you have it—three different ways to tamper with the v**e:
Bloated v**er rolls.
B****t harvesting.
V****g by non-citizens.
These are just three ways in which the left creates a clear advantage for itself on E******n Day.
The major media will tell you that corrupt v****g practices either don’t exist or are so minor they don’t matter. But to believe that, you have to believe two things: That v***r r**********n rolls are accurate and secure from fraudulent registrations, and that no one is trying to manipulate the results for political purposes. Those are two very big leaps.
Maybe you want to make those leaps because you like the results they produce. But if you care about free and f**r e******ns, no matter which party you belong to, you need to pay attention. Or pretty soon, free and f**r e******ns will be a quaint relic of the past.
No foreign government can undermine our democracy. But Americans can—and some do.