How to Talk to Your Friends & Family About Election Integrity
How to Talk to Your Friends & Family About Election Integrity
A Five Part Series Explaining How Voting Really Works & Why U.S. Elections are Safe and Secure
Last Updated 09/24:
The original “How to Talk to Your Friends & Family About Election Integrity” post below introduces this series and explains the truth behind the lie that U.S. has a noncitizen voting problem. Additional entries in the “Friends & Family” series include:
Convincing Your Friends and Relatives That Mail Voting is Safe and Secure (9/19)
Three Basic Facts That Prove Local Officials Aren't Rigging Our Elections (9/24)
Original Post:
Last weekend, the former President posted one of his most extreme anti-democracy statements to date. “WHEN I WIN,” he yelled, “those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences….” He went on, “this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials.”
With Trump already laying the foundation to once again lie that the election was stolen, it’s on us to understand the truth about how safe and secure voting in the United States really is. If we can learn more about our election system—and if we can reassure our friends, family, and colleagues—then we’ll be propping up the guardrails of knowledge against Trump’s attempt to erode trust in the system.
The Project: Reframing the Debate over Election Integrity
Over the next five or so weeks, I’ll equip you with information to push back when you hear the following lies about our elections:
The lie that noncitizens are voting in massive numbers
The lie that voting by mail is unsafe and that ballot drop boxes are being stuffed with fraudulent votes
The lie that our election officials are corrupt and out to steal our elections
The lie that election officials can refuse to certify election results
The lie that hand-counting ballots is better and more accurate than counting ballots by machine
As I work through these lies, keep note of how many checks and balances are built into our voting process. Our election system features check after check to make sure (i) legal votes are counted, (ii) illegal votes aren’t counted, and (iii) any mistakes are caught and corrected before results are certified.
Another important point: given the checks and balances in place, it’s worth remembering that voting restrictions that make it harder to register or vote in the name of “election integrity” actually end up suppressing more eligible voters than preventing fraudulent votes. We can’t forget that voter suppression is alive and well.
Part One: The Lie That Noncitizens are Voting in Massive Numbers (or At All)
To kick us off, I’m revisiting a discussion I posted in this newsletter in April: the lie that individuals who aren’t U.S. citizens are voting in record numbers.
Here’s the truth:
It’s illegal for people who aren’t U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections.
Most people who aren’t U.S. citizens don’t go around breaking the law, for fear of being imprisoned or deported.
On that note, if you want to vote illegally, you’ll have to commit a separate crime first: You have fill out a voter registration form falsely swearing you’re a citizen.
Of all the laws to break while you’re laying low from the government, this one doesn’t have a huge upside. There’s no fame or fortune that comes with falsely registering and casting a single vote. We’re not exactly breaking into the vault at the Bellagio with George Clooney and Matt Damon.
It’s often said that there’s no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and that explanation might ring hollow to some. Just because there’s no evidence of something doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
But it’s impossible to vote without leaving evidence. Voting creates a trail of paper and electronic records from the registration form to the poll book to the ballot box. If noncitizens were voting, we’d know. The built-in checks and balances of our election system would make sure of it.
Instead, as my friend and the executive director of All Voting is Local Hannah Fried told the New York Times last week, “This narrative that noncitizens are voting is really an attack on voters of color and particularly Latino voters and new Americans.”
As we’ll see over and over again in this series, if we seek out practical information and hold fast to common sense, it’s clear that our elections are safe and secure and the results are reliable.