A leftover from earlier in the week that I wanted to make sure didn’t get buried in the rapidly changing news cycle: the state of California is forced to cleanse up to one and a half million voters on the rolls across the state, following a legal settlement resulting from the Judicial Watch lawsuit. The development follows similar results in Kentucky and Ohio, also spurred by legal actions by a conservative watchdog group. The Slow warning signal in Washington has details: :
Judicial Watch sued county and state voter registration agencies, arguing that the California government failed to comply with federal law requiring the removal of inactive registrations that remain after two general elections, or two to four years. In most cases, inactive voter registrations occur when voters move to another country or state or die but remain on the rolls. The lawsuit alleged this Los Angeles County, with a population of over 10 million, has more registered voters than citizens of legal age to register, with a registration rate of 112 percent of the adult citizen population. Statewide, California had an enrollment rate of 101 percent of age-eligible citizens, – the lawsuit stated, citing data published by the US Election Assistance Commission.
And through Sacramento Beethe condition is now actively research whether non-US citizens participated in the recent California election after being incorrectly registered to vote by a Department of Motor Vehicles error (a cynic might put the word “error” in scare quotation marks):
California officials it is still impossible to say whether foreigners voted in the June 2018 primaries because the government’s misleading eligibility questionnaire was designed in a way that made it impossible to provide a direct answer about citizenship. The problem stems from the voter eligibility questionnaire, which combines five separate characteristics, such as age and citizenship status, into one prompt that people see at the Department of Motor Vehicles when trying to obtain or renew a driver’s license. Investigators see that people marked themselves as ineligible to vote or refused to answer questions about eligibility, but they can’t say why…[an email] shows that For months, California officials checked whether foreigners voted last year. On Thursday, Secretary of State Alex Padilla confirmed for the first time that his office was conducting an lively internal investigation into the matter.
I am amplifying this story for two reasons. First, as voter purges take place across the country, left-wing activists often allege “voter suppression,” fueling shadowy, racially charged theories about voter disenfranchisement. See, for example, the hyperbole and hysteria in Georgia this last cycle that was downplayed some significant facts. While it is significant to guard against excessive or overly aggressive purges, removing inactive, ineligible, or deceased voters from the rolls is entirely appropriate and required by law. This is not nefarious “suppression.” Just like leftists are in a miniature minority on voter ID laws, I expect they will also have a demanding time convincing Americans that it’s no large deal that the largest state in the country (AND) counting votes takes several days or weeks, and (B) is home to more registered voters than eligible citizens. Also disturbing is the fact that the government’s allegedly misleading questionnaire – undoubtedly formulated to protect illegal immigrants under Art. deeply problematic the “sanctuary state” ethos – resulted in non-citizens registering to vote, and the government is still not sure how many of them took advantage of this improper “right”. This has happened before. How is all this acceptable?
Second, regular readers know that I have problems with both parties’ preferred narratives about voter fraud. Republicans tend to exaggerate the extent of personal fraud (some claims are particularly ridiculous), while Democrats misrepresent concerns about various forms of fraud as nefarious right-wing suppression plans rooted in baseless fever dreams. They are not. The truth is that fraud exists and reasonable steps should be taken to prevent it. Experts seem to agree that the area most vulnerable to fraud is mail-in or mail-in voting fraud, as we recently saw in North Carolina. The quasi-loophole in the system that was apparently exploited in the disputed NC-09 House race remains completely legal in many states including…California. What are the chances that Democratic-dominated Sacramento will volunteer to immaculate up its act as long as the existing system doesn’t interfere with one-party rule or actually support perpetuate it? Slim. They’ll have to be dragged into it kicking and screaming. Score one point for Judicial Watch on this one. I’ll leave you with them while taking a Twitter victory lap:
JWPres @TomFitton on HUGE win: Cali/LA County agrees to remove up to 1.5 million inactive voters from voter rolls https://t.co/7v3XrzK91E
– Judicial guard? (@JudicialWatch) January 8, 2019
