New York Times Says Illegal Aliens Voting Is a ‘Fake Threat’ — But Wait, What About…

The front page of Friday’s New York Times It was a double-edged attack on Republicans. Reporter Jazmine Ulloa accused the Republican of both lying and racism in “Republicans Devise Fake Threat To Election, by Way of the Border.”

First, Ulloa declared Trump and his (white) voters to be “nativist and xenophobic.” In paragraph two she’d added the “fake threat” from the headline to the mix.

Six years later, former President Donald J. Trump has paved his path to the White House using nativist appeals to white voters.The Republican Party has become fixated on the 2000-mile border between Mexico and America.

The right’s resurgence has a twist. Republican candidates and leaders are now claiming that illegal immigrants have gained access to the voting booth.

Voter fraud is exceptionally rare, and allegations that widespread numbers of undocumented immigrants are voting have been Discredit repeatedlyBut this? Fake message — capitalizing on a concocted threat to advance Mr. Trump’s broader lie of stolen elections — is now finding receptive audiences in more than a dozen states across the country, including several far from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Readers might ask, “How widespread does illegal-alien vote have to be in an election that is decided by six or 600 votes?” 

Heritage Action opposed the Democrat push to “voting rights legislation” that would mandate national “automatic voting registration”. This has led to illegal aliens being registered in states with it. They note one federal law specifically prohibits DMV officials—They may not be able to tell if a applicant for a license is not a citizen.—from “mak[ing]Any statement made to an applicant/tak[ing] any action the purpose or effect of which is to discourage the applicant from registering to vote.”

People are worried about illegal immigrants voting because of the New York TimesThe government finds it alarming that someone would want to ask voters for proof of citizenship. It is a fake threat — until somebody starts asking for evidence.

On April 4 reporter Nick Corasaniti treated the seemingly obvious requirement that only citizens should be allowed to vote as controversial:

Gov. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation mandating voters to verify their citizenship before they can vote for President. It quickly attracted a lawsuit from voting rights advocates who said that this could prevent thousands from casting ballots.

Arizona’s new law, signed Wednesday by the governor, requires that all newly registered voters provide proof of residence. This could be a significant impact on seniors, students, voters without a driver’s license, voters with low income and Native Americans.

Experts in legal analysis believe the new rules could be contrary to both Federal law and Supreme Court rulings.. On Wednesday, Mi Familia Vota, a voting rights group, filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law.

….

Arizona now has a bifurcated electoral system. There are now roughly 31,500 “federal-only” voters in the state, or people who are not eligible to vote in state elections because they have not provided documents that prove citizenship as required by Arizona law, according to the secretary of state’s office.

And GOP concern about illegals voting is far from “concocted,” given that some municipalities in the United States allow noncitizens to vote in local elections:

Since January 2022, 15 municipalities in the United States allowed residents to vote for non-citizens. Eleven municipalities were found in Maryland. There were two in Vermont. New York City was one and San Francisco was the other.