{"id":2355074,"date":"2024-10-15T09:08:57","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T13:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pa-sec-of-state-refuses-to-say-hed-catch-noncitizens-voting\/"},"modified":"2024-10-15T09:12:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T13:12:16","slug":"pa-sec-of-state-refuses-to-say-hed-catch-noncitizens-voting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pa-sec-of-state-refuses-to-say-hed-catch-noncitizens-voting\/","title":{"rendered":"PA Sec. Of State Refuses To Say He&#8217;d Catch Noncitizens Voting"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpa-sec-of-state-refuses-to-say-hed-catch-noncitizens-voting%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2355074&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a recent interview on \u200d&#8221;60 Minutes,&#8221;\u2063 Pennsylvania \u2064Secretary of State Al Schmidt avoided a crucial\u200b question about whether his department could catch noncitizens \u200cattempting to vote. Despite being asked directly by interviewer Cecelia Vega, Schmidt did not provide a clear &#8220;yes&#8221; or &#8220;no&#8221; answer, insisting that such incidents are \u200drare due \u2063to potential severe \u2062consequences for \u2064noncitizens. However, the reality is that election officials in\u2063 Pennsylvania may not be able\u2062 to effectively identify and prevent noncitizens\u200b from voting. <\/p>\n<p>The Pennsylvania Department of\u2064 State has instructed counties\u2063 not to reject voter registrations simply based on discrepancies in identification numbers. This policy could potentially allow fraudulent registrations, including from noncitizens, since\u200d eligibility\u2062 verification is lacking. The segment highlighted broader concerns\u200b regarding the integrity of \u2062elections,\u200b especially in a state where political tensions are high, exemplified by references to former President \u2064Trump&#8217;s contentious electoral history.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Josh Shapiro also featured in the segment, criticizing Trump and his supporters for promoting falsehoods regarding the 2020 election \u200dand expressing concern about potential violence if results are questioned. The overall discussion raises pressing\u2064 issues about \u200cvoter fraud, election security, \u2062and the\u2062 implications\u200c of\u200d current policies on democracy in Pennsylvania.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt dodged an important question this week in a cozy interview on &ldquo;60 Minutes.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If a noncitizen tried to cast a ballot, would you be able to catch it?&rdquo; interviewer Cecelia Vega <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wPSb4B8Dnuc&amp;t=96s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">asked<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It is a yes or no question, but like the first kid picked in gym class, Schmidt is pretty good at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fxasports.com\/league-rules\/dodgeball-rules\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dodgeball<\/a>; he didn&rsquo;t answer directly. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just not something that happens, because when it gets identified, there are severe consequences, whether it&rsquo;s prosecution and\/or deportation from the country,&rdquo; Schmidt said. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Vega could not muster a follow-up question to press Schmidt. She was happy to accept his denial as a complete answer.<\/p>\n<p>Schmidt had to respond this way because, in truth, the answer is no, election officials could not catch a non-citizen from voting in every scenario, for several reasons.<\/p>\n<p>First, Schmidt&rsquo;s Department of State has given a counterintuitive directive to counties.<\/p>\n<p>When county election workers receive voter registration applications, they use a database to match the last four digits of the Social Security Number or a driver&rsquo;s license number to the information on the application. The Federal Help America Vote Act requires counties to make this comparison. This way, counties verify the requester&rsquo;s identity and assure they are eligible to vote. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But the Pennsylvania Department of State&rsquo;s directive says voter registrations may not be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/complaint-illegal-memo-lets-people-who-fail-id-checks-onto-pennsylvanias-voter-rolls-anyway\/\" title=\"Issue: Despite Failing ID Checks, Individuals Illegally Added to Pennsylvania&#039;s Voter Rolls\">rejected based solely<\/a> on a non-match between the applicants&rsquo; identifying numbers on their application, and the comparison numbers in the drivers license or Social Security databases.<\/p>\n<p>If a county cannot deny an application that they cannot verify, it opens the door to fraudulent <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/10\/11\/pa-county-finds-21-voter-registration-requests-to-be-fraudulent-despite-state-guidance-that-would-have-accepted-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voter registrations<\/a>, which can include noncitizens illegally voting.<\/p>\n<p>In a country that has welcomed millions of illegal border crossers with impunity, the suggestion that those tempted to vote illegally would be deterred by the threat of deportation is laughable.<\/p>\n<p>In a state where former President Donald Trump was shot in the head during a campaign stop, it is not beyond the scope of imagination that someone would be willing to tamper with the election. <\/p>\n<p>Is a government that throws a series of bogus court cases at its political foe, and stages a quiet coup to remove the primary-winning sitting president, above rigging an election? <\/p>\n<p>Please. Forgive half the country for asking these totally rational questions.  <\/p>\n<p>It is worth noting that noncitizens can get <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssa.gov\/pubs\/EN-05-10096.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Social Security<\/a> numbers, so even if the number on the voter registration application matches, the requester could still be a noncitizen who is not eligible to vote.<\/p>\n<p>Pennsylvania has no citizenship verification for voting, so there is no way for election officials to be sure only citizens get a ballot.<\/p>\n<p>The &ldquo;60 Minutes&rdquo; segment included an interview with Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Penn., who painted Trump, and by extension his supporters, as agents of lies for questioning the anomalies of the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I understand he is a sore loser,&rdquo; Shapiro said of Trump. &ldquo;I understand he wished he would have won in 2020. But attacking this system, made up of our neighbors and communities all across Pennsylvania alike, is not the answer.&rdquo; Shapiro said he is worried there could be violence if some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/harris-can-pick-and-choose-issues-tell-voters-what-they-want-to-hear-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Harris can \u2018pick and choose\u2019 issues, tell voters \u2018what they want to hear\u2019 - Washington Examiner\">voters don&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t accept the results.<\/p>\n<p>Vega asked Schmidt if there is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-nevada-a-corrupt-cash-for-votes-scheme-is-hiding-in-plain-sight\/\" title=\"In Nevada, A Corrupt Cash-For-Votes Scheme Is Hiding In Plain Sight\">widespread voter fraud<\/a> in Pennsylvania. Another yes or no question. (More skilled interviewers ask open ended questions to get broader answers, but this was a friendly interview.)<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There is no evidence whatsoever that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/associated-press-tries-to-prebunk-election-irregularities\/\" title=\"Associated Press Tries to &quot;Prebunk&quot; Election Irregularities\">voter fraud takes place<\/a>, in any way, that is widespread, at all,&rdquo; Schmidt said in a halting voice. But moments later, Schmidt said that he did <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/investigator-who-claims-to-have-disproven-2020-fraud-claims-isnt-telling-the-whole-story\/\" title=\"Researcher Casts Doubt on Alleged 2020 Fraud Claims\">find voter fraud<\/a> during his 10 years on the board of elections in Philadelphia. Just not a lot. A little bit of cheating, in small races. No biggie. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Whenever it has occurred, however rarely, it is to affect some very down ticket race that is decided by a handful of votes. It&rsquo;s not to decide who the president of the United States is, or who the governor is, or who a senator is, or anything else like that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Schmidt seems to be saying the small races don&rsquo;t matter, and people mostly don&rsquo;t <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/13\/the-dojs-voter-fraud-case-shows-its-easy-to-con-pennsylvanias-voter-registration-system\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cheat<\/a>. But what he admits in this comment &mdash; what is true &mdash; is that the Pennsylvania voting system has <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/02\/07\/exclusive-whistleblower-videos-show-systemic-issues-with-pennsylvania-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vulnerabilities<\/a>. People concerned about election integrity don&rsquo;t shrug off vulnerabilities; they fix them.<\/p>\n<p>Pennsylvania voters would benefit from a secretary of state who cares about the little races and recognizes that if cheating can be done small-time, it can be done big-time.<\/p>\n<p><em>For more election news and updates, visit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electionbriefing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">electionbriefing.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pennsylvania&#8217;s Al Schmidt avoided a key question on &#8220;60 Minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":2355075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-50-e1728989629296.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32644,36987,43037],"class_list":["post-2355074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-election-integrity","tag-noncitizen-voting","tag-pa-secretary-of-state"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-50-e1728989629296.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2355074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2355075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2355074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2355074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2355074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}