Pernicious political hoax a tool that continues to deceive voters
Roseville, Calif. – The past few years, political leadership, conspiracy lovers, "news" channels and ideologues have worked tirelessly at trying to discredit almost every institution of our representative democracy with persistent lies and propaganda about a "stolen" election. Tragically, the manufactured claims without any evidence have taken root while continuing to cast a dark shadow across America's political landscape.
Fear, propaganda, and stoking political animus remain profitable sellers and highly effective tools for manipulating voters.
While it is imperative for citizens to scrutinize and hold government accountable, it is imperative to strive for accuracy in information. Let's turn our attention to Placer County elections.
Voter Fraud in Placer County
At the local level, we wanted to learn what Placer County's experience with voter fraud has been. For this, we turned to Ryan Ronco, Placer County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar of Voters. Ryan has been working in Placer County Elections office for over three decades. What we learned mirrors much of what we've seen around the country.
Non-Citizens Voting?
"Back in April of 2016, when the state instituted automatic voter registration through the Department of Motor Vehicles, a rush to get the system online let some noncitizens slip through the process. I have no idea how many noncitizen registrants statewide, but we had three in Placer County. Since then, we have had a couple more. We have certainly not had hundreds or even dozens that we have found."
Two ways election officials are alerted to noncitizens on the voter rolls
- Since the state does not provide county elections offices with citizenship information, one way Placer County is notified about noncitizen voters is when we are contacted by the noncitizen voter because they find they have been incorrectly registered by the Department of Motor Vehicles or state agency that provided them services. We have had a couple of people notify us in prior elections that they received information from our office indicating registration status (like a voter notification card or a voter information guide). When that happens, we can immediately cancel their voter registration.
- While nearly all voters have either a state ID/driver's license and/or a federal social security number (and that information is checked for citizenship status before the voter is registered), the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 allows for citizens who have neither a valid state ID nor a social security number to be registered as long as they prove their citizenship status before being allowed to vote the first time. We alert voters who fall into this status with a note that's included in their vote by mail ballot packet. Additionally, if these individuals go to a polling place to vote, the laptop at the check-in table will alert the volunteer to contact our office in order for the voter to provide us with the required information. If a voter with this status is a noncitizen, they will be kept from voting since they would not be able to provide us with the proper ID. So far we have not found any noncitizen voters this way, but this would be another way to discover them.
NO Evidence of Intercepted Ballot Fraud
"We have not had a voter tell us that someone unknown to the voter intercepted the voter's ballot and committed vote fraud." – Ryan Ronco
Intentional Fraud? (usually parents)
"Generally the intentional fraud we see is when people (usually parents) vote for others in the same household (usually children). Since we have to check every signature on every vote-by-mail ballot envelope (that's not a percentage or a random sample – that human eyes on probably 250,000 signatures we will be checking on envelopes for this election only), we see this forged signatures and will forward them on to the District Attorney when the voter confirms they did not vote the ballot we received." – Ryan Ronco
California Law protections
"We are required by state law to match the signature on the outside of each voter's vote by mail ballot envelope against the signature the voter gave us on his/her voter registration card before we can open the voter's envelope and count the ballot inside. That's not a percentage or a random sample – that's every signature on every envelope in every election."
Ryan Ronco, Placer County Clerk– Registrar of Voters
Takeaway
Technically, you can find evidence of voter fraud in any election. A closer look reveals most is quickly resolved and Placer County currently finds zero evidence of malicious intent to commit voter fraud.
So, the next time you hear a political figure, tv pundit, or social media post spouting off about a stolen election, it might be good idea to consider their motives to mislead and manipulate voters for political gain.
related
- Update: Placer County's Shifting Electorate
- Trump's commission disbands over inability at finding fraud
- Arizona conservative audit finds no fraud