Sept. 24, 2026 Editor, The News-Gazette: Claims about noncitizens voting are rampant. Our president repeats these claims incessantly, causing widespread alarm about a problem that, in reality, does not exist.
Remember the adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? Well, that is the case for noncitizen voting.
The policy in every state is that if you cannot document that you are a U.S. citizen, you cannot vote in federal elections. Each state has its own enforcement procedures, and there is plenty of evidence to show their efforts work.
The Heritage Foundation (Project 2025 authors) compiled a database of voter fraud going back to 2000. Analyses show that noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare, roughly 100 incidents over two decades. Other national groups’ analyses (e.g., Cato Institute and Brennan Center) corroborate these rates.
States’ own analyses reveal equally low rates. For example, rates in Arkansas, California, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, and Tennessee were less than .0009%.
In the words of statistician W. Edwards Deming: “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” That is the case here. There is no data to justify the president’s call to make drastic changes to our election procedures. (For citations, see www. brennancenter.org and https:// electioninnovation.org). JUDITH KOENIG Rockbridge County
