…for the Immigration Policy Center…
Election experts tend to agree that modern-day voter fraud is a very rare occurrence in the United States, primarily because it is so irrational. The potential payoff (a vote) is not worth the risk of jail time, thousands of dollars in fines, and—in the case of non-citizens—possibly deportation. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law succinctly summarizes this point in a 2006 fact sheet: “Each act of voter fraud risks five years in prison and a $10,000 fine—but yields at most one incremental vote. The single vote is simply not worth the price. Because voter fraud is essentially irrational, it is not surprising that no credible evidence suggests a voter fraud epidemic.” But lack of evidence is not an obstacle for the Heritage Foundation, which on July 10 issued a rambling “legal memorandum” claiming that an unknowable yet large number of non-citizens are voting illegally and subverting the electoral process…
