House Race Separated By 99 Votes Shows Why ‘Rare’ Noncitizen Voting Does Matter

Approximately 99 votes separate the candidates in one North Carolina congressional race, showing exactly why noncitizen voting could potentially have a major impact on U.S. elections. The narrow North Carolina race is one of many too-close-to-call races coming out of Tuesday’s midterm elections. Democrat Chuck Hubbard leads incumbent Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx by 99 votes in North Carolina’s 5th congressional district. Meanwhile in the state’s 3rd congressional district, Republican Rep. Greg Murphy leads Democrat Raymond Smith by just 233 votes. Over in Minnesota, Democrat Jake Johnson leads Republican Rep. Brad Finstad by 321 votes, and in Tennessee’s 4th District, Democrat Victoria Broderick leads Republican Rep. Scott DesJarlais by just 280 votes. Each of those margins are smaller than, for example, the number of noncitizens found on New Jersey voter rolls back in July. Democrat Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced a software error resulted in registering more than 6,000 noncitizens who said they were noncitizen when applying for a driver’s license at the DMV. Nearly 400 of the illegally registered noncitizens voted — more than triple the margin dividing the congressional race in North Carolina. While there’s no evidence that noncitizens have voted in any of the uncalled congressional races, they do show why leftist dismissals of noncitizen voting as “rare” doesn’t negate the significance of noncitizen voting. A few hundred illegal votes may not sway a presidential race and may be a small fraction of all the ballots cast statewide, but a few hundred ballots may also be what stands between a Republican or Democrat taking a House seat. For years, Democrats and their allies in the propaganda press have assured Americans that noncitizen voting is “rare” and implied it’s therefore not important to counter. Just last month, CBS News’ Leslie Stahl told then-Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon that “There are very few people who are noncitizen who end up voting. Very, very few.” Stahl then asked Dillon “what’s the purpose” of holding those noncitizens accountable. Politico similarly described noncitizen voting as “overblown.” (Though notably, after New Jersey admitted there were thousands of noncitizens on the voter rolls, Politico admitted there was “little to stop noncitizens from registering to vote if they want to, or even by mistake.” And it’s true, under our current system, prospective voters merely must attest under penalty of perjury that they are telling the truth about their citizenship status (aka, the honor system). Republicans introduced the SAVE America Act, which would have required documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections as well as voter ID to vote. Democrats opposed the legislation, and Republican Senate leadership failed to get the legislation passed. But the difference between “rare” and still important is clear as day looking at North Carolina: in North Carolina’s 5th congressional district, 99 votes can make or break control of a House seat. Tight races don’t make election integrity less important, they make it more important. This week’s tight congressional races only make legislation like the SAVE America Act more important, and yet it remains unpassed. Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2