Voting season is a time where Americans are widely encouraged to perform their civic duty by going to the polls and participating in the democratic process. With the complexity and security of the voting process, we tend to leave the voting office feeling confident and proudly sporting an “I VOTED” sticker. However, is it possible to exercise this civic duty too much? In order to be eligible to cast their vote, voters must be a United States citizen, 18 years old or older, must not be convicted of a felony charge or declared mentally incapable, must have been registered for 29 days prior to voting and, of course, must be alive. In 2012, however, review of the Florida voters registration showed that up to 53,000 deceased people and 182,000 non-U.S. citizens were registered to vote in the state.
While the effects of illegal immigration on American systems and programs is highly politicized, you may wonder, “what is the harm of failing to remove the deceased from the voting registry?” Evidently, the harm can be significant. Across the country, and even here in Florida, there have been thousands of incidents of voter fraud by impersonating a deceased voter who has remained on the registry after their death.
With Florida's history of extremely close presidential election results, the threat of deceased vote fraud could have a serious baring on the outcome of our state's highly scrutinized voting process. In 2000, the presidential vote in Florida was subject to a recount which, in time, proclaimed George W. Bush victorious over Al Gore by only 537 votes. This small margin may have favored Al Gore or never even existed when considering the possible influence of deceased voter impersonation. In 2012, nearly 2,600 Republican voter registration forms fell under scrutiny in Palm Beach County alone, and other counties across the state reported similar discrepancies. Though many of these numbers can be accounted for by misconduct of voter registration employees, deceased voter fraud remains an issue in our state and nation. According to the Washington Post, “under federal law, perpetrators face up to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000 for each act of fraud.” Voter fraud is a serious offense with serious consequences and implications, and it should not be taken lightly.