In the first week of early voting in North Carolina, civil rights organizations that operate voter intimidation hotlines across the state received dozens of alarmed calls from voters and residents about the proliferation of Spanish-language signs at polling places warning non-citizens not to vote. it is now illegal and rare.
More than 500 of these bright yellow signs have been posted across the state by the North Carolina Election Integrity Group, an organization affiliated with the Election Integrity Network, a coalition of conservatives.dedicated to ensuring the legitimacy of every American vote.”
The Election Integrity Network is run by Cleta Mitchell once a liberal A Democratic Oklahoma lawmaker who has built a broad conservative apparatus promoting lies about non-citizen voting. Mitchell, a lawyer, also played a key role in the effort It overturned Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election.
Signs written in Spanish in North Carolina read, “WARNING: If you are not a citizen of the United States, you cannot vote in the election. This is illegal! This is a crime. 18 US Code § 611. You may be deported. Don’t do it!”
Kathleen Roblez, senior voting rights council and litigation manager Forward JusticeA legal organization that helps run one of the voter intimidation hotlines said they recently received a call from a poll worker in Durham County who reported seeing a sign outside a polling site and expressed concern that Latino voters were intimidating potential voters.
As of Friday, the organization had received similar reports from people in eight states. Earlier this week, Ireli Adalat spoke a letter The North Carolina State Board of Elections is asking the signs to be removed because they constitute “unlawful voter intimidation.”
The letter was co-signed by nearly two dozen organizations, including the North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Jaclyn Maffetore, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of North Carolina, said, “It’s not very nice, especially for someone who is a new American voter,” and it’s open to monolingual Spanish speakers or those who speak Spanish as their first language.
Although the state board of elections did not respond to the letter, it said it did not have the authority to remove the signs from polling stations because they “State the law clearly” and there is no evidence that eligible voters misunderstood the signs.
In practice, Maffetore says, the signs have the practical effect of scaring away voters, not just people who are new to the voters, but also in households where each family member has a different immigration status. “Signs, we think, are unnecessary.”
this is already illegal For non-citizens to vote in North Carolina and federal elections — and illegal voting — is rare.
The Brennan Center’s investigation into the 2016 election found that 23.5 million votes were cast, election officials found only about 30 cases of potential noncitizen voting. Information from a public policy research organization Cato Institute and a conservative think tank Heritage Foundation it also shows that the incidence of illegal voting in the United States has been negligible in subsequent elections.
In North Carolina, a 2016 election audit the state’s board of elections found illegal citizen voting to be extremely rare, identifying 41 cases in an election with about 4.8 million voters. Last month, state election officials Removed 747,000 inappropriate registration records only nine non-citizens were identified as registered voters from the voter rolls.
Those numbers show that the North Carolina Election Integrity Group’s signs were mostly seen by “people who are eligible to vote, who are legally registered American citizens and who go out to vote and who only speak Spanish.” ” Maffetore said.
Alert for voters – only in Spanish
Jim Womack, president of the North Carolina Election Integrity Group, insisted it was illegal. non-citizen voting Citing sporadic cases that fit a larger political strategy than the Republicans, it is more common than it actually is electoral integrity is the cornerstone of their campaign messaging.
Womack, who is the GOP chairman in Lee County, said the bright yellow signs his group has posted across the state are “no danger out there,” adding that the purpose is to protect noncitizens and “stop them from committing crimes.”
Responding to criticism from groups that say the signs are unfairly targeting Latino voters as a whole because they’re only in Spanish, Womack said the organization doesn’t have enough funding to print the signs in multiple languages. Therefore, based on Homeland Security data showing that “more than 70% of all immigrants are fluent in Spanish,” they preferred to have them removed in Spanish.
Womack believes the signs are effective, and said she’s received reports from volunteers at several polling stations that “visible Latino voters are stopping, reading the sign and walking out of the polling place.”
“We don’t know if it was because they chose not to commit a crime or if they just wanted to read the sign. When asked if that meant Spanish-speaking Latino voters were potentially turned away from voting, Womack replied, “I can’t confirm the accuracy of the reports… I hope it helps raise awareness and information.”
“We are not allowed to challenge, question or intimidate any voter,” Womack said.
Roblez and Maffetore urged voters to contact their organizations or call the hotline if they face any problem at polling stations and report any concerns.
Early voting North Carolina ends Nov. 2.