EDITORIAL: Election fraud

Those who argue that election fraud is a myth were proved wrong again this month when an illegal immigrant accused of casting ballots under a false name in 2008 and 2010 was taken into custody in California to face extradition to Nevada.

As reported by the Review-Journal’s Sean Whaley, Ortencia Segura keeps breaking the law by entering the United States illegally, then breaking more laws until she’s caught. She was deported in 2012 for filing a false passport application. A subsequent investigation revealed she also fraudulently obtained a Nevada driver’s license, which she used to register to vote and cast ballots in Washoe County under the name Marisela Reyna. That investigation resulted in a warrant for her arrest, which couldn’t be executed until she found her way back inside the country.

Sure enough, Segura was caught this month again entering the United States illegally. Now it’s just a matter of time before she faces felony charges in Nevada.

Federal and Nevada officials deserve a lot of credit for following through on what some people would consider a minor criminal matter: a deported immigrant suspected of voting twice. But such incidents erode the public’s confidence in the electoral process. And if taxpayers believe the results of their elections have been compromised, they’ll have less faith in their government institutions. Election fraud is a threat to democracy itself. Look no further than rigged ballots in unstable nations around the world for proof of that.

“As we’ve demonstrated in past cases of elections violations, this type of fraud demands the most zealous prosecution,” Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller said. “There is no reason to believe that this type of fraud is widespread, however. One of the reasons that it isn’t widespread is our proactive approach to enforcing the laws that ensure the integrity of our elections system.”

The definition of “widespread” is pretty subjective. The fact is, no one has any idea how widespread voter fraud might be in Nevada or across the country. The idea that state and federal officials managed to catch the one ineligible voter who cast a ballot in two elections is pretty far-fetched.

Moreover, the state can’t brag about upholding the integrity and security of the election process because there is no taking back Segura’s votes. There’s no way of verifying which candidates and ballot questions she supported.

It’s important to note that Segura registered Marisela Reyna as a Republican. Whether that reflects her ideology or was a cover can’t be known, either. Plenty of people across the political spectrum have been willing to break laws to benefit their parties, whether it’s through registering and voting in multiple states, registering and voting under the identity of a dead person, or registering and voting as an ineligible felon or noncitizen.

Segura registered to vote under a false identity, so a law requiring photo identification at the polls likely wouldn’t have stopped her. But her case is all the more reason to strengthen election security by, at a minimum, requiring voters to provide photo identification and proof of citizenship upon registration. In Nevada, neither is required to register to vote. A recent federal court ruling allows states to require proof of citizenship during the registration process, and the Supreme Court has upheld strict photo identification requirements at the polls.

Election fraud is real, and the state must do everything in its power to stop it.