Russia Could Change Voter Registration Data - My Pollworker Experience Nov. 2016

The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report Tuesday stating that

In 2016, cyber actors affiliated with the Russian Government conducted an unprecedented, coordinated cyber campaign against state election infrastructure. Russian actors scanned databases for vulnerabilities, attempted intrusions, and in a small number of cases successfully penetrated a voter registration database.

While it states that "The Committee has not seen any evidence that vote tallies were manipulated or that voter registration information was deleted or modified", it also says that "It is possible that additional activity occurred and has not yet been uncovered."

I don't know if California is one of the affected states, and what I'm about to say is completely anecdotal, but this is my experience with the 2016 presidential election. Make of it what you will.

I have been a pollworker since 2006, and a poll inspector in charge of my precinct for the last 8 years. I have dealt with many voter registration issues during that time. The way it works is that when you register to vote and you are accepted as a legitimate voter, your information goes into the state database, and then your name and address are listed in the roster of voters of your precinct, and cross-referenced by street index.

This means that if your name is listed in the roster, you are already confirmed as a legal voter. There is no statistically-significant such thing as noncitizen voting at the polls - that is, a noncitizen showing up to the polls and using a registered voter's name to cast an illegal vote. Contrary to what proponents of the "many millions of fraudulent votes by illegals" crown may claim, this is so rare as to be practically nonexistent. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, "After the 2016 election, The New York Times surveyed election and law enforcement officials in 49 states and the District of Columbia. They learned of two possible instances of noncitizens voting – out of 137.7 million voters nationwide." Hardly the millions of illegal votes cast that Trump blames for his loss of the popular vote.

 That's why we ask for a voter's name and address only - if their info matches up on the voter roster, they're already certified as being properly registered. "But..," the fraud proponents sputter, "What if an illegal immigrant uses the name of a registered voter at the polls to cast an illegal vote?" This does not make sense. Non-citizens have no interest in trying to cast an illegal vote that will do them no personal good, but will almost certainly result in fines, jail and deportation. There's nothing in it for them! It's ridiculously easy to catch