Wednesday, Jul. 31, 2024
Are undocumented immigrants recruited to ballot harvest in swing states like Arizona?
Ballot harvesting, or collecting completed ballots on behalf of other voters and delivering them to official election sites, is only legal in Arizona if the collector is a family member, household member or caregiver of the voter.
There is no evidence to indicate undocumented immigrants are being recruited to illegally collect and drop off ballots in any U.S. states. An undocumented immigrant risks a felony conviction, deportation and U.S. citizenship eligibility if they collect and turn in the ballot of a non-household or family member, or someone for whom they are not a caretaker.
Other “swing states,” or politically contested states this election cycle, include Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In these states, ballot collection laws are similarly strict or even more so — in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, for example, only the voter may submit their ballot.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Arizona Secretary of State Secretary Fontes Corrects the Record on Ballot Drop Boxes
- Arizona Legislature Ballot abuse; violation; classification
- Congressional Research Service Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity
- ShareAmerica Technical Difficulties
- National Conference of State Legislatures Table 10: Ballot Collection Laws
About fact briefs
Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is the state’s only independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR's mission is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable by exposing injustice and systemic inequities through investigative journalism.
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