You do not hate the media enough. The Associated Press (AP) is one of the largest news organizations in the world. As one of the largest and oldest “news” gathering organizations, the AP distributes its “news” to thousands of news organizations with customers in 126 countries. The AP brags that it has “journalists” operating in all 50 U.S. states.
In a recent piece, a “reporter” by the name of Nicholas Riccardi breathlessly informed readers that roughly 40% of individuals flagged as noncitizen voters in California by the Trump administration are not able to be found on the state’s voter rolls, citing a filing by an immigrant rights group.
The headline for the piece boasted that “Only 40% of names on DOJ list of alleged noncitizens are not on Calif. voter rolls, analysis finds.”
Now, call us dumb but by our calculations, if “40 % of names on [the] DOJ list of alleged noncitizens” are not on California voter rolls, that would seem to indicate that 60% of the names ARE on California voter rolls.
Now for readers in Portland, let us extrapolate that percentage out a bit. If the Department of Justice identified 20,930 names on California’s voter list, 60% of that number equals 12,558 illegals who WERE on the list. Yet, the AP chose to baffle readers by attempting to downplay the findings by reporting “only 40%” of alleged noncitizens were not on voting rolls.
The AP’s “X” post garnered a number of, shall we say, not so complimentary responses:
The Department of Justice had demanded a comprehensive list of California voters and found over 20,000 individuals who did not appear to be U.S. citizens.
The analysis relied upon by the AP was completed by a partisan voting rights group, UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, which enjoined a lawsuit filed by Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).
The analysis is clearly politically motivated, with the UCLA Voting Rights Project having as an adviser former Biden Secretary of Health and Human Services and current California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra.
The lawsuit claims, “The expert analysis further makes clear that the mandated voter list endangers a significant number of eligible California voters.”
Cry us a river. For every illegal alien on a voter list who exercises a right that is reserved for American citizens, it disenfranchises someone’s vote who is either a natural-born or naturalized citizen. The AP trying to downplay the issue by saying it is “only 40%” is a disservice to those who will have their votes negated by someone who does not have the right to cast a ballot. It does not matter if it is 100 or 1 percent; it should be zero.
In response to the analysis by the partisan, far-left Voting Rights Project, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli rightfully called it what it is...bogus.
“This is a bogus report by the activist illegal immigrant rights group CHIRLA,” Essayli posted on “X.”
At a time where every vote is of vital importance, the American people must have faith in the electoral system. They should also be able to have faith in the media to accurately portray the news, not attempt to spin it as the AP did with their bogus headline.
It is no wonder that a September 2026 Gallup poll found that 33 percent of Americans polled said they had “not very much” confidence in the media while an equal percentage said they have “none at all.”
But take heart, media...that number is UP from 28% last year.
Comments