Illinois’s automatic voter registration system enrolled more than 500 non-U.S. citizens between 2018 and 2019, prompting calls for an investigation by the state’s Republican lawmakers.

But remember: Fears of voter fraud are the stuff of right-wing conspiracies. Or so goes the liberal media narrative.

"This is an absurd lack of compliance with state law, surfacing less than three weeks from the opening of early voting for our state's 2020 general primary election," five Republican members of Illinois’s House said in a statement this week.

The secretary of state's office blamed the matter on an “error,” according to the Herald & Review.

The newspaper explained that Illinois’s automatic voter registration system, which was signed into law in August 2017 by former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, “triggers voter registration for people applying for driver's licenses or state identification cards at secretary of state facilities. Other state agencies also provide information for the automatic registrations.”

It adds, “Unless a person opts out, the information goes to the State Board of Elections which forwards it to local election authorities, such as the Sangamon County clerk's office, where the registration occurs.”

Republican lawmakers who supported the law say they want to see the implementation of additional safeguards.

"We were assured that nothing like this would happen," said Republican State Rep. Tim Butler. "Well, it's happened."

The secretary of state's office revealed last month that the registration information of approximately 574 people "was improperly forwarded" to the State Board of Elections. The information was collected, and then referred improperly, between July 2, 2018, and Dec. 13, 2019.

"Unfortunately, we have discovered a programming error with regard to this final step," said senior legal adviser to the secretary of state Nathan Maddox, adding that the registration information was forwarded even though the more than 500 ineligible “voters” were not “allowed to complete the signature pad process.”

People who responded with “no” when prompted to answer whether they were U.S. citizens were nevertheless sent voter registration materials, according to the State Board of Elections.

"They're documented. They're just not U.S. citizens," said secretary of state spokesman Henry Haupt, referring to the issue as "an isolated incident.”

Butler noted elsewhere that the “glitch,” which lasted for more than 500 days, was rectified as soon as it was discovered.

As for the 547 erroneous registrations, the office of the secretary of state sent each of them a notice calling attention to the incident, including that personal information was forwarded to election authorities.

The letter also instructed the wrongfully registered to destroy any voter registration cards received in error.

"Most importantly, you should not vote in any elections," it continued, urging the letter-holder to keep the note for record-keeping purposes.

"If you are ever called upon to explain why you were briefly registered to vote, you may use this letter to show you did nothing wrong," it states. "The Secretary of State's office made the mistake in this matter, not you."

If this sort of thing can happen under even innocent circumstances, and under even the most watchful of eyes, imagine what less-than-honest election authorities can accomplish.