The 2020 elections are coming up fast – more than a dozen Democrats including some third-tier names – already are seeking that party's nomination for president.

And that's why the issue of illegal aliens and immigration is a to-the-death fight in Washington now.

After all, immigrants and illegals who actually are signed up to vote, even if outside the law, are perceived generally as supporting Democrats, so that party hates the idea of any Voter ID or voter authentication plan.

As Nancy Pelosi suggested just days ago, all the "newcomers," especially those coming through the "southern border," should be voting.

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The GOP, on the other hand, advocates for citizens voting, and as President Trump has planned, wants to secure the southern border so that illegal immigration, and voter fraud, is reduced.

That's not a problem, contend Democrats. They say there simply isn't any.

Don't you believe it.

The Heritage Foundation has released documentation revealing nearly 1,200 "proven" instances of voter fraud in just the last couple of years.

There were 1,019 criminal convictions that result, 48 civil penalties, 81 sent to diversion programs, and 14 judicial findings.

"This database is not an exhaustive or comprehensive list, but is intended to demonstrate the many ways fraud is committed," the report advised. "Preventing, deterring, and prosecuting election fraud is essential to protecting the integrity of the process."

It found a long list of ways to cheat in the American elections.

They include ballot-petition fraud, which involves forging the signatures of registered voters. Another is buying votes, simply paying voters to cast a ballot one particular way. A third is duplicate voting, where voters register in more than one jurisdiction.

Then there are false registrations, using a phony name or fake address, fraudulent use of absentee ballots, which involves getting someone else's ballot and turning it in, and illegal "assistance" at the polls. That's forcing or intimidating voters – particularly the elderly, disabled, illiterate, and those for whom English is a second language – "to vote for particular candidates."

Impersonation involves voting in the name of someone else – who is a legitimate voter, and ineligible voting covers illegal registrations and voting by those who are not citizens, or are convicted felons.

Colorado, for example, has documented dozens of cases over the past few election cycles.

There, Ajmal Shah was convicted on two counts of voter fraud after Shah attempted ot register to vote by providing fabricated information about U.S. citizenship. Shah got jail time served, plus three years of supervised released.

Also, Nathan Parks was given a deferred sentence after admitting that he voted in both Washington and Colorado in 2018. He voted in Washington, but had maintained a Colorado registration card and voted by absentee ballot there.

Border state Texas also reported not quite 100 cases in recent elections, including convictions for buying votes, duplicate voting, false registrations, impersonation and fraudulent use of absentee ballots.

Belinda Solis and Veronica Saldivar, for example, were campaign workers who pleaded guilty to paying voters to vote for their candidate. They "offered 'baggies' of cocaine and money in exchange for votes for local and county candidates," the report said.

California, perhaps not surprisingly, account for not quite 50 cases. Jose Fragozo, Flora Montes de Oca and Nativo Lopez, among others, were convicted for false reporting.

"Donald Trump and many Republican congressman promised they'd drain the swamp. And Heritage is here to help them do just that!" the report said.

"We are ramping up our efforts to get them conservative policy solutions that will shrink the size of government, reform the tax code, dismantle Obamacare, and secure our borders."

WND has reported for years on vote fraud, including just weeks ago when Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who has been accusing elections officials in his state of violating laws in their vote recount, spotlighted a directive from a state Democratic Party leader he sees as evidence of fraud.

A day after the Nov. 6, 2018, election, as the governor's race and a U.S. Senate race headed for a recount, the party leader directed staffers and volunteers to share altered election forms with voters to fix signature problems on absentee ballots after the state's deadline, the Naples Daily News reported

The paper said altered forms in Broward, Santa Rosa, Citrus and Okaloosa counties were reported to federal prosecutors to review for possible election fraud.

After the 2018 election, Florida Gov. Rick Scott's Senate campaign sued the Broward County elections supervisor to turn over records regarding how ballots are being counted. He accused election officials of trying to thwart the will of the voters.

Not quite two years ago, heading into the 2018 elections, Heritage blew apart the claim that there's no significant vote fraud.

At the time, the organization reported in Colorado, a woman named Sara Sosa, who died in 2009, was recorded to have voted in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, while a ballot in the name of deceased World War II veteran John Grosso was cast in a 2006 primary election, the database reveals.

Nearly 2 million voters remained on the rolls after their passing, according to a 2012 Pew study.

WND assembled a Big List of vote fraud reports following the 2012 election, including one in which 108 percent of registered voters in a locale voted for Obama.

In other jurisdictions, sometimes 100 percent of the vote was for Obama during his elections, and sometimes there were more votes counted than there were voters.