Most non-U.S. citizens neither register nor vote, but those who do could change the outcome of close races, according to a report published by The Washington Post Friday.

According to a massive research released by the journal Electoral Studies, more than 14 percent of the 339 non-U.S. citizen respondents in 2008 and 489 in 2010 were registered voters. Among them, 6.8 percent and 2.2 percent voted in 2008 and 2010, respectively.

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While the numbers may not be very high, the results of the study suggest that illegal votes have influenced the outcome of some close races in the last two elections.

The Washington Post said that since Democrat policies tend to appeal to non-citizens, the illegal votes could have contributed to a few close elections in which the Republicans have lost.

One striking example was that of Democrat Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota who won the 2008 elections by only 312 votes. The newspaper said the 0.65 percent of Minnesota non-citizens who voted then could have accounted for the Democrat's win.

It is also possible that President Barack Obama's victory in North Carolina in 2008 was contributed in part by illegal votes.

The study found that the president won in nearly all the illegal votes casted in 2008. In North Carolina, in which 5.1 percent of all validated votes came from non-citizens, President Obama won by a margin of only 14,177 votes.

The report also found that conservative policies aimed at countering illegal votes have largely been ineffective.

About 75 percent of those non-citizens who claimed to have been asked for photo identification at the voting polls were able to vote.

The research is based on the data the Cooperative Congressional Election Study pooled in 2008 and 2010. It involved 32,800 observations in 2008 and 55,400 in 2010 and was supported by evidence gathered in 2008 that verified whether non-U.S. citizens voted or not. 

TagsIllegal votes, non-U.S. citizens, Democrats, U.S. election, registered voters, Al Franken, Obama