Preventing non-U.S. citizens from casting a ballot has once again become a focal point of Republicans’ ongoing efforts to protect “election integrity,” even though non-U.S. citizens are rarely involved in voter fraud.
Ahead of November’s presidential election, lawmakers in Congress and the Republican Party are trying to keep non-citizens away from the polls. They are taking advantage of state constitutional amendments and fresh laws that require citizenship verification when voting. Noncitizens can vote in several local elections in several states, but can no longer vote in statewide or federal elections.
Some Republicans argue that preventing foreigners from casting ballots – long a bogeyman in conservative politics – reduces the risk of fraud and increases confidence in American democracy. But even some on the right believe these efforts go too far because they stoke anti-immigration sentiment and unfounded fears of widespread fraud, all in an effort to boost turnout among GOP supporters.
While Republican Party leaders in Congress want to require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, voters in at least four states will decide in November to amend their state constitutions to clarify that only U.S. citizens can vote in the states and local governments. elections.
Over the past six years, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota and Ohio have amended their state constitutions.
In Kentucky, which along with Idaho, Iowa and Wisconsin is currently considering a constitutional amendment, non-citizen voting will not be tolerated, said Republican state Sen. Damon Thayer, who voted in February to put the amendment on the November ballot. Five Democrats in both chambers supported the Republican-authored legislation, while 16 others expressed no opposition.
“There are many concerns about the Biden administration’s open borders policy,” House Majority Leader Thayer told Stateline. “People see it on the news every day, with groups of illegal immigrants coming across the border. They are linked to concerns about election integrity.”
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed similar concerns last month when he announced fresh regulations — despite existing ones 1996 ban — this would make it illegal for foreigners to vote in federal elections. While traveling to Florida to meet with former President Donald Trump, the Louisiana Republican said it was common sense to require proof of citizenship.
“This could, if there are enough votes, influence the presidential election,” he said, standing in front of Trump at the presumptive presidential nominee’s Mar-a-Lago resort. “We cannot wait until widespread fraud occurs, especially when the threat of fraud increases with each illegal immigrant crossing this border.”
The rhetoric comes from fear of changing U.S. demographics, which are becoming more diverse as the nonwhite population grows, said longtime Republican strategist Mike Madrid. While this political strategy has been successful in galvanizing support among GOP voters in the past, he questions whether it will be politically effective in the long term.
“There is no problem to solve here,” said Madrid, whose upcoming book is “The Latin Age”, outlines the growing share of voters in this group. “It’s all politics. It’s about stoking fear and angering the base.”
Foreigners vote in some elections across the country, but not in the way many might think.
Where foreigners vote
IN 16 cities and towns in California, Maryland, and Vermont (including the District of Columbia), noncitizens can vote in some local elections, such as for school board or city council. Voters in Santa Ana, California, will decide in November, whether to allow foreigners to vote in citywide elections.
In 2022, New York State Supreme Court knocked down A 2021 New York City ordinance that allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections was deemed a violation of the state constitution. Supporters argued that people, regardless of citizenship status, should be able to vote on local issues affecting their children and communities.
During the first 150 years of the United States’ existence, 40 states allowed non-citizens to vote in elections at various times. This ended in the 1920s, when nativism rose and states began making voting a privilege only for U.S. citizens.
The number of non-citizen voters is relatively miniature and these voters are never allowed to participate in statewide or national elections. Local election officials maintain separate voter rolls to prevent non-nationals from accessing statewide databases.
In the March municipal elections in Vermont, 62 non-citizens voted in Burlington, 13 in Montpelier and 11 in Winooski, for a total fraction total number of votes.
In Takoma Park, Maryland, of 347 foreigners registered to vote in 2017, only 72 voted latest data provided by the city. And in San Francisco, 36 foreigners registered to vote in 2020 and 31 voted.
It’s all politics. It’s about stoking fear and angering the base.
– Mike Madrid, Republican strategist and author
Turnout among foreigners is low for two reasons, said Ron Hayduk, a political science professor at San Francisco State University who is one of the leading scholars in this area. Many foreigners in these jurisdictions do not realize they have the right to vote, and many fear deportation or legal problems, he said.
Registration forms in jurisdictions that allow foreigners to vote in local elections confirm the risks. In San Francisco, local elections officials warn that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other agencies could access city registration lists and advise residents to consult with an immigration attorney before registering to vote.
“Immigrants were very excited about this new voting right, they wanted to vote, but many of them ended up not registering and voting because they were worried,” Hayduk said.
Although some foreigners participate in a few local elections, they do not illegally participate to any significant extent in state and national elections.
While there is room for legitimate debate about whether foreigners should be able to vote at the local level, there is not widespread voter fraud among foreigners across the country, said Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
In 2020, federal investigators charged 19 foreigners to vote in North Carolina elections. National Database Conducted by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, there have been fewer than 100 cases of voter fraud involving foreigners since 2002, study finds. last count by the Washington Post.
Trump continues to falsely claim that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election and that he had more popular votes in 2016. Without evidence, he claimed that electoral fraud, some of which was committed by non-citizens, was to blame.
With illegal immigration close to the mountain of the top issues for voters heading into November, Trump and his movement feel they have the momentum to persuade the public to tie immigration concerns to their continued campaign claims, Olson said.
He added that this was a way to keep Democrats behind by falsely accusing them of allowing immigrants to enter the country illegally so they could vote.
“The assumption that there is some kind of conspiracy by an entire major political party is just extremely devoid of evidence,” he said.
The fight against the “left”
While voter fraud among foreigners is not common, states should continue to add safeguards to their voting systems to prevent the possibility, said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican.
Raffensperger was a key supporter of the Peach State’s law, which would require documentation to verify voters’ citizenship status. In 2022, he announced that an internal audit of Georgia’s voters would cover the last 25 years found that 1,634 foreigners tried to register to vote, but none cast a ballot.
“I will continue to fight with the left on this issue of ensuring that only American citizens decide American elections,” Raffensperger wrote in a statement to Stateline.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia are actively considering legislation that would add voting initiatives in November to prevent non-citizens from voting. These bills are at various stages of the legislative process, and many of them have already passed through one chamber.
During a committee hearing last week, Missouri Republican Sen. Ben Brown said the state’s constitutional language was vague enough to allow cities to allow non-citizens to vote. During the presentation his billhe cited parallel language in the California constitution and how cities like Oakland and San Francisco allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.
Most state constitutions contain similar language regarding voting eligibility, saying that “any” U.S. citizen who is 18 years of age or older can vote. The proposed amendments typically change one word to emphasize that “only” U.S. citizens can vote, eliminating ambiguity in the text that left room for cities in several states to allow non-citizens to vote.
It’s a “pretty simple” solution, said Jack Tomczak, vice president of Americans for Citizen Voting, a group working with state lawmakers to change their constitutions so that only citizens can vote in state and local elections.
“It actually weakens the voice of the citizens of this country,” Tomczak said. “And it also undermines the nature of citizenship.”
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