By Only Citizens Vote Coalition | September 19, 2024
Federal law prohibits noncitizens (resident aliens as well as illegal immigrants) from voting in federal elections. Most state constitutions note that voting is for U.S. and state citizens, but many do not ban noncitizen voting or use the words “citizens only.”
Although federal laws prohibit noncitizen voting, they do not have specific or meaningful enforcement provisions from registration process through to voting. No documentary proof of citizenship is required to register to vote.
What can a state do? There are actions that governors, attorney’s general, secretaries of state, and state legislators can take.
Because the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (aka “motor voter”) currently prevents states from verifying citizenship at registration, it must be done at the ‘back end” of the process - after registration. (This is why the federal SAVE Act must be passed - it will require documentary proof of citizenship at registration.)
The first steps state officials can take are: Get serious! Go public! So many citizens do not understand the harm to their own voting choices when noncitizens are allowed to vote, and some - wrongly - do not even think it is a problem.
State and local officials can advocate for the use of federal databases to cross check citizenship status of new registered voters. Under current federal law, two tools (8 U.S.C. § 1373 and 8 U.S.C. § 1644) are available that allow state officials to confirm citizenship for “any purpose authorized by law,” which includes citizenship verification for inclusion on voter rolls.
Officials can also compare voter rolls with state ID and driver's license databases that contain citizenship status due to REAL ID requirements. They can also check voter rolls against “noncitizen” jury duty affidavits as noncitizens are not eligible for jury duty and can return Jury Duty Affidavits affirming non-citizenship.
These are all intra-state databases that can be utilized … intra-state. A total of 13K+ noncitizens were identified and removed from voter rolls using these methods recently in Virginia and in Texas. In Texas, 30 percent of these noncitizens had a documented voting history. A recent federal indictment in North Carolina charged 19 foreign nationals from 15 countries with federal voting felonies - 12 of them had voted in 2016.
It’s real. It’s growing. And our state officials must take action.
The Only Citizens Vote Coalition has issued a citizens Call to Action to "shine the light" on the issue of non-citizens voting in our elections. The Coalition is providing Call To Action toolkits this week to assist citizens in taking action.
Each day this week has a specific action. In the daily toolkit, sample letters are included for citizens to use as an Op Ed, a radio interview, a podcast, and Social Media statements. Please use them and share with friends. Click on the circle below to download the sample letter.
Thursday Toolkit
What You Can Do
Contact your state legislators regarding strengthening laws to amend with the wording Only US Citizens Vote may vote.
Contact our state officials - executive and legislative. Start with a question: “I am concerned. What are you doing to ensure that only citizens vote in Michigan?
When speaking to candidates who are running for election, ask them would they support adjusting the language from citizens are allowed to vote, to ONLY US citizens have the right to vote.
Learn how We The People can win back and secure OUR Future.
Join us Today, September 19, at 12 PM for
the weekly Coalition Task Force Meeting
To attend this meeting, use the Registration link below . It changes weekly.
After registering, you will receive an email with details on how to join the meeting.
Note: Representatives of the media are allowed in our meetings only with prior permission.
Agenda
Pure Integrity Michigan Elections
Coalition Task Force Meeting
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM, Sept. 19, 2024, via Webex.
Patrice Johnson, Chair, Mich. Fair Elections
Kristine Christlieb, MFE's work on the recent Congressional hearing: A real home run
--Foreign and noncitizen voters. UOCAVA update
--Get out the vote efforts with Chaldean Catholics in Michigan
--County resolution for local control of elections and ballot hand counting
--Social Media team update
--Mailing to low propensity voters in key areas
--Soles to Rolls Rapid Deployment Program update
--Only Citizens Vote Initiative
New business:
Next Task Force Coalition Meeting: Thurs., September 26, 2024, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
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Mark your calendars to attend Election Integrity Network's outstanding national working groups. Consider also serving as liaison to report to the Task Force Coalition's Thursday meetings.
Below is the current schedule for National Working Groups. A link to the full National Working Group Calendar is HERE (All meetings are noted in Eastern time.)
Thursday, September 19
Tuesday, September 24
Wednesday, September 25
Thursday, September 26
Click on the monthly NWG Calendar to register and join any meeting.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the Michigan Fair Elections. Every article written by an MFE author is generated by the author or editor alone. However, links or images embedded within the article, may have been generated by artificial intelligence.