Heading into what is expected to be another tight presidential race, Republicans are laying the groundwork for an updated version of the false claims of “voter fraud” made four years ago after then-President Trump lost the election.
This time, they are targeting the so-called non-citizen vote, a practice that pundits from both parties reject as bizarre and inconsequential but that Republicans hope will resonate with voters frustrated by illegal immigration.
By law, only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote for president and other important federal offices.
But, claiming — without evidence — that the practice could undermine U.S. elections, Republican officials in states including Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma have launched voter registration reviews, issued executive orders and placed constitutional amendments on ballots aimed at curbing noncitizens' ability to vote.
This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) attempted to tie a bill to extend government spending and avert a federal shutdown to a controversial Republican proposal — the SAVE Act — that would require states to obtain proof of U.S. citizenship when people register to vote.
Johnson withdrew the idea on Wednesday due to a lack of support even from his own members. But the problem is unlikely to go away.
Last month, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled that Arizona can require proof of citizenship when registering new voters for future elections. It was an emergency order that likely won’t affect this year’s elections, but it broke new ground by saying states can require proof of citizenship when registering all new voters through their state system.
Trump referenced the issue in Wednesday night's presidential debate, suggesting the Biden administration has brought in immigrants to drum up votes for the Democratic Party.
In California, Republicans don't have enough power to shape state policies, but House Republicans in California are joining the majority in bringing attention to the issue at the federal level.
At a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) noted that Vice President Kamala Harris leads Trump by 1.1%, according to the most recent data. Real Clear Survey AverageWith the race so close, he said he is concerned that illegal votes could decide the presidential election.
“And even if this were not happening, the mere perception of it is enough to destroy public confidence that the vote will accurately reflect the will of the American people,” he said.
“In California, you can’t prosecute someone for voting illegally unless you can prove they knew it was illegal,” McClintock continued. “All a defendant would have to say is, ‘Hey, they handed me a registration form, they sent me a ballot. How was I supposed to know?’ And that’s a valid argument. How many people are in legal jeopardy and don’t even know it?”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall) took to X to share his criticism that “Democrats preach voter integrity and then oppose things, like the SAVE Act, that would help achieve it.”
Congress has until September 30 to pass a stopgap funding bill and avert a government shutdown.
On Wednesday, Johnson said he pulled the spending bill — with the SAVE Act attached — from a scheduled vote to “work through the weekend” to build consensus on it. Several Republican lawmakers have said they oppose the measure.
Democrats criticized the measure, saying the spending bill should not include partisan politics and that the SAVE Act would only make voter registration more difficult.
“I actually worked on voter protection during the 2020 campaign in Tampa, Florida, and what we saw there were senior citizens who were no longer getting driver’s licenses or their licenses were expired,” said Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan (D-San Pedro). “So guess what? They couldn’t vote. When you have restrictions like this, it disenfranchises certain people. What they’re trying to accomplish here is really more about the political season and creating doubt about who is voting.”
Under a 1996 law, noncitizens who vote in elections for president or members of Congress face fines, imprisonment and possible deportation. Federal law also requires states to regularly remove anyone who does not meet the requirements from the electoral rolls.
Republicans in some states have pointed to voter registration checks that detected potential noncitizens.
In Texas, for example, Gov. Greg Abbott said more than 6,500 potential noncitizens have been removed from the state's voter rolls of nearly 18 million since 2021. That includes 1,930 people with “voter histories” who were referred for investigation by the attorney general's office.
But the data indicate that noncitizen voting is rare. A study of the 2016 election by the Brennan Center for Justice found that officials referred about 30 cases of suspected noncitizen voting for investigation or prosecution.
A review by the American Immigration Council of the right-wing Heritage Foundation's database found 68 instances of noncitizens voting since the 1980s.
David Becker, founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the SAVE Act, which only applies to voter registrations after it goes into effect, would have no impact on the November election.
“Registration deadlines start on October 6, so virtually no voters who are registered for 2024 will be affected by the SAVE Act,” he said. “Why are they raising claims about the presence of non-citizens on the rolls where House Republicans have controlled Congress since January 2023, when Donald Trump was president of the United States for four years and could have done something about it?”
The answer, he said, is that the problem is manufactured.
“This isn’t about fixing a perceived problem — even if those problems existed — because there’s no time to do that,” he said. “This is about fueling perceived claims that an election has been stolen in anticipation of what they may believe is going to be a defeat for their preferred candidate.”
In California, the racist myth of immigrant voter fraud dates back to at least 1988, when Republicans, in a battle for a state legislative seat, hired security guards to patrol Latino neighborhoods, holding large signs that read “Non-citizens cannot vote!”
In 1998, nearly 750 immigrants were removed from Orange County voter rolls after being improperly registered to vote before being sworn in as U.S. voters. The incident triggered an investigation by a House committee and created a procedure for removing noncitizens from voter rolls for the first time in California.
Riverside County prosecutors found an undocumented immigrant voting for more than a decade in 2019, but investigators said there was no evidence to support widespread fraud.
In Santa Ana, a November ballot proposal would give noncitizens limited voting power in local elections by 2028, but it has generated intense opposition from those who think only citizens should be able to vote.
“It’s not that these localities are rebelling,” said Mindy Romero, founder of the USC Center for Inclusive Democracy, noting that it’s not unconstitutional for noncitizens to vote in local elections. “That’s a political conversation that will continue as more communities decide to address this issue.”
Romero said the few cities that have opened certain local elections to non-citizen voters still struggle with turnout because, like many other groups, they too need to mobilize.
He said concerns about voter fraud are fueled by misinformation, fear and the demonization of immigrants. Saying immigrants come to the U.S. with the intention of influencing politics also makes people distrust the entire political structure, he said. “It's another thing to be afraid of: immigrants trying to take away my vote,” he said.
