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House Judiciary Committee Discusses Federal Election Reform in Response to Illegal Immigration

US Capitol Building with sun flare

Last week, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government held a hearing to examine the implications of the Biden-Harris administration’s open-border policies on federal elections. The hearing comes with an unprecedented number of illegal aliens in the country and a growing concern that they may be influencing federal elections.  The FAIR-supported Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act,to prevent noncitizen voting, was a central topic of the hearing.

The hearing, titled “The Biden-Harris Border Crisis: Noncitizen Voting,” focused on testimony from immigration and election integrity policy experts.  Members heard testimony from Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, Immigration Accountability Project’s (IAP) Policy Director Rosemary Jenks, Foundation for Accountability and Integrity in Elections Fund Chair Cleta Mitchell, and Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) Regional Counsel Andrea Senteno.

Throughout the hearing, Members and witnesses discussed gaps that could be exploited by aliens unlawfully trying to vote in federal elections. According to testimony from the Foundation for Accountability and Integrity in Elections Fund’s Cleta Mitchell, “it is very easy for noncitizens to be added to a state’s voter rolls and it is very difficult to identify and remove them.”  Despite 19 states, plus the District of Columbia, issuing driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) motor vehicle departments are required to offer applicants the opportunity to register to vote.  And registrants are only required to check a box affirming eligibility, not provide proof of that eligibility.

Members and policy experts also discussed reforms to remove aliens from federal voter rolls. One tool state election officials use to remove aliens from their voter rolls is the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, which Florida has used since 2012. That database has helped reduce the number of aliens on federal voter rolls, but states must still consistently take steps to remove noncitizens after they have registered. According to testimony submitted by Florida Secretary of State Byrd, the database may not have the most current information available when someone registers to vote.  In his words, that is why actively removing noncitizens from voting rolls is so important:  “Because states face challenges with verifying citizenship on the front end, they must do so on the back end. Clean voter rolls become even more necessary for ensuring clean elections. Florida has robust voter roll maintenance procedures to identify registered voters who are not U.S. citizens.”

Opponents of requiring proof of citizenship argued that it would make it more difficult for American citizens to vote. The subcommittee’s ranking member, Congresswoman Mary Scanlon (D-Pa.) claimed in her opening statement that such reforms would be “onerous and unnecessary.” She further stated that the requirement was “more likely to suppress the votes of American citizens…than to prevent the infinitesimally small number of noncitizens who might mistakenly cast a ballot.” MALDEF Regional Counsel Senteno made similar arguments in her testimony. Senteno claimed: “Rather than entertaining this baseless fear [of voter fraud] to justify deterring and preventing voter participation through draconian and discriminatory new laws, Congress should encourage greater civic participation by all eligible voters.”

In response to growing concerns about illegal aliens voting in federal elections, several state election officials and governors have acted to remove noncitizens from voter rolls. For instance, Texas has removed over 6,500 noncitizens from its voter rolls, Virginia removed 6,303 from its voter rolls, and Alabama has removed 3,251 from its rolls. Below are examples of aliens voting in federal elections:
 

  • April 15, 2024: An alien pleaded guilty to two counts of illegal disclosure of a Social Security Number. He admitted to using his false identity to vote in federal elections since approximately 2004.
  • December 10, 2019: U.S. District Judge John A. Menendez sentenced a Mexican national for aggravated identity theft, passport fraud, and voting in multiple federal elections.
  • September 27, 2019: U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced a Ghanaian national for passport fraud. He admitted to falsely claiming American citizenship and illegally voting in ten federal elections.
  • August 9, 2018: U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina Robert Higdon announced the sentencing of a Mexican national for knowingly voting in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections.
  • November 27, 2017: A Cuban national pleaded guilty to casting fraudulent ballots in six elections for federal candidates, including the 2012 presidential election. The Cuban national falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen when he registered to vote in 2009.
  • October 20, 2017: Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Carrie Costantin for the Eastern District of Missouri announced a Nigerian national was sentenced for voter fraud and illegal reentry into the United States after being removed. The Nigerian national falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen when he registered to vote in 2012. He voted in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections.

In July, the House passed the SAVE Act. The bill requires state elections officials to verify a registrant’s citizenship using documents such as a U.S. passport, a birth certificate, or a REAL-ID-compliant form of identification. It also requires states to remove aliens from their voter rolls and provides them with access to federal databases like the one discussed above.  In an effort to force the Senate to act, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) attached the SAVE Act to a short-term funding proposal (or continuing resolution) earlier this month. While there has been significant pushback from congressional Democrats and the White House, a vote is expected this week.