CLC Reacts to Congressional Hearing on False Claims of Purported Noncitizen Voting

Today, the U.S. House Committee on House Administration held a hearing on purported noncitizen voting. The hearing, chaired by Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wi.), comes on the heels of high-profile press conferences featuring former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

 During one such press conference, Speaker Johnson admitted to reporters that his unsubstantiated claims about noncitizen voting were “not easily provable” but something he knew “intuitively.” Coinciding with this, lawmakers have also introduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require states to collect proof of U.S. citizenship before registering voters.  

After the hearing, Adav Noti, executive director of Campaign Legal Center, released the following statement:  

“Once again, self-interested politicians are trying to undermine trust in the electoral process. Noncitizen voting simply does not occur at any meaningful level. It’s a fabrication being peddled, for personal and political gain, by leaders who should know better.

“Shameful bills like the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act often result in eligible U.S. citizens being incorrectly prevented from voting or being forced to jump through additional hoops to exercise their freedom to vote. Campaign Legal Center opposes this bill. Our democracy works best when all voters can participate, but anti-voter bills like the SAVE Act use false conspiracy theories to divide us, cut Americans out of the political process, and sow distrust in our elections.”  

Background: False claims of noncitizen voting are often used to justify attempts to roll back the freedom to vote. Instances of noncitizens attempting to vote are exceedingly rare, largely due to the threat of existing penalties (including imprisonment and potential deportation) and the fact that noncitizen voting is already a crime that federal immigration officers look into during the naturalization process.

In fact, a Brennan Center analysis of the 2016 election found 30 incidents of suspected (not confirmed) noncitizen voting out of more than 23 million votes cast in their study. That amounts to less than 0.0001% of votes cast.