Fact or fiction: Noncitizens and elections

There have been claims from the Trump administration that there are 250,000 noncitizens on voter rolls in four states. However, election officials do not understand where the specific number came from, and cannot find hard evidence that this claim is true. This narrative of noncitizen voting is not new and it returns to the news cycle with almost every election, despite many investigations over the years showing that noncitizen voting is not a significant occurrence. In this article, we break down the facts: what investigations have shown, where this narrative came from, and the impact this narrative has on every voter in America.

America has a long history of scapegoating immigrants for political gain. Generations of people have heard the false notion that noncitizens have been impacting elections, as this narrative has been circulating for over 100 years. 

Like many anti-immigrant sentiments, the fear of noncitizen political power started to gain momentum in the late 1800s. During this time after the Civil War and Reconstruction, the large number of non-white, non-English speaking people immigrating to America led to an uptick in xenophobic fears. During this time, states implemented voter registration systems specifically as a means to disenfranchise specific groups of people, including immigrants with U.S. citizenship. 

Similar to the late 1800s, the modern concern about noncitizens voting in elections is fueled by racism and a fear of non-white people having political power in America. This is the core reason why this myth of noncitizen voting persists despite being disproved again and again: it is a way to stoke fears and implement policies that lead to widespread voter suppression.

This false claim leads to more division, fears, and restrictive policies that disenfranchise all voters on a large scale. 

The current threat to voting access, fueled by this false claim, is the SAVE Act. Its stated goal is to make sure that only U.S. citizens are voting in elections, a non-issue that is already a law and already being enforced. 

The SAVE Act adds a new layer of documentation requirements and bureaucracy to register to vote. If passed: 

• One of the following documents would be required to register to vote: a valid U.S. passport or passport card, a certified birth certificate paired with a photo ID, a naturalization certificate, or a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. If your name does not match across those documents, additional paperwork such as a marriage certificate would also be required.
• Is this a modern-day poll tax? A poll tax is a fee charged to vote in federal elections. While it is now unconstitutional, poll taxes were historically used to prevent low-income Americans from participating in democracy. While the SAVE Act does not directly charge a fee to vote, the cost to get the documents it requires to register is not insignificant. A U.S. passport costs a minimum of $165 in application fees and photos, and a passport card costs $65. A certified birth certificate costs $10 to $50 depending on the state, and replacing a lost naturalization certificate costs $1,385. 
• Who would this impact? The impacts reach much farther than noncitizens. 

• • Every American, including people who have been registered for decades, would need to appear in person at an election office with qualifying documents. Online voter registration and registration by mail would be upended or eliminated entirely.
  • Millions of already-registered Americans would need to comply, not just people registering for the first time. 
  • People must meet these requirements every time a voter updates their registration: after moving, after changing their name, or switching political parties. 
  • Married women, an estimated 69 million married women in America do not have a birth certificate that matches their current legal name.
  • Rural Americans, who may live hours from their election office. 
  • Low-income Americans, who are the least likely to have a passport or the flexibility to visit an election office during business hours
  • People of color, who are most likely to not have ready access to documentary proof of citizenship. 
  • Military members and Americans abroad, who cannot appear in person to verify their documents. 
  • Transgender individuals, who face barriers to having consistent documentation of their name. 

The SAVE Act is just one of many attempts over decades that uses the false claim of noncitizen voting to make voter registration more difficult. We hope that, as more people become aware of these cycles of misinformation, they can read the news with a level head and make better decisions about how they participate in democracy: with facts, not fear.