{"id":2291222,"date":"2024-07-09T13:59:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T17:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-we-dont-have-effective-safeguards-verifying-voter-citizenship\/"},"modified":"2024-07-09T14:02:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T18:02:47","slug":"no-we-dont-have-effective-safeguards-verifying-voter-citizenship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-we-dont-have-effective-safeguards-verifying-voter-citizenship\/","title":{"rendered":"No, We Don&#8217;t Have &#8216;Effective Safeguards&#8217; Verifying Voter Citizenship"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fno-we-dont-have-effective-safeguards-verifying-voter-citizenship%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2291222&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Democrats are opposing legislation that would require voters \u200bto prove their citizenship before registering, \u2064arguing \u2062that there are \u2062already sufficient safeguards in place to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal \u200belections. President \u200cJoe Biden\u200d expressed his \u2063opposition to the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility \u200dAct, which\u200d would amend the National Voter Registration \u200dAct to require applicants \u2063to provide proof \u2063of citizenship. However, current mechanisms such as \u200dthe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leading-candidate-for-new-york-city-mayor-may-not-live-in-city-report-suggests\/\" title=\"Leading Candidate For New York City Mayor May Not Live In City, Report Suggests\">voter registration form<\/a> and the Help America \u200dVote Act verification system have been criticized for \u200btheir ineffectiveness in preventing noncitizens from voting.\u200c Despite claims that alien voting\u200d is rare, there have been cases of noncitizens illegally registering and casting ballots in U.S. elections. \u2062The \u2062debate over voter eligibility and citizenship requirements \u2064continues to be a contentious issue in American \u2063politics.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Democrats have made clear they will vote on Wednesday in opposition to legislation that would require a would-be voter to prove he is a citizen before registering, suggesting the bill is unnecessary because it\u2019s illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections and there are already \u201ceffective safeguards in place to verify voters\u2019 eligibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But those \u201csafeguards\u201d are flawed and ineffective.<\/p>\n<p>President Joe Biden released a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/SAP-HR8281.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a> Monday expressing opposition to the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/09\/bidens-idea-of-secure-elections-is-letting-people-who-might-not-be-citizens-keep-voting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">legislation<\/a> would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to require applicants to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[READNEXT:[READNEXT:<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/19\/bidens-amnesty-plan-could-turn-500000-illegal-aliens-into-future-voters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Biden\u2019s \u2018Amnesty\u2019 Plan Could Turn 500,000 Illegal Aliens Into Future Voters<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Biden claimed the \u201cjustification for this bill is based on easily disproven falsehoods\u201d and noted \u201cmaking a false claim of citizenship or unlawfully voting in an election is punishable by removal from the United States and a permanent bar to admission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStates already have effective safeguards in place to verify voters\u2019 eligibility and maintain the accuracy of voter rolls,\u201d Biden alleged.<\/p>\n<p>But how \u201ceffective\u201d are the current mechanisms in place?<\/p>\n<h2>A Square Box Stands Between a Noncitizen And a Vote<\/h2>\n<p>The first line of defense preventing foreign nationals from voting in federal elections is a small square box on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eac.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/eac_assets\/1\/6\/Federal_Voter_Registration_ENG.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voter registration form<\/a>. The box asks \u201cAre you a citizen of the United States of America?\u201d Further down, the application asks each registrant to sign his name and \u201cswear\/affirm that\u201d he is a \u201cUnited States citizen\u201d and that the information provided in the application \u201cis true to the best of my knowledge under penalty of perjury.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Registrants who provide false information can be fined, imprisoned, or \u2014 in the case of foreign nationals \u2014 deported\/refused entry, the application states. Of course, any illegal alien who might get ahold of a voter registration form in the United States has already broken the law by entering the country.<\/p>\n<h2>The Problem with HAVA<\/h2>\n<p>Another \u201csafeguard\u201d is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssa.gov\/open\/havv\/#havv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Help America Vote Act<\/a> (HAVA) and the Help America Vote Verification (HAVV) system it established. HAVA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aamva.org\/technology\/systems\/verification-systems\/havv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">requires<\/a> states to check information about newly registered voters in federal elections against the information stored in the state\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-a-viral-voting-claim-got-wrong-and-why-americans-are-still-right-to-be-concerned\/\" title=\"Debunking a Viral Voting Claim: Why Americans&#039; Concerns Are Valid\">motor vehicle administration database<\/a>. States are supposed to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/10\/what-a-viral-voting-claim-got-wrong-and-why-americans-are-still-right-to-be-concerned\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">check<\/a> a voter\u2019s driver\u2019s license number, or if a voter doesn\u2019t have one, the last four digits of his Social Security number. Notably, foreigners present in the United States can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssa.gov\/pubs\/EN-05-10096.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">obtain<\/a> either, so the documentation does not necessarily prove citizenship.<\/p>\n<p>Under HAVA, sometimes individuals who didn\u2019t provide either ID number end up on a state\u2019s voter rolls anyway. In <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/07\/data-more-than-200000-people-on-north-carolina-voter-rolls-missing-id-numbers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">North Carolina<\/a>, there are hundreds of thousands of voters whose records are \u201cmissing\u201d either their driver\u2019s license ID or the last four digits of their Social Security number, yet still made it onto the voter rolls, according to data reviewed by The Federalist.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the state\u2019s voter registration form had previously lacked a clear indication that such identification numbers were required, which the North Carolina Board of Elections later <a href=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/dl.ncsbe.gov\/State_Board_Meeting_Docs\/Orders\/Other\/2023%20HAVA%20Complaint%20-%20Snow.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">acknowledged<\/a> could result in HAVA violations. The form was later updated. But when a local election integrity activist filed a complaint asking the Board of Elections to remedy the number of individuals who made it on the voter rolls with a \u201cmissing\u201d driver\u2019s license identification number or Social Security number, the board rejected the complaint. The board claimed HAVA did not authorize them to \u201ccontact all existing registered voters\u201d who failed to provide the HAVA identifiers.<\/p>\n<p>North Carolina Election Integrity Team President Jim Womack <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/07\/data-more-than-200000-people-on-north-carolina-voter-rolls-missing-id-numbers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> election administrators are \u201chandcuffed \u2026 from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/data-more-than-200000-people-on-north-carolina-voter-rolls-missing-id-numbers\/\" title=\"Over 200,000 North Carolina Voter IDs Missing\">maintaining clean voter rolls<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When a registrant checks the box saying he has neither a driver\u2019s license nor a Social Security number, HAVA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/PLAW-107publ252\/html\/PLAW-107publ252.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mandates<\/a> that \u201cthe State shall assign the applicant a number which will serve to identify the applicant for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ballots-cast-without-proof-of-citizenship-exploded-after-lawfare-crippled-arizona-election-laws\/\" title=\"Arizona&#039;s election laws were weakened by lawfare, leading to a significant increase in ballots cast without proof of citizenship\">voter registration purposes<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/25\/californians-with-no-drivers-license-or-ssn-can-use-a-credit-card-or-gym-membership-to-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">California<\/a>, the secretary of state\u2019s office told The Federalist that individuals who say they lack both forms of ID would later be prompted to provide proof of identity (not citizenship). Allowable options include low-security documents like a utility bill, a credit card, or a gym membership.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/01\/court-affirms-arizonas-need-to-keep-noncitizens-off-voter-rolls-but-makes-it-harder-to-do-so\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Arizona<\/a> has tried to remedy the situation, with voters approving a law in 2004 requiring documentary proof of citizenship to vote. But the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in 2013 that forced the state to accept the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/official-election-data-drops-2020-bombshell-thousands-of-ballots-may-have-been-illegally-cast\/\" title=\"Official Election Data Drops 2020 Bombshell: Thousands of Ballots May Have Been Illegally Cast\">federal voter registration form<\/a>, which only requires applicants to affirm their citizenship by checking off a box. In response, Arizona created a state registration form that requires proof of citizenship, while applicants who use the federal form are registered as federal-only voters and are unqualified to vote in state elections. But as my colleague M.D. Kittle <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/01\/19\/ballots-cast-without-proof-of-citizenship-exploded-after-lawfare-crippled-arizona-election-laws\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a>, the state was forced in 2018 to \u201cnot only accept federal-only applications lacking proof of citizenship but also grant a federal-only registration to applicants who used a state form but couldn\u2019t provide proof of citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The state then saw an \u201cexplosion of federal only voters,\u201d President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club Scot Mussi <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/01\/19\/ballots-cast-without-proof-of-citizenship-exploded-after-lawfare-crippled-arizona-election-laws\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>. In 2018, about 1,700 people voted using a federal-only ballot. By 2020, that number jumped to 11,600, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/azfreenews.com\/2021\/09\/over-11600-no-proof-of-citizenship-required-federal-ballots-cast-in-2020-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AZ Free News<\/a>. Biden won the state by 10,457 votes.<\/p>\n<h2>Foreign Nationals Do Vote in U.S. Elections<\/h2>\n<p>Biden and other Democrats want to pretend that since alien voting is supposedly \u201crare,\u201d it doesn\u2019t deserve attention or a remedy. But foreign nationals have been found registered to vote, while other aliens are permitted to vote in certain local elections.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/22\/ap-admits-noncitizens-vote-in-u-s-elections-while-insisting-its-no-big-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">critique<\/a> of the SAVE Act, the Associated Press\u2019 Ali Swenson insisted that \u201c[v]oting by people who are not U.S. citizens already is illegal in federal elections and there is no indication it\u2019s happening anywhere in significant numbers.\u201d But she then conceded that \u201cthere have been cases over the years of noncitizens illegally registering and even casting ballots.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Notably, as many as 1,500 foreigners were <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/1500-noncitizens-registered-vote-california-dmv-error\/story?id=58377069\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">registered to vote<\/a> in California by the state DMV in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Then there are cities that willingly permit noncitizens to vote. In San Francisco, aliens can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/sanfrancisco\/news\/sf-school-board-non-citizen-voting-upheld-proposition-n-california-court-of-appeal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vote<\/a> in school board elections if they have a child under the age of 19 living in the city. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/united-states-noncitizen-voting-cities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Municipalities<\/a> in Maryland and Vermont also permit noncitizen voting. Meanwhile, a judge recently <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/02\/23\/null-and-void-court-declares-new-york-city-law-letting-noncitizens-vote-is-unconstitutional\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">struck down<\/a> a law in New York City that sought to open the city\u2019s municipal elections to more than 800,000 noncitizens.<\/p>\n<p>This shouldn\u2019t be particularly surprising coming from Democrats, given that <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/12\/not-a-single-democrat-witness-in-congress-agreed-only-citizens-should-vote-in-federal-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">during<\/a> a recent Senate Judiciary hearing on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, three Democratic witnesses couldn\u2019t agree that only citizens should vote in federal elections.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats\u2019 opposition to requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote isn\u2019t grounded in any care for voters. Election security laws corrode opportunities to abuse the electoral system for political gain, and Democrats won\u2019t have that.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats are against a bill that would require proof of citizenship for voter registration, claiming it is unnecessary due to existing safeguards. However, these safeguards are flawed. President Biden opposes the bill, stating that false claims of citizenship are punishable by removal from the US. Current mechanisms, such as the Help America Vote Act, are not foolproof and can result in noncitizens being registered to vote. Despite claims that noncitizen voting is rare, there have been cases of noncitizens illegally registering and voting. Democrats&#8217; opposition to citizenship proof for voter registration is likely due to concerns about election security laws limiting their political advantage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2291223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Voting_Registration_in_America-e1720540024641.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[34381,34382,32645,6431],"class_list":["post-2291222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-citizenship-verification","tag-election-security","tag-voter-fraud","tag-voter-registration"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Voting_Registration_in_America-e1720540024641.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2291222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2291223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2291222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2291222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2291222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}