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Republican politicians from multiple states say noncitizen voting is rampant and they are doing whatever they can to stop it.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., wants lawmakers to vote on a that aims to prevent noncitizen voting. Congress blocked noncitizens from voting in federal elections in 1996.
"Illegals SHOULD NOT BE VOTING in American elections," wrote Aug. 28 on X, linking to a clip of an interview with Newsmax. "This month alone, more than 16,000 non-citizens have been removed from the voter rolls in 3 states. It鈥檚 a serious problem 鈥� and as the next Senate GOP Leader I鈥檒l make sure we fix it."
Scott, who is running for reelection this year, wants to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as the Senate Republican leader.
Despite that noncitizen voting is rare, and are making it a cornerstone of their election-year messaging.
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Scott鈥檚 Senate office confirmed that he was referring to voters in Texas, Virginia and Alabama.
We found that Scott鈥檚 number has some merit, but he misconstrued some of the details:
- Scott said the removals happened in August. Republican state officials in these states announced their actions only this month. Texas and Virginia officials said they had been removed during the past few years.
- Scott used the word "removed." Texas and Virginia officials said they removed the voters. But Alabama moved them from active to inactive status. Alabama鈥檚 secretary of state said some of the people might have since become naturalized citizens and are therefore eligible to vote if they update their information.
- Texas called the voters "potential noncitizens."
- It鈥檚 unclear how many of the 16,000 people voted in an election The voters flagged for citizenship questions add up to less than 1% of those states鈥� voter rolls.
Texas, Virginia and Alabama state officials have been looking for noncitizens on voter rolls
Here is what we know about the efforts to remove noncitizen voters in three states:
: Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Aug. 26 that the state removed about 1 million ineligible people from the voter rolls since 2021. Most of them were removed because they had died or moved or didn鈥檛 respond to notices sent by election officials.
Additionally, Abbott wrote, "of the over 6,500 potential noncitizens removed from the voter rolls, approximately 1,930 have a voter history." Those 1,930 were sent to the state attorney general for potential legal action. The word "potential" raises the question about whether they were proved to be noncitizens.
The , a PolitiFact Texas partner, reported that those 6,500 people were sent a The notice states that they had 30 days to provide information or documentation establishing their qualifications for voter registration.
A previous effort to clean up Texas鈥� voter rolls went poorly in 2019 when the state started with an error-filled potential noncitizens on the voter rolls. The effort led to lawsuits and the secretary of state鈥檚 resignation. This time, Texas鈥� list is much smaller.
: Republican Secretary of State Wes Allen said in an Aug. 13 statement that his office identified "3,251 individuals who are registered to vote in Alabama who have been issued noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security." Allen did not say how many voted.
Allen instructed county boards of registrars to change the status for those voters to inactive and begin removing noncitizens from the rolls. Allen sent the list to the state鈥檚 attorney general for potential prosecution.
Allen said it鈥檚 possible that some of the people have since become naturalized citizens and are therefore eligible to vote; but they have to update their information.
Barry Stephenson, chairman of Jefferson County鈥檚 Board of Registrars, told PolitiFact his county had 557 voters on that list.
"They are not being removed 鈥� they are moving from active status to inactive," Stephenson said. As long as they fill out the form attesting to their citizenship, they can vote.
Stephenson told PolitiFact that a couple of people who received a notice called the office and said that they had green cards and didn鈥檛 know they were registered to vote. They said they never asked to register to vote while getting a driver鈥檚 license.
Jefferson County has 47,000 people on the inactive list, so the names the state flagged for citizenship are a small slice.
: Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in an Aug. 7 executive order that the state removed 6,303 noncitizens from voter rolls from January 2022 to July 2024. Youngkin鈥檚 order did not say whether any people cast ballots. Virginia used state Department of Motor Vehicles records and federal Department of Homeland Security data to identify noncitizens. Youngkin鈥檚 order stated that they may have "purposefully or accidentally registered to vote."
Voting by noncitizens is rare
Elections experts say it is possible for an ineligible voter to accidentally register to vote at the DMV, which could be a mistake by the applicant or the clerk. And it鈥檚 possible DMV records on citizenship are outdated.
"All they know is what your citizenship status was whenever you interacted with the DMV," said Jonathan Diaz, an election law expert at the Campaign Legal Center, which promotes voting access. (The center has sent letters to and Texas officials challenging their recent actions.)
Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, agreed with Diaz: "The fact that a voter was, at some point, not a citizen, certainly does not mean they voted during the time they were not a citizen."
In 1996, Congress banned noncitizen voting in federal elections as part of a on people in the country illegally. "Noncitizens" includes people legally and illegally in the U.S.
Safeguards already exist to prevent noncitizen voting. When people register to vote, they attest that they are citizens. , and have claims about noncitizen voting and have found only that wouldn鈥檛 swing federal elections. Penalties for noncitizen voting can include jail time, deportation or denial of citizenship applications.
One of the largest examples we could find of noncitizens charged for voting stems from North Carolina. In 2020, federal prosecutors in North Carolina with voter fraud after they cast ballots mostly in the 2016 election. Sixteen people pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors related to voting as a noncitizen. Three cases were dismissed.
More than 4.5 million people in North Carolina voted in the 2016 presidential election.
State election officials routinely take steps to remove ineligible people from the voter rolls in
It could take several months or longer for authorities to determine whether any of the people the three states found on the voter rolls will face criminal charges. Additional information about these efforts could come out in potential lawsuits, meaning it could be years before some unknowns about the current removals are answered.
Our ruling
Scott said, "This month alone, more than 16,000 non-citizens have been removed from the voter rolls in 3 states."
Scott is talking about something that did happen, but there is a lot we don鈥檛 know about the 16,000 total from available information. The outcome of investigations and potential lawsuits could take months or years.
Based on what we know, Scott鈥檚 timeframe is off. Not all of these voters were taken off the rolls in August. State officials announced actions related to these voters in August. Texas announced it had removed 6,500 "potential noncitizens" since 2021. The word "potential" leaves some wiggle room. Virginia said it had "removed" 6,303 voters since 2022.
The names in Alabama 鈥� 3,251 鈥� were moved from active to inactive status, but that鈥檚 not the same as being removed. They can still vote as long as they sign a form attesting that they are U.S. citizens.
Being on the voter rolls and casting a ballot are not the same thing. We don鈥檛 know how many of the potential noncitizen voters cast ballots; Texas said 1,930 had a Texas voter history. When we add up the numbers on the lists in the three states, it amounts to less than 1% of registered voters.
The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it Half True.
OUR SOURCES
- X, , Aug. 28, 2024
- X, , Aug. 16, 2024
- Newsmax, , Aug. 28, 2024
- Texas Governor鈥檚 Office, , Aug. 26, 2024
- PolitiFact, , April 4, 2024
- The New York Times, , April 26, 2019
- Alabama Secretary of State, , Aug. 13, 2024
- AL.com, , Aug. 14, 2024
- Virginia鈥檚 Governor鈥檚 Office, Aug. 7, 2024
- NBC News, , Aug. 23, 2024
- VoteBeat, , Aug. 27, 2024
- Dallas Morning News, , Aug. 26, 2024
- New York Times, . Aug. 28, 2024
- AP, , Aug. 21, 2024
- Email interview, Anthony Gutierrez, Common Cause Texas executive director, Aug. 28, 2024
- Email interview, McKinley Lewis, communications director for Sen. Rick Scott, Aug. 28, 2024
- Email interview, Laney Rawls, spokesperson for the Office of Secretary of State Wes Allen, Aug. 28, 2024
- Telephone interview, Barry Stephenson, chairman of the board of registrars in Jefferson County, Alabama, Aug. 29, 2024
- Telephone interview, Jonathan Diaz, director of voting advocacy and partnerships at the Campaign Legal Center, Aug. 28, 2024
