Despite non-citizen voting being illegal, eight states in the United States are pushing for legislation to ban non-citizen voting.
Democrats deny the existence of election fraud or downplay its severity, minimizing the issue of illegal immigration, and accusing Republicans of making a mountain out of a molehill, with the aim of overturning potential election failures.
It is expected that two of these states may swing the election results. Measures seeking to amend state constitutions will appear on the ballot on November 5.
Trump has stated that non-citizen voting could impact the election results.
If supported by the majority of voters, the main aim of proposed amendments would be to explicitly state in the state constitution that only citizens can vote. Critics argue that, given that non-citizen voting is already illegal in these states, this amendment would not have any practical impact.
These proposals will appear on the ballots in November in swing states such as North Carolina and Wisconsin, as well as in Republican-dominated states like Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.
Supporters argue that these measures are aimed at addressing the record-breaking illegal border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico during President Biden’s term, as well as concerns raised by the discovery of a small number of potential non-citizens on voter rolls in some states, making it a reasonable and legal step.
The proposed amendments are part of the latest round of offensives in the presidential election, including at least eight lawsuits filed by Republicans challenging voter registration procedures, as well as a move by the House Republican majority to pass a law requiring Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
Jason Simmons, the Republican Party chairman in North Carolina, stated, “People across the state are concerned about the election process, they want to ensure that the voting results are from legitimate votes.”
Democrats, and even some Republicans, are not impressed by these measures, believing that they are driven by Trump’s continuous efforts to question the reliability of U.S. elections.
Republican pollster Whit Ayres said, “The loser of the last presidential election claims that there was fraud in the past four years, and 70% of Republicans believe so.”
Ayres has worked for several Republican leaders, including U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Currently, 17 regions in the U.S., including Democratic strongholds like San Francisco and Washington D.C., allow legal non-citizens to vote in local elections but not in federal elections.
In Santa Ana, California, a Democratic mayor, the city will vote this year on whether to allow non-citizen residents to vote in municipal elections.
Independent studies show that illegal non-citizen voting is rare, a finding supported by Republican state officials overseeing elections in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.
Hannah Alarian, a political science professor at the University of Florida, stated, “Evidence shows that this is indeed not a widespread issue.”
Trump’s allegations about non-citizen voters can be traced back to the 2016 presidential election.
That year, Trump won the majority of Electoral College votes by state but received fewer national popular votes than his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. He claimed that Clinton won more popular votes due to millions of illegal non-citizen immigrants voting, a claim he has stuck to and maintained that Democrats are encouraging illegal immigrants to vote.
During a debate on September 11 with Democratic presidential candidate, Tulsi Gabbard, Trump said, “A lot of illegal immigrants are coming in, they (Democrats) are trying to get them to vote, that’s why they (Democrats) let them into our country.”
Democrats accuse congressional Republicans of using unfounded cheating allegations such as conspiracy theories to potentially reject certification of Trump’s possible loss in 2024 on January 6 next year.
Joseph Morelle, a senior Democrat representative on the House Oversight Committee on Elections, claimed in a recent MSNBC opinion piece, “Trump’s lies about non-citizen voting have been debunked multiple times, but they (referring to Republicans) have been consistently trying to sow anxiety among voters to lay the groundwork for false allegations of election fraud in November.”
(Reference: Reuters)