Republican ‘non-citizen’ push could punish US voters, official warns

WASHINGTON: A top election official from the battleground state of Arizona warned the US Congress on Wednesday that Republicans’ push against non-citizen voting in the Nov. 5 election is aimed at a “bogus problem” and could impose a heavy penalty on US citizens.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told the Republican-led House Oversight Committee that 47,000 eligible voters in his state were denied the right to vote by a 2004 initiative requiring proof of citizenship.

“We have denied eligible citizens the right to vote in far greater numbers than we would have had we prevented the vanishingly rare noncitizen vote that allegedly occurs throughout the United States of America,” said Fontes, a Democrat who was one of the leaders in the elections. officials from six states who testified at a hearing.

During a sometimes combative session on public trust in elections, lawmakers and witnesses traded blows over a Biden administration effort to register new voters through federal agencies and a wave of misinformation about the integrity of the election system that witnesses blamed for relentless threats against election administrators.

“People have come to my house. They have threatened me or my staff and many of the hundreds of employees and local election officials in our state,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, told lawmakers.

“Bad allegations and rhetoric without evidence make our elections less safe because they erode public trust,” he said.

The hearing came as Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson tried to force Democrats to pass a bill requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections nationwide.

The measure is backed by Republican Donald Trump, who falsely claims his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden stemmed from widespread voter fraud and that the November election could be swayed by voting among immigrants who have crossed the border illegally. US-Mexico border.

Non-citizen voting in federal elections is a felony, and independent studies have shown that it occurs only rarely.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who acknowledged the rarity of the practice, said his office has removed nearly 600 noncitizens from state voter rolls that contain about 8 million registrants.

“But we keep it rare by enforcing the law,” said LaRose, a Republican. “This problem has only been exacerbated by the lack of border security under the current administration.”

Fontes said eligible voters affected by Arizona’s measure, known as Proposition 200, have since been allowed access to the ballot despite “paranoia around a bogus problem.”

But he predicted more adverse effects for eligible citizens from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that revived proof of citizenship requirements for state elections.

“These efforts will have the effect of reducing the ability of some US citizens to vote,” Fontes said.

Shortly before Johnson canceled a vote Wednesday on Republican legislation requiring proof of U.S. citizenship when voting, Republican committee chairman Brian Steele said the measure was necessary to prevent noncitizens from registering to vote. vote when obtaining driver’s licenses.

“Because noncitizens can get driver’s licenses in every state, they inevitably also get voter registration forms even though they can’t vote in federal elections,” Steil said.

“As a result, we’ve seen states take steps to remove these noncitizens from their voter rolls.”

Democracy advocates and Democrats see the measure as an attempt by Republicans to challenge the November election.

“Our elections are safe,” said Representative Joe Morelle, the committee’s top Democrat. “Americans will not succumb to the deluge of misinformation and disinformation.”

At one point, every state election official — three Democrats and three Republicans — assured lawmakers they had “zero tolerance” for absentee voting.