Federal Requirement for Proof of Citizenship to Vote Could Arrive

Election integrity advocates are pushing the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to require documented proof of citizenship for federal voter registration forms. 

More than 15,700 people have made public comments, mostly in support of the rule. The public comment period closes on Oct. 20. America First Legal, a conservative government watchdog, filed the petition with the EAC in July. 

“There have been important documented cases of noncitizens registered to vote and of noncitizens voting,” James Rogers, senior counsel to America First Legal, told The Daily Signal. 

“Thousands have been taken off the voter rolls,” Rogers continued. “But some states don’t check. In most states it’s not a robust system, but an honor system or pinky swear. You check a box yes or no if you are a citizen. If someone were going to illegally vote, they wouldn’t think twice about lying on a form.”

The federal voter registration form is a baseline that states are required to have under the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, though most states also have their own registration forms. If adopted, the rule would apply to the federal form.

“The Left has been very agile at filing petitions for rulemaking for a long time,” Cleta Mitchell, chairwoman of the Election Integrity Network, told The Daily Signal. “If a regulation is adopted, there is the same process for overturning it as adopting it. It’s not just like an executive order that the next president can change.”

The House twice passed a proposal to require proof of citizenship to register to vote, but the Senate did not take up the measure. 

Mitchell said the Election Integrity Network has done training sessions and provides a video tutorial for posting public comments, which are standard for adopting a regulation. Mitchell added, if public comments are overwhelmingly in favor and the commission doesn’t consider the measure, then America First Legal could have grounds to sue. 

One of the public commenters in favor of the rule said: “States like Arizona and Georgia have faced legal barriers to implementing DPOC [documented proof of citizens], leaving our system vulnerable.”

Another commenter in favor of the rule said, “Requiring DPOC, such as a passport, certified birth certificate, or enhanced driver’s license, is a simple, common sense measure that helps ensure only eligible U.S. citizens are allowed to register and vote in our elections.”

However, Nicholas J. Lima, registrar and director of elections for Cranston, Rhode Island, raised objections, asserting it could result in “disenfranchising millions of legitimate American citizens.”

“It is well-known that a significant portion of American citizens who are eligible voters, including citizens who have been voting without issue for many decades, do not have ready access to DPOC documents that could be easily provided to a voter registration agent during the registration process,” Lima said in the posted comment. “Acquiring this documentation can be burdensome, time-consuming, and costly for individual Americans, who may not have the financial, transportation, or other means to do so due to their income, disability, residing in a remote area, advanced age, or lack of caregivers to support them, among other reasons.”

Lima proceeded to call for more funding for election offices if the proposal is adopted. 

“If it is determined by policymakers that adding DPOC as a requirement to register to vote is, as is essentially argued in the petition, a means to mitigate an existential threat to our democratic republic, then the federal government should similarly endeavor to provide enough funding and resources to election officials in order to achieve desired outcomes related to that argument—certainly much more than the $15 million appropriated in total for the nation’s more than 10,000 election jurisdictions in FY2025,” Lima added. 

This week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehended Ian Andre Roberts, a Guyanese national allegedly living illegally in the United States, working as a school superintendent in Iowa. He was also reportedly a registered Democrat voter in Maryland. Maryland officials say there is no record that he has voted. 

In June, the FBI announced that a Chinese national, charged with illegally voting in Michigan in the 2024 election, had fled the country. 

In March, an Iowa audit found 277 noncitizens were registered to vote in the state and 35 voted in the 2024 election. In 2019, Pennsylvania found that more than 11,000 noncitizens were registered to vote. Also, since 2021, Texas has removed about 6,500 noncitizens from voter rolls, and 1,900 of whom had voting histories. Since 2022, Virginia has removed 6,300 noncitizens from its rolls, Alabama removed 3,251 noncitizens, and Ohio removed 597.  

It was the Maryland Freedom Caucus that discovered Roberts on the voter rolls. State Rep. Matt Morgan, a Republican and chairman of the caucus, supported the proposed proof of citizenship at the federal level. 

“That is absolutely part of the solution,” Morgan told The Daily Signal. “I hope the Trump administration can tackle it. The Department of Justice sent the Board of Elections a letter in July wanting to take a look at voter rolls. The Board of Elections said we can’t let you see that because they were afraid the administration would use it for immigration enforcement.”

The Maryland State Board of Elections errs on the side of caution before removing a name from the voter registration lists, said Jared DeMarinis, the board’s administrator. 

“If an individual who does not meet the requirements of voter registration was UNINTENTIONALLY registered to vote, that individual did not violate the law against unlawful voter registration,” DeMarinis said in the public statement. 

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