US commentators spin baseless conspiracy theory about non-citizen voting

"The DMV is run by the Department of Transportation," says Mike Benz, a former State Department official in the Trump administration, in a July 8, 2024 X post.

"That means the DMV's registering of illegals to vote is being run by Pete Buttigieg, the former military intelligence officer beloved by our CIA Blob class."

Similar allegations spread elsewhere on X, Facebook and Instagram ahead of the Republican National Convention, during which some speakers made false and misleading claims about non-citizens voting in this fall's presidential election.

Image

Screenshot from X taken July 18, 2024

Image

Screenshot from Instagram taken July 18, 2024

Immigration has emerged as a top issue both on the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill.

On July 10, the Republican-controlled House passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require eligible voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections (archived here). The bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

AFP has extensively debunked claims in both English and Spanish that non-citizens can vote in federal elections. The latest narrative about illicit registration at DMVs -- state agencies that provide driver's licenses and voter registration -- is similarly misleading.

"Non-citizens are barred by federal law from voting in national elections," said Michelle Mittelstadt, director of communications for the Migration Policy Institute (archived here), in a July 11 email. "The evidence reflects that non-citizen voting is an incredibly rare phenomenon."

Benz's claim that the US Department of Transportation, headed by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, runs DMVs is also false.

"Local DMVs are run by departments of transportation or other agencies in each state. Local DMVs are not run by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)," the agency told AFP in a statement emailed July 12. 

"FHWA does not have a responsibility for, and does not have Congressional authority in, state voter registration."

Federal law bars non-citizen voting

While some states permit non-citizens to cast ballots in local elections, it is illegal for them to do so in federal contests.

Municipalities in California, Maryland and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia, have passed laws allowing non-citizens to vote in local polls, while some states have no explicit barriers to doing so. Others, including Arizona, Florida and Ohio, expressly prohibit non-citizen voting (archived here).

Regardless of the local law, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (archived here) "explicitly prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections," said Rachel Orey, senior associate director of the Bipartisan Policy Center's Elections Project (archived here). 

In addition, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (archived here) requires all states to use a common form on which prospective voters in federal elections must attest under penalty of perjury that they are US citizens.

"Falsely claiming US citizenship can result in fines, imprisonment, deportation, ineligibility for future immigration, and/or revocation of legal status," Orey said in a July 12 email, adding that "deterrence is an important factor in discouraging attempts by noncitizens to register and vote."

Experts told AFP several safeguards prevent non-citizens from voting in federal elections.

"DMV offices require several significant forms of ID to provide driver's licenses and to offer voter registration, which essentially identify those citizens eligible to vote and those non-citizens who are not eligible to vote," said Ron Hayduk, a political science professor at San Francisco State University (archived here), in a July 12 email.

When a DMV processing error registered some non-citizens in California to vote in 2018, Hayduk said officials "quickly identified those people and notified the Department of Elections, deregistering them."

"No non-citizen actually voted," he said.

Officials verify voters' identities using state and federal databases, such as those maintained by local DMVs, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security (archived here).

"By cross-referencing information that the voter provides against information provided by these entities, election administrators can ensure that identifying information submitted on voter registration forms is accurate and legitimate," Orey said. "This hinders those who may attempt to register to vote using fraudulent or false information."

Violations are rare

Independent analyses have found only a handful of documented cases of non-citizens voting in past federal elections, despite claims that the practice is widespread.

A database from the conservative Heritage Foundation analyzing legal actions related to elections shows just 24 instances of non-citizen voting between 2003 and 2023 (archived here).

A study from the Brennan Center for Justice analyzed 23.5 million votes across 42 jurisdictions in the 2016 general election. The nonprofit, which advocates for expanding voting rights, concluded there were about 30 suspected cases of non-citizens casting ballots (archived here).

"Instances of illegally cast ballots by non-citizens are investigated and prosecuted by the appropriate authorities, and there is no evidence that these votes have ever been significant enough to impact an election's outcome," Orey said.

Hayduk agreed, saying "only a few hundred cases have been identified out of over a billion votes cast in the US since 2000."

"It is almost as rare as being hit by lightning," he said.

AFP has fact-checked other false and misleading claims about immigration here.