Florida has 13.6 million registered voters. With 144 people found last month to be noncitizens on the rolls, that’s about 0.0011%.
Voting ballots are processed during Leon County’s primary election day
A machine is used to identify votes from ballots at the Leon County Supervisor of Elections during the primary election Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024.
Florida is cracking down on noncitizens attempting to vote, with officials saying barring them from the ballot boxes is vital to protect the integrity of elections — despite the small fraction of incidents involving noncitizens voting.
Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration requested data from federal immigration officials regarding the citizenship status for seven people on Florida voter rolls, which totals over 13.6 million people, whom the state suspects could be noncitizens.
The letter sent last week from deputy Secretary of State Brad McVay to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services associate director Tammy Mackley says federal law requires them to provide the information, and suggests the state could file suit if it isn’t provided within 14 days.
“The immediate need for accurate citizenship information is critical as we are less than ninety days from the next general election,” McVay wrote. “If verification is not provided within the time requested, Florida will pursue other remedies, including potential litigation.”
McVay also noted 144 people on Florida voter rolls were found to be noncitizens last month. In footnotes, he also cited the arrests of two noncitizens for voting illegally in the last two years.
Florida has one of the largest noncitizen populations, with more than 2.16 million residents who don’t have U.S. citizenship, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey.
At the same time, critics of DeSantis say that his and other Republicans’ alarm over foreign nationals possibly casting ballots in U.S. elections is scaremongering.
Democrats have criticized the crackdown, noting that incidents of noncitizens voting are rare.
“Because immigration continues to be such a polarizing issue, and instead of offering solutions to address our backlog or to address the need for comprehensive immigration reform, instead they focus on this myth that undocumented people are flooding into our election systems,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando.
As part of a broader push to prevent voter fraud following former President Donald Trump’s false claims after the 2020 election, Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022 got the Legislature to set up the Office of Election Crimes and Security within the Department of State. The office was given statewide jurisdiction to investigate and arrest those suspected of voting illegally.
That includes investigating reports of noncitizens voting, Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd told the U.S. House Committee on House Administration on Wednesday.
“For all of the people who say there is no evidence of noncitizens voting – come to Florida,” Byrd said. “We have the evidence because I’m required, my office is required, to report it to the governor and the Legislature every year.”
The latest report came out in January, showing there were more than 1,300 complaints of election crimes, including fraudulent petitions and campaign donations in violation of state laws, filed in 2023.
Eskamani said the crackdown is misguided and actually could end up hurting Republicans at the ballot box: “There’s always been accusations that the reason why Democrats want immigration reform is because we want to change the electorate but they forget that many immigrants are also Republicans.”
To be sure, noncitizens are banned from voting in U.S. elections, and the Florida constitution also bans noncitizens from voting. But conservatives want more barriers to prevent noncitizens from voting in practice, and point to a push in major cities such as Washington, D.C., and New York City to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.
In New York, that law was struck down by the courts but the city is appealing.
In Washington, D.C., more than 500 noncitizens registered to vote ahead of local elections there earlier this year, according to the Washington Post. The GOP-controlled U.S. House passed a bill to block noncitizens from voting in that city’s elections, but it hasn’t advanced in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.
There have also been incidents where some noncitizens were found to have been on voter rolls. For example, Texas officials said recently about 6,500 potential noncitizens have been removed from its rolls since 2021, with 1,930 having voted in elections. Texas has about 18 million registered voters.
Republican leaders in Congress have attached the SAVE Act, which would require states to obtain proof of citizenship before registering someone to vote, onto a key budget bill that would continue to fund the federal government after Sept. 30, when the current budget authority elapses.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott led a press conference last week to emphasize the importance of the bill, and the need to pass it ahead of the November elections. “People are really mad. People are scared to death,” the Naples Republican said. “People really believe these elections are unfair. How is that good for us?”
The SAVE Act would alter the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, also known as the Motor Voter Law, which allowed people to register to vote at their local Department of Motor Vehicle when they renewed their drivers license.
The move led to jumps in registrations but conservatives say it created a system ripe for fraud, allowing people to register to vote without proof of citizenship. Instead, applicants need to simply assert they are U.S. citizens.
Not all Republicans are on board with the plan to tack the SAVE Act onto the budget bills, however, with Florida GOP U.S. Reps. Cory Mills and Greg Steube opposed to the tactic, saying it couldn’t be implemented in time to affect the November elections.
At the congressional panel, Byrd said his department’s efforts are part of the broader effort to eliminate election fraud completely.
“Florida is committed to ensuring that all eligible Floridians who want to vote have the opportunity to do so, however, we are equally committed to preventing election fraud and protecting the integrity of Florida’s voting rolls,” Byrd said.
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.
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Publish date : 2024-09-15 22:04:00
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