Factbox-Noncitizen voters a rarity in US elections, state and private reviews show
2024.10.24 14:40
(Reuters) -Donald Trump and many of his fellow Republicans warn that noncitizens could vote in the Nov. 5 presidential election in significant numbers, potentially handing a victory to Democratic rival Kamala Harris. But there have been few known examples of noncitizens voting in recent U.S. elections.
Here is what state officials and independent researchers have found when they have examined the issue:
BRENNAN CENTER
The left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice found 30 instances of noncitizens voting out of 23.5 million votes it reviewed in the 2016 election.
HERITAGE FOUNDATION
The conservative Heritage Foundation found 24 instances of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections between 2003 and 2023.
ALABAMA
Alabama’s secretary of state in August said his office would inactivate 3,251 registered voters that it suspected were noncitizens, though he later admitted that thousands of those on the list are in fact U.S. citizens. A federal court blocked that effort in October on the grounds that it was taking place too close to the election. There are 3.8 million voters in the Southern state.
ARIZONA
State officials say 218,000 registered voters do not have proof of citizenship on file, which would mean they would not be eligible to vote in state and local elections this year. The voters in question have been Arizona residents for decades and the secretary of state says the discrepancy is due to administrative error. The state’s highest court ruled those people can vote for all races on Nov. 5. There are 4.1 million registered voters in the Southwestern state.
FLORIDA
Florida has prosecuted two people for voting as noncitizens since 2022. There are 13.5 million registered voters in the Southeastern state.
GEORGIA
Georgia said in October it had found 20 noncitizens registered to vote and was investigating 156 others. The Southern state has 7 million registered voters.
KANSAS
A 2018 court case found that 39 noncitizens registered to vote between 1999 and 2013, out of roughly 1.8 million registered voters.
LOUISIANA
Louisiana has removed 48 noncitizens from its voting list since 2022, the secretary of state said at an August press conference. There are 3 million registered voters in the Gulf Coast state.
NEVADA
The Western state found in 2017 that three noncitizens voted in the 2016 election, out of more than 1 million ballots cast.
NORTH CAROLINA
Officials say nine registered voters have indicated they are noncitizens when called for jury duty. There are roughly 7.7 million registered voters in the Southern state. A 2017 review found 41 noncitizens voted in the 2016 election.
OHIO
Ohio said in August it had identified 597 noncitizens who had registered to vote out of 8 million registered voters, including 138 who appear to have cast ballots.
OREGON
Oregon said in September it had found nine voters who had cast ballots without proving citizenship along with another 1,259 who had registered but not voted, out of a total of 3 million registered voters. The Northwestern (NASDAQ:) state blamed an administrative error.
TEXAS
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in August the state had removed more than 6,500 suspected noncitizens from its voter list since 2021. The Texas Tribune and ProPublica websites reported in October that authorities had only confirmed that 581 of those were noncitizens, while others were U.S. citizens.
VIRGINIA
Virginia said in August it had removed 6,303 noncitizens from its voting list since 2022. The Justice Department sued in October, alleging that the state was making those changes too close to the Nov. 5 election. The Southern state has 6.3 million registered voters.
