JENNY BETH MARTIN: Non-Citizens Voting? No Thanks, Americans Say

JENNY BETH MARTIN: Non-Citizens Voting? No Thanks, Americans Say

Jenny Beth Martin on February 18, 2024

Could non-citizens wrongly decide the outcome of the 2024 election? Unless Congress and the president act immediately, it’s possible they could.

Consider:

The 2024 election – like the 2020 and 2016 elections before it – will be closely contested. The winner may succeed in the Electoral College by winning key states with just a few thousand votes here and a few thousand votes there, as Biden did in 2020 by taking Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin by a combined total of 42,921 votes, or as Trump did in 2016 by winning Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin by a combined total of 77,244 votes.

According to the federal government’s own numbers, since January of 2021, when Joe Biden took office, more than 7 million illegal aliens have crossed into our country. That’s not counting the “known gotaways” or, worse, the “unknown gotaways.”

You can do the math for yourself – if just one percent of the more than 7 million illegal aliens who entered under Biden found a way to register and cast a vote, that would be more than the number of votes Biden won by in 2020, and it would approach the number of votes Trump won by in 2016.

And where are the illegal aliens going? Exactly where you would expect – New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles – but also Atlanta, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Las Vegas, and Phoenix – all major cities in key battleground states, where just a few thousand votes one way or the other could tip the balance of a close contest.

Against this backdrop of a never-before-seen surge in illegal immigration, President Biden has issued orders to his minions throughout the executive branch to aggressively enhance voter registration efforts. Executive Order 14109, issued by Biden on March 7, 2021, orders every federal agency to promote voter registration to every person who comes into contact with the agency. What protections exist to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security or other federal agencies don’t register illegal aliens with whom they come in contact?

The American people want to ensure that only citizens vote in federal elections.

In fact, the results of a new poll confirm that, by wide margins, Americans think voting should be restricted only to U.S. citizens.

The survey, fielded by McLaughlin & Associates for Tea Party Patriots Action from Jan. 25 through Jan. 31, 2024, polled 1,000 general election voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3.1% at the 95% confidence interval.

When asked if they agreed or disagreed with the statement, “Proof of United States citizenship should be required to register to vote in American elections,” 87% agreed – with 67% saying they “strongly” agreed.

Similarly, 86% agreed with the statement, “Only United States citizens should be allowed to vote in elections for the American president, senators, and representatives,” with 73% saying they “strongly” agreed.

Some Republicans in the House of Representatives are aware of the threat of non-citizens voting in federal elections, and have introduced legislation to address the problem. U.S. Rep. Keith Self of Texas has introduced H.R. 487, the Ensuring American Voters Act of 2023, which would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) to prohibit a state from registering an individual to vote in a federal election unless the individual first provides documentary proof that the individual is a citizen of the United States.

U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas has a somewhat stronger bill – H.R. 627, the Verification Of The Electorate Act, or the VOTE Act. His bill would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and would impose criminal penalties for violations – an individual who violates this law would be fined, or imprisoned for up to five years, or both.

Clearly, it is time for Congress to act. With the massive surge in illegal immigration over the last three years, the potential for non-citizens to register and vote has never been so high. The American public, by wide margins, wants to ensure that only citizens have a say in choosing our nation’s leaders. Enacting new legislation to ensure that only citizens vote is necessary. Speaker Mike Johnson and his colleagues should move on this right away – there’s no excuse not to.

Jenny Beth Martin is Honorary Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.