The Republican National Committee fired off a letter Tuesday to eight Democrat-led states demanding they go through their voter rolls and try to erase the names of noncitizens who may be lurking there.
The move comes after the RNC said it found a noncitizen in Minnesota who was registered to vote and was mailed a primary ballot, without ever requesting one.
RNC lawyers said that’s just the sort of thing states should be trying to prevent.
They sent letters to Democrats who run the elections process in Minnesota, California, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, New York and Wisconsin, asking them to run their voter lists through a Homeland Security Department database to try to spot names of noncitizens.
Lawyers also asked the states to issue reminders to voters about the requirement that only citizens can vote in federal elections, such as this year’s presidential contest.
“Noncitizen registration is a growing threat to our elections,” the RNC letter says. “The Biden administration is pushing policies that exacerbate the problem. And most states are doing nothing in response. We encourage you, as the chief elections officer of your state, to step up where the Biden administration has failed.”
Immigrant rights advocates say noncitizen voting is rare and, when it happens, it doesn’t sway elections.
They point to criminal cases, where only a few people are prosecuted every election cycle for voting as noncitizens.
But prosecutions don’t capture the real extent of the issue, Republicans argue.
The RNC pointed to GOP-led states such as Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin said last week that officials removed 6,303 noncitizen names from their rolls, or Tennessee, where state officials have asked more than 14,000 people to verify their citizenship.
“It is illegal for non-citizens to vote in our elections. Yet time and again, we have seen Democrat officials oppose basic safeguards and dismantle election integrity provisions, intentionally opening the door to non-citizen voting in our elections,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said.
Some localities do allow noncitizen voting in local affairs, including the District of Columbia, which has the most expansive policy in the nation.
But federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting for president, vice president or members of Congress.
Still, it does happen, and when it does, it skews heavily in favor of Democrats.
The Washington Times reported earlier this year on a series of cases in North Carolina, where federal authorities brought charges against roughly three dozen noncitizens who were registered and cast ballots in the 2016 election.
Most were legal permanent residents, meaning they have permission to remain in the U.S. but do not enjoy full citizenship.
The Times analysis of the cases found that many of them registered while applying for some other service or benefit.
The Times analysis found registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the sample by 3-to-1.
In the Minnesota case, the RNC said the noncitizen never requested to register or vote but was signed up and mailed a ballot.
The RNC suggested the man may have been automatically registered by signing up for a service, such as a driver’s license.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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