How unfounded GOP claims about noncitizen voting could cost some eligible voters

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. “Noncitizen voting does not happen in any systemic way in New Mexico or in the nation more broadly,” said New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, during one of the hearings, adding, “However, voters believe noncitizen voting does occur, and this impacts their overall confidence in elections.” Feeding that belief, Republicans and allied groups have continued to file lawsuits over the voter rolls and treat noncitizen voting as an urgent issue, an approach that experts say is having consequences around the country. In Texas and Alabama, voting watchdog groups are questioning whether state officials have removed voters within 90 days of a federal election in violation of federal law. In Alabama, Secretary of State Wes Allen, a Republican, acknowledged in a statement that some of the individuals he flagged may have been naturalized citizens, who are eligible voters, but said such people would have to update their voter registration records with their new citizenship status in order to vote. For example, at the opening of a House Judiciary Committee meeting on the proof of citizenship legislation Tuesday, Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, cited it, and he described the removed voters only as noncitizens — not “potential noncitizens.” In response to the concerns about noncitizen voting, election officials have repeatedly stressed, in court and to the public, that there are multiple measures in place to prevent noncitizens from registering and casting ballots, and no evidence that these things are happening, outside of rare and isolated instances.