WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Askume) – A top elections official in the battleground state of Arizona warned the U.S. Congress on Wednesday that Republicans would object to non-citizens voting in the Nov. 5 election .
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told the Republican-led House Administration Committee that 47,000 eligible voters in the state were denied the right to vote under a 2004 initiative that required them to show proof of citizenship.
“We’re disenfranchising eligible citizens in a way that prevents non-citizens from voting, which is an extremely rare situation in the United States,” said Fontes, one of six senior state elections officials who testified at the hearing.
In a sometimes confrontational session over public trust in elections, lawmakers and witnesses took sides on the Biden administration’s efforts to register new voters through federal agencies and spread misinformation about the integrity of voting systems — with other witnesses being slammed.
“People have come to my home. They’ve threatened me or my staff and hundreds of clerks and local elections officials across the state,” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Michigan Democrat, told lawmakers.
“Unsubstantiated allegations and statements without evidence make our elections less secure because they erode public confidence,” he said.
The hearing comes as Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson attempts to pressure Democrats to accept a bill that would force people across the country to show proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
The measure is backed by Republican Donald Trump , who has falsely claimed that his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was due to widespread voter fraud and that the November election was conducted illegally by immigration checks across the U.S.-Mexico border and could be manipulated. Voting was influenced by
It is a crime for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, and independent studies show that this rarely happens.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose acknowledged the practice is rare and said his office has removed the names of about 600 noncitizens from the state’s voter rolls, which have about 8 million individual registrants.
“But we keep it rare by enforcing the law,” said LaRose, a Republican. “This problem is exacerbated by the current administration’s lack of border security.”
Fontes said that eligible voters affected by Arizona’s Proposition 200 were allowed to vote despite being “confused about a bogus question”.
But he expects the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month to reinstate proof-of-citizenship requirements for state elections to have an even greater adverse effect on eligible citizens.
“These efforts will allow some American citizens to vote,” Fontes said.
Just before Johnson canceled a vote on Republican legislation requiring U.S. citizenship when voting on Wednesday, Republican committee chairman Bryan Steil said the bill would prevent noncitizens from registering to vote while obtaining a driver’s license, a measure that is required.
“Because noncitizens can obtain driver’s licenses in every state, they can essentially obtain voter registration forms, even though they cannot vote in federal elections,” Steele said.
“As a result, we are seeing state governments take steps to remove these non-citizens from the voter rolls.”
Pro-Democrats and Democrats saw the measure as an attempt by Republicans to cast doubt on the November election.
“Our elections are secure,” said Rep. Joe Morelle, the panel’s Democratic leader. “Americans will not be trapped in a cycle of misinformation and disinformation.”
Every state elections official — three Democrats and three Republicans — at one point assured lawmakers they would have “zero tolerance” for noncitizens voting.
