Explaining the Right: The imaginary scourge of noncitizen voting

Republicans in multiple states are pushing for federal legislation to address noncitizen voting, something they insist is an urgent matter requiring intervention at the highest levels of the government. But the problem does not really exist and is a smokescreen for rules, regulations, and practices that help Republicans win elections.

Earlier this week, 12 of the state chairs for the right-wing State Freedom Caucus Network sent a letter to congressional leaders pushing for passage of the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.” The law, proposed by Republicans, purports to close loopholes allowing for noncitizen voting.

“The states continue to face the prospect of a huge population of noncitizens illegally voting in our elections and potentially affecting the outcome,” the letter alleges. “We must close the loopholes that put the integrity of our elections at risk. We need the SAVE Act to ensure that only U.S. citizens vote in U.S. elections.”

This is false. 

First, it’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. If a noncitizen even registers to vote, they could face up to five years in prison. In a study conducted by the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice, researchers could find only 30 incidents of suspected noncitizen voting in the 2016 election, comprising 0.0001% of votes that were cast in those jurisdictions. That number includes only potential noncitizen votes—not cases that have been investigated and determined to be ineligible.

Not only is noncitizen voting extremely rare, it’s also not coordinated by any groups in a way to systematically control the outcomes of elections.

Additionally, civil rights groups have called the SAVE Act “unnecessary and dangerous,” and said it “is intended to elicit irrational fear of the growing number of citizens of color.”

But the issue is just one of the latest ways Donald Trump and other Republican officials are fearmongering around immigration. Similarly, right-wing media outlets, like Fox News and Newsmax, have made stories about the purported problem a staple of their programming.

Promoting these lies creates an environment where voter-suppression laws and regulations can thrive. When these rules are in place, eligible voters have then been barred from voting, and frequently when election turnout is low, that has favored the political fortunes of the Republican Party (but it is not the case in every election).

Noncitizen voting is also a convenient boogeyman for the right. Conservative ideas and candidates are often unpopular, but instead of confronting this lack of appeal, the right can simply blame noncitizens—a population they demonize anyway—for their loss. Trump did this in 2017, when he falsely claimed that his popular-vote loss to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was the fault of undocumented immigrants.

Campaigning against an imaginary wave of noncitizen voting serves many purposes for the right: It rallies supporters against migrants, it pushes laws that help Republicans, and it excuses Republican losses in elections. The core issue is made up, but the effects are unfortunately very real.