Migrant Voting Fears Unfounded, Says Ohio Capital Journal

Preventing people who are not US citizens from casting a ballot has reemerged as a focal point in the ongoing Republican drive to safeguard “election integrity,” even though noncitizens are rarely involved in voter fraud, Matt Vasilogambros reported for the Ohio Capital Journal.

Ahead of November’s presidential election, congressional and state Republican lawmakers are aiming to keep noncitizens away from the polls.

Ahead of November’s presidential election, congressional and state Republican lawmakers are aiming to keep noncitizens away from the polls. They’re using state constitutional amendments and new laws that require citizenship verification to vote.

Noncitizens are not allowed to vote in statewide or federal elections.

That rhetoric about migrants voting is rooted in a fear about how the US is changing demographically, becoming more diverse as the non-white population increases, said Republican strategist Mike Madrid.

“There’s no problem being solved here,” said Madrid, whose forthcoming book, “The Latino Century,” outlines the group’s growing voter participation. “This is all politics. It’s all about stoking fears and angering the base.”

During the first 150 years of the US, 40 states at various times permitted noncitizens to vote in elections. That came to a halt in the 1920s when nativism ramped up and states began making voting a privilege for only US citizens.

The number of noncitizen voters has been relatively small, and those voters are never allowed to participate in statewide or national elections. Local election officials maintain separate voter lists to keep noncitizens out of statewide databases.

Some GOP members argue that preventing noncitizens from casting ballots reduces the risk of fraud and increases confidence in American democracy.

But even some on the right think these efforts are going too far, as they churn up anti-immigration sentiment and unsupported fears of widespread fraud, all to boost turnout among the GOP base.