ILLEGAL ALIENS, VOTING AND THE BIDEN REGIME
How federal law facilitates the latest Democrat voting scam...
By Daniel Street. P.E.
By now virtually everyone in America is familiar with reports about ongoing efforts around the Country to register illegal aliens to vote.
Like most Americans, you probably think illegal aliens registering to vote and voting is illegal under federal law. And you would be correct. If it is a crime for illegals to register or vote, how could they possibly get away with it?
The answers are shocking.
First: while people in this Country illegally do not have the right to vote (in fact, it is a federal crime for illegals to register to vote or to vote), a federal voter registration law is crafted to facilitate illegals (and other ineligible people) to register to vote.
Second: the same federal law mandates voter registration be available at various locations which aid in the effort to register illegals to vote.
Third: the applicable federal laws are used to bludgeon States that try to stop illegals from registering to vote.
Let’s take a closer look at how this works.
Are Illegal Aliens Eligible to Register to Vote?
The answer to this threshold question is no, illegal aliens are not eligible to register to vote or to vote in federal elections. 18 U.S.C. §611 specifically makes voting by “aliens” a crime.
This statute provides, in part:
“Alien,” for purposes of the criminal statute cited above, is defined in yet another federal statute, 8 U.S.C. §1101 as follows:
(The prohibition on illegals voting passed in 1996 as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. That law incorporated the definition of “alien” provided by Section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act as the definition of “alien” for purposes of the criminal statute.)
Therefore, for purposes of federal elections, the law clearly establishes that people in this Country illegally are not eligible to register to vote or vote in the United States.
How are Illegals Registering to Vote?
If federal law makes it illegal for illegal aliens to vote, then how are they getting registered to vote in the first place?
The answer is federal law limits what State elections officials can do to prevent illegal aliens from voting. Furthermore, federal law requires States offer voter registration at many places where illegals will get the chance to register and requires State election offices to partner with federal government agencies and others creating more opportunities for illegals to register to vote.
The primary federal statute creating this chaos is the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, or NVRA, which is commonly known as the “Motor Voter Law.” See 52 U.S.C. §20501 – 20511. If one takes the time to read through the statute and regulations he or she will initially be comforted by the language of it.
The NVRA starts out by recognizing citizens of the USA have the right to vote:
Then the law goes on to state the very purpose of the law is to increase the number of citizens who register:
So far so good, right? Not so fast. As is so often the case, the devil is in the details when Congress passes a law.
How Does This Law Facilitate Illegals Registering to Vote or Voting?
First of all, the NVRA requires States to “establish procedures” to allow people to register to vote in federal elections at motor vehicle offices:
See 52 U.S.C. §20503. That is why the statute is often called the “Motor Voter Law,” it required States to provide people with voter registration applications when they get their driver’s license. (It also mandated people be allowed to register to vote by mail, as noted above.)
In fact, the NVRA, actually requires the application for a State driver’s license to serve as an application for voter registration.
According to the MIT Election Data Science Lab, 22 States and the District of Columbia now use Automatic Voter Registration where people are automatically registered to vote if they get a driver’s license or otherwise interact with various different government agencies.
In addition, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures as of March 2023, 19 States allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
The implications are obvious: if a State allows illegal aliens to get driver’s licenses and automatically registers new drivers to vote the opportunity for illegals to be registered to vote is substantial.
What is being done in each of these States to prevent illegal aliens from being registered to vote when they obtain a driver’s license? The answer is not much.
When people show up to a State driver’s license office to get their driver’s license, the National Voter Registration Act limits the information States may obtain from the person to determine if the person is eligible to vote to the minimum amount of information necessary and that does NOT include any proof of American citizenship. (More on this in a minute.)
The NVRA also requires States to designate various different offices as voter registration offices, including public assistance offices and disability offices, and allows Federal offices and “nongovernmental offices” to serve as voter registration offices:
The NVRA also REQUIRES States to accept the Federal “mail voter registration” form to register voters. See 52 U.S.C. §20505.
This form does NOT allow for any proof of American citizenship.
Here is a link to the Federal Mail Voter Registration Form. The instructions state only citizens may use the application and the application itself contains a box to check indicating one is or is not a citizen and requires a signature certifying one is a citizen.
Here is the check box:
This and the signature certifying someone is a citizen is the sum total of the protection afforded by the Federal Mail Voter Registration Form to ensure non-citizens do not register to vote. That is it.
(The law does allow for States to request additional State-by-State instructions. The linked form contains those instructions. Those additional instructions must be approved by the Federal government. Readers will note, none of the special instructions involve verification of citizenship.)
Thus, with many States offering illegals access to public assistance, such aslinois,Maine, Minnesota and Washington illegals entering these offices will have ample opportunity to submit voter registration applications.
(In addition, as Fox News reported in June 2024, illegal immigrants are offered an array of taxpayer funded benefits, including access to various forms of federal benefits.)
When illegals show up to get a driver’s license in one of the 19 States which issue licenses to illegal aliens or when they show up to apply for public assistance in one of the States offering public assistance to illegals, what prevents them from being registered to vote? Well, they have to check the box confirming they are in the Country legally. That is the safeguard.
What happens when States try to require more? Unfortunately, the federal courts block them because the NVRA preempts or overrides State law.
Finally, in March 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order expanding the federal government’s involvement in voter registration under the NVRA by requiring federal agencies to accept a designation as a voter registration agency under the NVRA. (Readers will recall, the NVRA allows federal agencies to be State voter registration agencies by consent.)
The EO also called for federal agencies to submit strategic plans on how they can boost voter registrations. Legal challenges to President Biden’s Executive Order were filed. The concern is the Biden Regime turned the federal government into a Democrat voter registration operation.
Federal Courts Use the NVRA to Block States’ Efforts to Verify Citizenship
When States require people who submit voter registrations to submit proof of citizenship along with their voter registration form, Federal courts block the efforts. In 2013, the United States Supreme Court invalidated an Arizona State law finding the National Voter Registration Act preempted State law and, as a result, prohibited the States from requiring actual proof of citizenship.
Kansas took another approach and tried to require people registering to vote when they get their driver’s license to provide proof of citizenship. Readers will recall, the “Motor Voter” provision requires the States to collect only the “minimum amount of information necessary” to verify eligibility.
The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals found the NVRA preempted the Kansas law because when someone signs the application the signature “attests” the applicant is a U.S. citizen and requiring more was not the “minimum.”
Recently, another Arizona law featured prominently in news articles. The particular law at issue required individuals registering to vote in Arizona to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote in Arizona elections. If someone could not provide such proof, but submitted the registration form (“attesting” he or she is a citizen, remember), Arizona would register the person to vote in Federal elections, but not State elections.
(Technically, Arizona was already doing precisely this under a settlement agreement involving a previous law.)
Keep in mind the NVRA mandates voter registration for federal elections, not State elections. A federal district judge in Arizona prohibited enforcement of the law. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals originally granted, then denied Arizona parties’ request for a stay. The United States Supreme Court reversed the denial of the stay.
This means the law can go into effect while the case is being litigated. (Stated another way, Arizona will be able to continue to NOT register such voters to vote in State elections, but only federal elections.)
The simple fact of the matter is States are simply not allowed to require people submitting voter registration forms to prove they are citizens of this Country, despite the fact the NVRA is expressly intended to facilitate the ability of citizens to vote.
Are Illegals Registering to Vote?
You better believe it. In fact, in Arizona alone, according to the Democrat Secretary of State, there are over 40,000 voters who are registered to vote in federal elections only, because they could not produce proof of citizenship to register for State elections.
An audit in the State of North Carolina in 2014 found roughly 10,000 potential non-citizens were registered to vote there.
In South Carolina earlier this year, an investigation was launched into efforts by the South Carolina Medicaid office offering voter registration forms to illegals.
Other States, including Alabama, sounded the alarm about illegals being registered to vote at State welfare offices.
A study in 2014, which was subsequently updated in 2024 by other researchers, estimated 10-25% of illegal aliens were registered to vote in our elections (though this estimate is disputed by the legacy media).
Given the vast number of illegal aliens allowed into this Country by the Biden Regime over the last three and a half years, coupled with the efforts to allow illegals to obtain driver’s licenses and welfare, added to the Biden Regime’s expansion of federal agency involvement in voter registration, there are probably untold numbers of illegal aliens registered to vote all over America.
(Why else would the Biden Regime allow illegal aliens to enter this Country virtually unchecked in the first place, if the Democrats were not planning on registering as many as possible to vote and then harvesting their ballots.)
What is Being Done to Stop Illegal Aliens from Registering to Vote?
There are efforts underway in different parts of the Country to stop illegals from registering to vote and/or from voting. The Arizona law referenced earlier is a good example.
In the State of Texas, voter registration applications are checked against Department of Public Safety data to identify illegal aliens attempting to register (Texas was unsuccessfully sued over the program).
In Georgia, polling places in the 2024 election will include warnings against noncitizens voting.
What genuinely needs to be done, however, is for federal law to change.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives passed a law called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act to fix this problem by amending the NVRA to require people registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship. If the bill makes it through the U.S. Senate (which is unlikely with Democrats in control), President Biden vowed to veto it.
As long as Joseph R. Biden occupies the White House, the law will not be allowed to change.
The fact is the problem we currently face with non-citizens registering to vote was created by the National Voter Registration Act. Until that law is changed, the problem cannot be completely remedied.
While there are organizations like True the Vote and America First Legal working to combat this problem and, as noted above, some States like Texas are trying to screen illegals out during the registration process, this problem requires a federal remedy.
This means Republicans need to win enough federal elections to fix the problem and that is precisely what noncitizen voting is intended to prevent.
Daniel R. Street
Daniel is an attorney with over 27 years of experience litigating in State and Federal courts. He is the author of four books dealing with news media propaganda and misinformation. He also provides legal analysis of various different legal issues, including breakdowns of the lawfare being waged against former President Trump and other Republicans. His articles have been published at The Blaze, The Daily Wire and American Greatness to name a few. Please consider supporting independent journalism by becoming a free or paid subscriber to his substack.