Requiring proof of citizenship to vote is an old and bad idea

One of the right’s favorite conspiracy theories is that voter fraud is rampant in U. S. elections and must be rooted out at all costs. Last week House Speaker Mike Johnson, standing alongside Conspiracist- in-Chief Donald Trump at Mar- aLago, fully signed on to it.

Johnson proposed an utterly unnecessary and potentially harmful bill that would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship before casting a ballot. “If an individual only asserts or simply states that they are a citizen, they don’t have to prove it, and they can register that person to vote in a federal election,” Johnson said. “We only want U. S. citizens to vote in U. S. elections.”

What Johnson leaves out is that this affirmation of citizenship takes place under penalty of perjury. Voting by non- citizens is illegal — and vanishingly rare. A comprehensive study by the Brennan Center for Justice in 2016 examined 23.5 million votes and found only 30 suspected incidents of non- citizen voting that were referred for investigation and possible prosecution. That’s 0.0001% of votes cast.

Why is non- citizen voting so rare? Registering to vote, as well as voting itself, creates a public record that is easily checked. Immigration officials also check for illegal voting as part of any application for naturalization. A prior offense tanks an immigrant’s chances and could get them deported.

Requiring proof of citizenship to vote is not a new idea among Republicans. In 2018, a federal judge ruled that Kansas’ citizenship requirement was unconstitutional, violating the 14th Amendment and the National Voter Registration Act. The Kansas law had been enacted in 2013 and pushed by then- Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who also headed Trump’s voter fraud commission. Kobach’s claims were so outrageous that the judge ordered him to take a class on the rules of evidence.

This time around, Republicans are cultivating a very particular lie that combines two of their favorite issues: illegal immigration and voter fraud. They claim officials in President Joe Biden’s administration are permitting mass border crossings to allow migrants to vote illegally. “I think they really are doing it because they want to sign these people up to vote. I really do,” Trump said at rally this year in Mason City, Iowa.

Ever the salesman, maybe Trump senses his narrative about the “stolen election” of 2020 is getting a bit stale, even among the faithful. So he’s trying to freshen it up by stoking fears that the 2024 election will be stolen — and by undocumented immigrants, no less.

Of course, given Johnson’s dismal track record of passing major legislation, this is probably nothing more than a political stunt. It allows him not only to cozy up to Trump but to curry favor with the conspiracy theorists on whom his job depends. But if such a bill were to pass, the resulting chaos could dwarf anything seen in the 2016 or 2020 elections, and the potential for backfire on the GOP is high.

First, fewer than half of American citizens even have a U. S. passport. What about birth certificates? To be accepted as proof of citizenship, a birth certificate must be certified, bearing the seal of the county in which one was born and the date it was filed with the registrar. Social Security numbers and military ID cards are not acceptable. Nor are hospital- issued birth certificates. Strict photo ID voting requirements have been found to discriminate against Black and Brown voters, along with lower- income voters, reducing turnout.

If it is ever actually introduced, Johnson’s proposed bill — which reinforces the MAGA notion that some Americans are more worthy than others, as well as the idea that voting is a privilege, not a right — deserves to become the next exhibit in the long list of his legislative failures.