Rushmore State News

America First Legal (AFL) has sent a letter to each senior election official of all 50 states, including to South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson, to advise on two federal laws that allow states to request and obtain accurate information on an individual’s citizenship status and their ability to vote. 

Currently, voters are only required to certify their citizenship by signing a federal voter registration form created by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), which has registrants affirm they are a U.S. citizen and are eligible to vote “under penalty of perjury.” Individuals do not have to provide documentation of their citizenship to register. 

States are required to use this form for registration under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), and are not allowed to require additional information in order to register voters.

While legislation like the SAVE Act have been created to verify citizenship status for individuals seeking employment or benefits, the program requires a registration or ID number, which states are unable to access when registering voters. 

“Fortunately, States have an alternative solution to obtain information about individuals on their voter rolls,” AFL writes in their letter.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is required by law under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), at 8 U.S.C. § 1373, to “respond to an inquiry by a Federal, State, or local government agency, seeking to verify or ascertain the citizenship or immigration status of any individual within the jurisdiction of the agency for any purpose authorized by law, by providing the requested verification or status information.” 

Because state and local election officials are tasked under federal law to ensure their registered voters are eligible, which includes them being U.S. citizens, “state and local election officials have the authority and duty under federal law to obtain citizenship information about registered voters.” AFL writes. 

Another provision of the INA says “[n]otwithstanding any other provision of Federal, State, or local law, no State or local government entity may be prohibited, or in any way restricted, from sending to or receiving from ... [DHS] information regarding the immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of an alien in the United States," which prevents states' requests for citizenship information on the basis of voter registration from being denied. 

“Joe Biden is mass importing criminal migrants, giving them social security numbers, and handing out voter registration forms to migrants, and vigorously opposes any and every effort to verify the citizenship of voters before voting,” AFL President Stephen Miller said. “This is a clear, unambiguous, and direct effort to sabotage the 2024 election through potential mass illegal alien voting — aiding and abetting dramatic foreign interference and the subversion of our democracy.”