X (Twitter) has been blowing up because Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is introducing legislation to require proof of US citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. “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, adding that “we only want US citizens to vote in US elections.”
People are going to lie to you about this (or more likely profess their ignorance and ideology), so, for the record, as of March 2024, the District of Columbia and municipalities in three states (California, Maryland, and Vermont) allow noncitizens to vote in some or all local elections. Moreover, several states do not have clear impediments to municipalities passing their own voter qualification laws. Having a voter ID card—if one is even required—is not exclusive to citizens in America. This is a very real problem for election integrity.
We’re told not to worry about noncitizens voting in national elections because there is a federal law forbidding it. But if voters are voting in local elections, how will they be excluded from voting in federal elections if they don’t have to provide proof of citizens when registering the vote? How are noncitizens segregated from citizens when receiving their ballot if no proof of citizenship is required—or even proof of registration with a voter ID card?
Why are noncitizens allowed to vote in any election in the United States? A core pillar of constitutional republicanism is election integrity; republics are about citizens; therefore, the franchise should be exclusive to them. States should have clear impediments to noncitizen voting, and the federal government should pressure them to do so. Indeed, failing to stop noncitizens from voting appears to violate the United States Constitution.
The Constitution guarantees US citizens a constitutional republic at both federal and state levels. Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.” (Note that the federal government has failed to protect the citizens of the various states from invasion and against domestic violence.)
Allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections violates the foundational principle that, in a republic, only citizens, native and naturalized, are allowed to participate via the ballot box in electing representatives. The political right of citizenship is a special kind of right, a privilege, i.e., an exclusive right, that applies to people born or naturalized in the United States. Citizenship, when not the result of jus soli (birthright), is earned in America. Those who are not citizens have not earned the right to vote in our elections at any level. Noncitizens have no right to come to America and vote in our elections.
Constitutional republics with presidential systems place a strong emphasis on citizenship as a prerequisite for voting rights because the central role of the citizen in governance is emphasized under these arrangements. This emphasis stems from key principles. In these systems, the legitimacy of the government is derived from the consent of the governed, which means the citizens. Citizens are seen as having a special connection to the state and a stake in its decisions and policies, which justifies their exclusive participation in the electoral process.
One might argue that, as a democratic principle, non-citizens have a say-so because they are also governed. However, in republics, citizenship is closely tied to the concept of national sovereignty. Citizens are considered members of a political community and are vested with certain rights and responsibilities, including the right to vote and participate in shaping the country’s future. Non-citizens are guests. They are governed by law, to be sure, but they do not have a right to determine those laws because they are not citizens. If all this sounds circular, that’s because it is; it’s axiomatic.
Democratic-republican arrangements prioritize political equality among citizens, ensuring that each citizen has an equal voice and influence in the political process (at least in principle). Granting voting rights exclusively to citizens maintains this principle by ensuring that all those who have a shared stake in the nation’s future have the power to determine that future. The legal frameworks of constitutional republics reflect these principles by explicitly defining voting rights and eligibility criteria, which typically include citizenship requirements.
Progressives are apoplectic about this, cloaking their desire to run up the popular vote by leveraging noncitizens by claiming that proof of citizenship will effectively disenfranchisement American citizens who cannot prove their citizenship. This is a variation on the opposition to voter ID. If this concern were legitimate, then progressives would be mobilizing to make sure that all eligible voters have the proper paperwork to register and vote in elections.
Am I saying that, if an individual cannot meet the burden of proving they’re a US citizen, then they don’t get a ballot? Absolutely. Think about it: if the argument is that people who cannot prove they are citizens should be allowed to vote, then the argument that noncitizens cannot vote in US election is disingenuous. It’s a ruse to allow noncitizens to influence the direction of a nation to which they do not belong.
A Pew poll found, in 2020, that there are 25 million noncitizens residing in America (remember that they wouldn’t let the Trump administration ask this question on the 2020 census). As of the first of this year, at the US southern border alone, there has been a record of more than 6 million migrant encounters at and between ports of entry since Biden took office in January 2021, according to data from the Office of Homeland Security Statistics. As readers of this blog know, hundreds of thousands more have come through since then. This figure does not include the millions of getaways; it is likely that the actual number exceeds 10 million. Many of the millions encountered have been allowed to reside in the United States. (See The Mass Immigration Swindle.)
How can we trust the outcome of the 2024 election without a rule requiring proof of citizenship to vote? And after the debacle of November 2020. We can’t. But we can be sure of this: we will be gaslit when we object to the outcome.
freedom and reason 