Proving citizenshıp
As federal bill stalls, states take matter into their own hands
A voter fills out a ballot Nov. 4 in Detroit.
Members of the Pennington County Auditor's Off ce conduct a voter registration opportunity Oct. 2 after a naturalization ceremony at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in Keystone, S.D.
ELECTIONS
While the U.S. Senate remains deadlocked over the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would enact strict citizenship voting requirements, Republicans in some states pressed ahead with measures that could require documentary proof of citizenship for voter rolls.
Proof-of-citizenship legislation won final approval this month in South Dakota and Utah, and moved forward in Florida and Missouri. In Michigan, supporters of voter citizenship documentation submitted 750,000 petition signatures in a bid to get a constitutional amendment on the November ballot.
Federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting in U.S. elections, with violators subject to fines, imprisonment and potential deportation. When people register to vote, they affirm under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens.
What are states doing?
Legislation passed in South Dakota and Utah would create a two-tier voting system. People who provide documentation of their citizenship could vote in all elections. Those who don't could vote only in federal elections for president, U.S. Senate and U.S. House.
The bifurcated voting system is modeled after Arizona's, where tens of thousands of voters who have not provided proof of citizenship can cast ballots only in federal elections after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that the state could not require citizenship documentation for federal elections.
Utah's bill also directs election off cials to use an online service from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to check the citizenship status of existing voters. Those flagged would be sent notices asking for proof of citizenship to remain eligible to vote in all elections.
Neither the Michigan initiative nor legislation passed by the Florida House would require people to submit proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
Under the Michigan measure, the secretary of state would review driver's license records, juror records and federal Homeland Security and Social Security data to determine if registered voters are citizens. Those flagged would be removed from the voter rolls if they cannot provide proof of citizenship.
The Florida legislation would require election off cials to verify the citizenship of all registered voters using the state's driver's license database. Anyone whose citizenship could not be verified would be required to submit documentary proof.
Why do some want proof?
Republicans raised alarms for years about noncitizens voting in U.S. elections, though evidence of people doing so is rare.
In 2024, a student from China was charged with perjury and attempted illegal voting after registering to vote by showing a University of Michigan student ID and signing a document asserting he was a U.S. citizen. He later contacted a local clerk's off ce requesting to get his ballot back, and ultimately fled the country.
The case provided part of the impetus for the Michigan ballot initiative, said Paul Jacob, chairman of Americans for Citizen Voting, which backs the measure. "We want a system we can have confidence in," he said.
What are the concerns?
Constitutional amendments limiting voting to "only citizens" won widespread support when placed on state ballots, but voting rights advocates say requiring documentary proof can get complicated.
During debate in the Florida House, Democratic state Rep. Ashley Gantt recounted how her aunt was born in a South Carolina home at a time when some hospitals didn't accept Black patients; she has no birth certificate and has difficulty tying to demonstrate her citizenship.
A proof-of-citizenship law "would stop many thousands — if not more — U.S. citizens from voting in Florida," said Michelle Kanter Cohen, policy director and senior counsel at the nonprofit Fair Elections Center. "It requires documentation that a lot of eligible citizens don't have, or don't have access to."
Nationwide, about 21 million people — 9% of voting-age citizens — lack documentary proof of citizenship or cannot easily obtain it, according to a 2024 report by the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland.
What about other states?
Legal challenges are common when states pass proof-of-citizenship requirements for voters.
After Kansas adopted a proof-of-citizenship law 15 years ago, more than 31,000 U.S. citizens ended up getting blocked from registering to vote. Federal courts declared the Kansas law an unconstitutional burden on voting rights, and it hasn't been enforced since 2018.
Two years ago, New Hampshire and Louisiana passed proof-of-citizenship laws, prompting lawsuits.
A nonprofit group also filed a legal challenge to a Wyoming proof-of-citizenship law passed last year but a federal court dismissed that case, ruling the group lacked standing to sue.
