OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Secretaries of State around the country are sounding the alarm over an executive order signed by President Biden early in his term that they say will make it easy for non-American citizens and illegal immigrants to vote in federal elections.
In an interview with Fox News, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, who is leading the charge, referenced Executive Order 14019, which he said was an overly broad interpretation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. He argued that Biden’s order “weaponizes and mobilizes the entire federal government apparatus to become voter registration agencies.”
The investigation by the secretary’s office began after a concerned voter reported receiving a voter registration form from an Alabama state agency addressed to a deceased relative who had died two years earlier. Allen further discovered that state agencies, such as Medicaid and other welfare offices funded by the federal government, are mandated under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to offer voter registration forms to anyone interacting with these agencies, Fox noted.
Allen said this includes non-citizens and illegal immigrants before claiming that the 2021 executive order was issued without the proper provisions to verify that forms are only sent to U.S. citizens. He further explained that individuals are provided with voter registration information regardless of whether they are ultimately approved for the public benefits they applied for.
“And that’s why it’s so vitally important that the federal government, Congress, reform the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and then allow the states to conduct their own voter registration, take it out of the hands of the federal government,” Allen said.
“It’s through state agencies that are federally funded and, of course, mandated by federal law, which is the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. And it doesn’t matter how they come in contact through the mail or through in-person or through online, if they are applying for these public benefits, if they come in contact with that agency, they are receiving the voter registration form,” he continued. “And that’s very, very troubling that non-citizens, whether legal or illegal immigrants are receiving those voter registration forms.”
“Only American citizens should be allowed to vote in our elections. And I strongly believe that the people of Alabama believe that only American citizens should be allowed to vote in our elections. And that’s something that I’m not going to back away from,” Allen told Fox. “Something that we cannot back away from. And it’s something that we must remain strong in and continue to advocate for these reforms.
“Again, for the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, sensible reforms. And, and that’s why we’ve got to put President Trump back in the White House. That’s why we’ve got to have strong GOP majorities in the United States Senate and strong GOP majorities in the United States House of Representatives to make sure that we can reform the NVRA to put some protections in there to verify citizenship. It is imperative, moving forward, that we do that,” he said.
Fox added:
The White House billed Executive Order 14019 as a way to protect “the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections,” including Black voters or other voters of color.
At the time, the Biden administration assessed that the order came as part of the responsibility of the federal government “to expand access to, and education about, voter registration and election information, and to combat misinformation, in order to enable all eligible Americans to participate in our democracy.”
In March, Allen provided testimony to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee discussing the constraints faced by state election officials in ensuring that only U.S. citizens register and participate in elections.
During the hearing, he explained that in December, his office requested from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services a list of non-citizens for cross-checking against Alabama’s voter file. However, the federal government declined this request and instead instructed the Alabama secretary of state’s office to utilize the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program to verify citizenship.
Allen told the panel that SAVE explicitly states that the law cannot be used to verify citizenship for the purpose of registering voters.
“The federal government and the federal courts have blocked previous efforts by states to verify citizenship and I think that it is important now more than ever, especially given what is happening at our southern border,” Allen said.
