The Republican Party has pushed for the Citizenship Voting Act. Some state election officials say this is problematic

WASHINGTON (AP) – The core election legislation for congressional Republicans will require voters to prove their citizenship when they register, raising concerns among state election officials about how to implement and who will pay for it.

In a recent interview, state secretaries of both sides said they were warned of federal lawmakers, setting state election rules and expensive new procedures, including the collection and storage of sensitive documents. They also criticized a provision that would allow civil or criminal penalties to any election official without evidence of citizenship.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said there is no federal database that can be used to confirm a person's citizenship. Election officials described the database maintained by the Social Security Bureau and the Department of Homeland Security as unreliable.

“Rational people can agree that only citizens can vote in our elections,” Democrats said. “If they want us to prove citizenship, then they need to build infrastructure to happen.”

House Republicans are ready to act quickly

With President Donald Trump’s urging, House Republicans are expected to act quickly to advance legislation, known as the U.S. Guarantee of American Voters’ Qualification Act. A package of priority bills that can bypass the committee and conduct a direct floor vote include proof of citizenship. This could happen this week, although the bill’s uncertainty in the Senate’s prospects are uncertain in the case of democratic opposition.

State election officials say they usually support steps to ensure only the U.S. referendum, a question that usually involves a small percentage of votes, rather than personal mistakes, rather than intentional and coordinated attempts to subvert the election. The debate is largely focused on how to best achieve this, whether the responsibility should fall on voters or whether the federal government should do better, providing states with reliable data to verify citizenship.

“Every time there is federal legislation, I feel worried, especially when the Fed talks about what states usually do year by year,” said Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab. “Just because you think it will work in your state, it doesn't mean it will work in the state of everyone else.”

Republicans in Congress say the current process of registering voters is full of loopholes that have caused those who are not American citizens to vote in past elections and rely on a system of voters’ oath of office.

Before the 2024 election, Trump made a claim without evidence that such people could vote heavily to sweep the results. In fact, non-citizen votes are rare, which can lead to felony charges and deportation.

Since the November victory, Trump has been urging changes to the way elections are, including the need for proof of citizenship.

Excluding money and prosecution threats

Utah Governor Deidre Henderson, a Republican who oversees elections in her state, said she fears federal overrevealing and a lack of legislation that supports the state will need to make it work.

“When we don’t have enough tools to verify citizenship, we should certainly not throw election workers or county secretaries into jail for accidentally registering for a non-citizen vote,” she said.

Another problem is funding. The bill does not include grants that allow states to pay their execution costs. For some election officials, the money for federal elections has long been a debate.

“If you talk to the vast majority of election officials, they will tell you that there is a desperate need to make federal investments in our elections, especially if people in Congress will talk about things like the Save Act, which will only increase the cost of the election and increase federal oversight and participation in our elections,” Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Secretary, Democrat, a Democrat.

Worry about voters having the right documents

The voting rights group says married women who have been renamed may be difficult to register in the Save Act because their birth certificate lists their maiden name.

These groups also criticized the bill’s requirement that people personally provide documents, saying it could be a challenge for people in rural areas of the country to visit election offices that may take long drives and take time off from get off work.

Under the current registration system, those seeking to register are asked to provide the last four digits of the state driver’s license number or their social security number and are instructed to sign in for oath of office, they are U.S. citizens. Some states need a complete social security number.

Republicans say states can add people to voter volumes even if the state does not provide that information, and some non-citizens can get Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses. The legislation outlines documents that can prove citizenship, including a real driver's license, passport or birth certificate that meets ID.

It also allows states to provide voters with other ways to support documents. Only about 50% of Americans have passports, while adopting real ID cards is slow. According to data collected by DHS, as of January 2024, about 56% of driver’s licenses and IDs in the United States are real IDs.

The results of national citizenship require different

Currently, eight states have laws requiring proof of citizenship for voters, and lawmakers in 17 states have introduced legislation this year to supplement that requirement.

Mixed experience. In Kansas, where three years of citizenship required proof, the state's own experts estimate that nearly all about 30,000 people blocked from registering to vote were U.S. citizens who were eligible to vote during this period.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state has successfully established a system with the state's automotive agencies to verify citizenship. He and 20 other Republican secretaries sent a letter last week asking the Department of Homeland Security to improve its database and eliminate the costs of using it.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (Democrat) described federal data as “totally unreliable” and pointed to his state problems, which for years have sought to implement national-level citizenship requirements. Recent state audits reveal situations where U.S. passports may not prove citizenship because U.S. nationals (nationals born in U.S. territory) are eligible for passports but are not eligible to vote in U.S. elections.

“We have a lot of problems to solve, and the understanding of our own laws is so bad that I think such a massive shift is just problematic,” Fontes said. “I don't think Congress takes the time to ask people who are actually doing this work if the advice they make is feasible in the first place. It's dangerous, especially if you criminalize some of these activities.”

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