Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Congress to pass a bill he released Wednesday that he says would increase election integrity by cracking-down on non-U.S. citizens voting in federal elections.
The legislation, which Johnson announced while standing on the stairs of the Capitol, proposes amendments to the 1993 National Voter Registration Act by requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship before registering for elections. Current federal law requires voters to fill out a form swearing that they are citizens, although documentation such as a driver's licenses, passport or other forms are not mandated.
Johnson first touted the bill after meeting with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in April. If passed, state election officials would be required to implement the new voting registration requirements within 10 days after the bill is enacted.
Speaking alongside conservative lawmakers Chip Roy, a congressman from Texas, and Mike Lee, a Senator for Utah, Johnson said Wednesday that while it was already against the law for noncitizens to cast a ballot in federal elections, there is "no current mechanism to ensure only those registering or voting are actually citizens."
The Republican leader also repeated his attacks against President Joe Biden's immigration policies, accusing the White House of welcoming "millions and millions of illegal aliens" into the country. Conservatives have ramped-up pressure against Biden's handling of the U.S. southern border in light of increased migration. The topic has also become a key talking point for Trump's 2024 campaign ahead of the presidential election in November.
"Even if you weren't concerned about the drop boxes in the ballot harvesting in the mail in ballots and 2020," Johnson said, referring to the claims of voter fraud presented by Trump and his allies without evidence after he lost to Biden in 2020. "You definitely should be concerned that illegal aliens might be voting in 2024."
Several studies have shown that noncitizens are extremely unlikely to vote in federal elections, and that the number who manage to do so do not impact the final outcome. The liberal Brennan Center for Justice group found in a survey of 44 election officials following the 2016 presidential race that roughly 30 noncitizens casted a ballot out of the 23.5 million voters, making up 0.0001 percent of all votes casted in those jurisdictions.
As the Associated Press (AP) previously reported, state election officials in North Carolina conducted their own audit after 2016 and found that 41 illegal immigrants had cast a ballot out of 4.8 million voters. Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger also conducted an audit of his state's voting procedures in 2022 and found that 1,634 illegal immigrants had attempted to register but were all caught during the application process.
Johnson told reporters on Wednesday that "we all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But it's not been something that is easily provable."
According to a report from Reuters, Trump's campaign spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, said that he "100% supports taking legislative action to stop noncitizens from voting in our elections."
DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd said in a statement shared with Newsweek that Trump and "MAGA Mike Johnson" were "resorting to the tried and true MAGA tactic of making up conspiracy theories" instead of addressing the issues at the southern border.
"Johnson and Trump keep spewing disproven falsehoods even while Johnson himself admitted today that he has no proof to back up his unfounded claims," Floyd added. "All this fearmongering shows is that MAGA Republicans are not serious about border security—but they are ready to once again threaten our democracy after trying (and failing) to overturn the last election."
Newsweek reached out to Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries via email Wednesday evening for comment on Johnson's bill.
Update 05/08/24, 8:11 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional comment from the DNC.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Kaitlin Lewis is a Newsweek reporter on the Night Team based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her focus is reporting on national ... Read more
