Ohio purges non-citizens from voter rolls, urges Biden admin action

Ohio’s voter rolls are being purged of people who are not U.S. citizens, but Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose says he needs federal help to do the job thoroughly.

LaRose announced Tuesday that a review of voting registrations found that 137 non-citizens were on the rolls,  according to a news release from his office.

Citing that data, he sent an order to all 88 of Ohio’s county boards of elections to comb their voter rolls for non-citizens.

He also said his office will “conduct an annual review of the statewide voter registration database to identify persons who appear not to be United States citizens.”

“Ohioans overwhelmingly passed an amendment to our state constitution which makes it clear that only U.S. citizens can vote in our elections,” he said in the news release. “It is my duty under the law to uphold the constitution, and the legislature has explicitly tasked me with ensuring that only eligible citizens can register and vote.”

LaRose acknowledged that some of the non-citizen registration “may be the result of an honest mistake.”

“These may be well-meaning people trying to pursue the American dream, and communication barriers sometimes result in a registration form being submitted in error,” he said. “We need to help them get that cleared up before an accidental registration becomes an illegal vote that could result in a felony conviction or even deportation.”

LaRose said that verifying citizenship status would be easier with some help from the Biden administration, which he has requested. He said databases of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration could help him spot other non-citizens that may have been missed.

According to a U.K. Daily Mail report published Monday, Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said recent actions by Democratic-run municipalities allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections heighten the need to protect federal elections, from which non-citizens are banned.

In 2022, for instance, the Democratic-dominated District of Columbia passed a measure to allow non-citizens to vote for mayor, city council and other local offices. In March, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by residents challenging the law, according to The Hill.

“The radical progressive Democrats in the D.C. city government couldn’t be prouder of the fact that they’re going to have illegal aliens voting in their elections; yet, they want us to believe that it’s going to stop there, and that none of them are going to try — or be encouraged — to illegally vote in federal elections? Give me a break,” Roy told the Daily Mail.

Republicans in Congress have proposed the Safeguard American Voter EligibilityAct to require states to do more than have voters sign a paper saying they are citizens. They want states to require proof, which is not required under current law, according to Fox News.

“Without the verification measures in the SAVE Act, we’re basically asking people who are already breaking the law by coming to the U.S. illegally to abide by the honor system. No way. American elections should belong to American citizens, period,” Roy told the Daily Mail.

When he unveiled the SAVE Act last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson said President Joe Biden’s lax border enforcement has made it necessary, according to Fox.

“Due to the wide-open border that the Biden administration has refused to close, in fact, that they engineered to open, we now have so many non-citizens in the country that if only one out of 100 of those voted, they would cast hundreds of thousands of votes,” Johnson said.

“And since our elections are so razor-thin… and a few states decide the makeup of Congress and who is elected to the White House, this is a dangerously high number, and it is a great concern to millions and millions of Americans. It could obviously change the outcome of our elections,” he said.

“States are not allowed right now to prove if somebody claims on that simple form that they’re a citizen, they can vote. They’re not allowed to prove whether it’s true or not. We all know intuitively that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections, but it’s not been something that is easily provable,” he said. “We don’t have that number. This legislation will allow us to do exactly that. It will prevent that from happening.”

Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate, published a video on the social media platform X challenging critics of the bill — and supporters.

The SAVE Act would make it harder for non-citizens to vote in federal elections.

Who exactly would oppose that?

More importantly, *why* would anyone oppose such a bill?#SAVEAct pic.twitter.com/4LebrzL0Us

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) May 9, 2024

“If the best argument the Democrats can come up with against passing this bill … is ‘well, this isn’t happening, we’re not worried about. Non-citizens don’t vote in federal elections.’

“If that’s really the case, why would they oppose it?” he said. “Why not pass it?

“Ask yourself that question,” he told viewers of the video. “If you agree with me [that] we need the SAVE Act, we need to do everything we can to keep non-citizens from voting, please tell your member of Congress, your senators and your representative to co-sponsor the SAVE Act today.”