Biden-Harris Admin Blocked States’ Efforts To Ensure Only Citizens Vote

American elections should be decided by Americans — which is why states across the country have taken steps to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls. But the Biden-Harris administration is stymieing these efforts with roadblocks and lawfare.

Ohio

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose sued the Biden-Harris administration on Thursday alleging the Department of Homeland Security refused to provide the state with access to records from the Systematic Alien Verification and Entitlements (SAVE) database. These “records are essential to verifying the citizenship status of all Ohio voters,” as noted in a press release from the secretary of state regarding the lawsuit.

“The Biden-Harris administration is engaging in obstruction and outright abuse of power to prevent us from removing noncitizens from our voter rolls,” LaRose said in a statement. “I take my duty seriously, so if they want a fight over the integrity of our elections, they’ve got it.”

The suit alleges the administration, “on at least four separate occasions, failed to provide Ohio access to federal citizenship verification records necessary to prevent noncitizens from voting,” according to the release.

“While the administration is blocking access to these records,” LaRose added, “the Department of Justice is suing or threatening to sue multiple states, including Ohio, who are trying to enforce their citizenship voting requirements.” 

Florida

A similar suit was brought last week by Florida and the Florida Department of State (FDOS) against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The suit alleged the DHS denied a request to provide information necessary to verify the citizenship status of “a number of individuals” on the voter rolls “for whom FDOS had evidence of non-citizenship.” The DHS is mandated to supply such information under federal law, the plaintiffs contend.

“Because the federal government is refusing to comply with these obligations and frustrating Florida’s ability to maintain the integrity of its elections, Florida files this suit,” the lawsuit says.

Texas

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday he is suing the Department of Homeland Security “and other members of the Biden-Harris Administration” for not complying with “federal law requiring them to assist States in verifying the citizenship status of potentially ineligible people registered to vote.”

The suit was filed weeks after Paxton sent a letter to DHS Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur M Jaddou “demanding” the federal government verify the “citizenship status of people who may be illegally registered to vote in Texas,” Paxton explained in a press release announcing the suit. Attached to the letter was a “list of approximately 450,000 voters whose citizenship status has never been checked because they registered without a State of Texas-issued driver’s license or identification card,” the release continued.

“The Biden-Harris Administration has refused to comply with federal law, presenting yet another obstacle for Texas to overcome in ensuring free and fair elections in our state,” Paxton said in a statement. “The law demands that they provide important information regarding the citizenship of nearly half a million potentially ineligible voters. Since the Biden-Harris Administration has chosen to ignore the law, I will see them in court.”

Virginia

Earlier this month, the DOJ sued Virginia following efforts from Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT) “to ensure only eligible U.S. citizens are on the state’s voter registration lists,” as The Federalist’s Shawn Fleetwood reported.

The suit followed an August executive order from Youngkin that directed “commonwealth agencies to undertake election security efforts ahead of the November election,” The Federalist previously reported. The suit filed earlier this month alleged that specific instructions in the order violated a provision of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) that restricts states from using a program to “systematically” remove ineligible voters from the rolls within “90 days prior to the date” of federal elections.

On Friday, a Democrat-appointed federal judge ruled that the state must “reinstate” more than 1,500 allegedly “self-identified” noncitizens to the voter rolls less than two weeks before the November general election, as The Federalist reported.

“Let’s be clear about what just happened: only eleven days before a Presidential election, a federal judge ordered Virginia to reinstate over 1,500 individuals—who self-identified themselves as noncitizens—back onto the voter rolls,” Youngkin said in a Friday statement, adding that most of the 1500-plus individuals “had previously presented immigration documents confirming their noncitizen status, a fact recently verified by federal authorities.”

As Fleetwood noted earlier this month, the Biden-Harris Justice Department “has regularly been weaponized to target Republican-led election integrity efforts since Joe Biden became president.”

[READNEXT:[READNEXT:Georgia Audit Finds Nine Noncitizens Voted In Past Elections]

Alabama

Alabama was similarly sued by the Biden-Harris DOJ in September after the state discovered more than 3,000 potential noncitizens on its voter rolls.

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen announced in August he was instructing counties to “immediately inactivate and initiate steps necessary to remove all individuals who are not United States Citizens.” He acknowledged that some individuals who were issued noncitizen ID numbers may have since been naturalized, and that these now-citizens would be allowed to update their registration information and vote in the state’s elections following verification, according to a press release.

The federal government denied “repeated requests” to “assist Allen’s efforts” by declining to provide “a list of noncitizens currently residing in Alabama,” according to the release.

The Justice Department sued the state and Secretary Allen in late September, alleging they violated the NVRA since the voter roll maintenance fell within the aforementioned 90-day period. A federal judge recently sided with the department, ordering the state to halt its effort to remove potential noncitizens from its voter rolls.

Earlier this year, Republicans sought to pass the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would have amended the NVRA to require individuals to provide documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. Democrats opposed the bill, relentlessly claiming it was unnecessary because noncitizen voting is already illegal.

[READNEXT:[READNEXT:Biden Admin Dismisses Noncitizen Voting Because It’s ‘Already Illegal’ (Just Like Shoplifting And Drunk Driving]

The SAVE Act was eventually shot down in the House, along with the government funding resolution to which it was attached. Fourteen Republicans ultimately joined the majority of House Democrats to vote against the bill in September.

For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.

Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2