A fact-checker‘s assessment of a claim about noncitizens registering to vote has prompted blowback from Republican lawmakers who are pushing election integrity legislation.
The spat took off on Tuesday after PolitiFact gave House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) a “False” rating for saying that migrants released on parole can register to vote at their local welfare office or the DMV.
“It’s illegal for noncitizens to vote. If parolees register, election officials would vet their applications,” the fact-checker said in a post to X summarizing the review.
Speaker Mike Johnson said immigrants who came to the U.S. under humanitarian parole programs can register to vote at DMV and “welfare” offices. It's illegal for noncitizens to vote. If parolees register, election officials would vet their applications. https://t.co/lM7WA42hoi pic.twitter.com/4InAxjndUM
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) May 21, 2024
Johnson made the comment earlier this month while promoting companion bills, dubbed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, that would require proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), whose version of the legislation may be considered by a committee later this week, fired back at PolitiFact on X while taking a shot at the Biden administration for its handling of the migrant crisis.
“Whether it’s at the DMV or welfare offices, non-citizens have myriad opportunities to register to vote, as non-citizens are obviously eligible for government benefits under current federal and state policies,” Roy said in a thread on X.
“Biden’s mass release of millions of illegal aliens into the U.S. – including over 1 million via parole – will only make this worse,” he added.
“But even if the ideological operatives at Politi-‘fact’ want to torture the statistics to say that this somehow isn’t a problem, then nobody should mind if we put safeguards in place to prevent it from becoming one — that is, unless you actually want noncitizens voting in federal elections,” Roy concluded.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who introduced the Senate version of the SAVE Act, also took a crack at PolitiFact.
“Politifact rates a true claim false, yet again, simply because the writer doesn’t like it,” his verified senator account said on X.
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“Illegals can easily register to vote across America. Politifact wrongly pretends that ‘it is illegal’ is somehow an argument against this fact,” the account continued.
The senator also responded through his “BasedMikeLee” personal account.
“States are prohibited, under [the Supreme Court’s] interpretation of the [National Voter Registration Act], from requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections,” he said.
“So yes, while it is in fact ‘illegal for noncitizens to vote’ in federal elections, that’s not the end of the matter,” Lee added. “#PassTheSAVEAct.”