Excerpts: Preserving and protecting the ability of American citizens to participate fully in our democratic system is one of the most important duties of Congress. That requires ensuring that aliens — whether they are here legally or illegally — are not unlawfully registering and voting, raising and spending money to support or oppose candidates and referenda, and distorting and diluting the representation of citizens by being included in apportionment and redistricting in federal, state, and local elections.
The National Voter Registration Act should be amended to require the clerks of all federal district courts and all U.S. attorneys in all federal districts to provide relevant information about voter ineligibility gained from jury selection to state election officials, particularly lack of citizenship. A report in 2005 by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that up to 3 percent of the 30,000 individuals called for jury duty from voter registration rolls over a two-year period in just one U.S. district court were not U.S. citizens.
Congress should further amend the NVRA, to make it clear that the NVRA does not prohibit states from requiring voting registration applicants to provide proof that they are U.S. citizens. Due to its constitutional authority over aliens, the federal government also has the authority to require such proof from individuals registering to vote in federal elections. Barring states from requiring the same proof as to citizenship when it comes to voting makes no sense and deprives states of information essential to determining voter eligibility.