Sec. 1. Short title; findings; sense of Congress
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This Act may be cited as the or the Non-citizens: Outlawed from Voting in Our Trusted Elections Act of 2023 . NO VOTE for Non-Citizens Act of 2023 Congress finds the following: Every eligible person who wishes to cast a ballot in a Federal election must be permitted to do so according to law, and their ballot must be examined according to law, and, if it meets all lawful requirements, counted. Congress has long required States to maintain Federal voter registration lists in a manner that promotes voter confidence.
The changes included herein are not intended to be an expansion of Federal power but rather a clarification of State authority. The Fifteenth Amendment, the Nineteenth Amendment, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment, and the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, among other references, make clear that the Constitution prohibits voting by non-citizens in Federal elections. Congress has the constitutional authority, including under the aforementioned amendments, to pass statutes preventing non-citizens from voting in Federal elections, and did so with the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
Congress may further exercise its constitutional authority to ensure the Constitution’s prohibition on non-citizen voting in Federal elections is upheld. Since the Constitution prohibits non-citizens from voting in Federal elections, such ineligible persons must not be permitted to be placed on Federal voter registration lists. Improper placement of an ineligible non-citizen on a Federal voter registration list leads to— confusion on the part of the ineligible person with respect to their ineligibility to cast a ballot; and an increased likelihood that human error will permit ineligible persons to cast ballots in Federal elections.
State officials have confirmed that poorly maintained voter registration lists lead to ineligible persons casting ballots in Federal elections. A former Broward County, Florida, elections supervisor has confirmed that ineligible non-voters were able to cast ballots in previous elections and that she was not able to locate as many as 2,040 ballots during the 2018 midterm recount. This clarification of State authority to maintain Federal voter registration lists to ensure non-citizens are not included on such lists will promote voter confidence in election processes and outcomes.
Congress has the authority to ensure that no Federal elections funding is used to support States that permit non-citizens to cast ballots in any election. Federal courts and executive agencies have much of the information States may need to maintain their Federal voter registration lists, and those entities should make that information accessible to State election authorities. It is important to clarify the penalty for any violation of law that allows a non-citizen to cast a ballot in a Federal election.
To protect the confidence of voters in Federal elections, it is important to implement the policy described herein. It is the sense of Congress that— many States have not adequately met the requirements concerning the removal of ineligible persons from State voter registration rolls pursuant to section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 ( 52 U.S.C. 20507 ) and should strive to audit and update their voter registration rolls on a routine basis; allowing non-citizens to cast ballots in American elections weakens our electoral system and the value of citizenship and sows distrust in our elections system; even if a State has the sovereign authority, no State should permit non-citizens to cast ballots in State or local elections;
States should use all information available to them to maintain Federal voter registration lists and should inform Congress if such data is insufficient; and Congress may take further action in the future to address this problem.
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Sec. 1
Short title; findings; sense of Congress
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