Staff Reports
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) unveiled a plan to reverse a voting law in Washington, D.C., that he cautioned permits noncitizens to vote in local elections. House Republicans are gearing up to present HR 192 for voting on Thursday. This legislation would override a local law in the District of Columbia and put a stop to noncitizens participating in local elections. Speaker Johnson emphasized that this bill is part of the Republican Party’s broader effort to enhance election security. He underscored the problematic nature of the current law, which allows individuals who have been in the Washington, D.C., area for at least 30 days to cast their votes in local elections.
On Fox News’s The Faulkner Focus, Johnson stressed the seriousness of the issue. He warned that foreign adversaries such as Russian spies and Chinese officials, as well as other enemies of freedom, could influence the election outcomes in D.C. He emphasized the potential for this problem to escalate if it were to be implemented on a national scale. Johnson contended that if even 1 million illegal immigrants were to register to vote, it could significantly sway both presidential and congressional elections.
Moreover, Johnson discussed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, a bill that House Republicans are preparing to introduce after the Memorial Day holiday. This proposed legislation would mandate that individuals provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote. It would also require states to remove noncitizens from existing voter rolls in federal elections.
In anticipation of the 2024 presidential election, Republicans have positioned election security as a crucial issue. Many have raised doubts about the legitimacy of the 2020 election results. The former President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee recently unveiled an “election integrity” program to safeguard the sanctity of the election.
Leading up to the vote on HR 192, some Democrats have criticized the bill, arguing that it is redundant. They have suggested that these election security bills are being brought forth in anticipation of potential claims that Trump could make about election interference.
