SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

Congressional Testimony

CLETA MITCHELL TESTIMONY
“The Biden-Harris Border Crisis: Noncitizen Voting” 

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Committee: 

My name is Cleta Mitchell. I am an attorney who has practiced  campaign finance and election law for many years. I currently serve as the  Senior Legal Fellow at the Conservative Partnership Institute, and I am the Founder of the Election Integrity Network. Most importantly, for purposes of  this hearing, I am a co-convener of the Only Citizens Vote Coalition.  www.onlycitizensvotecoalition.com, a coalition of more than 90 national,  state, and local organizations and leaders who share a common mission: 

We believe that only United States citizens should be allowed to vote in any  American election—local, state, and federal—and that proof of United States  citizenship must be required to register to vote. 

We are united in that principle, and we work together to: 

• Educate our fellow citizens on the importance of citizen-only voting 
• Ensure the enactment and administration of laws and practices at all levels of government to prevent noncitizen registration and voting. 

As part of that mission, the Only Citizens Vote Coalition supports passage of  the SAVE Act: Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility, whose chief sponsor is  Congressman Chip Roy, and joined as cosponsors by 104 of his House  colleagues. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is principal sponsor of a companion bill in  the United States Senate, where he is joined by 23 of his colleagues as  cosponsors.

HR 8281 passed this House in July on a bipartisan basis, on a vote of 221-198.

The SAVE Act is absolutely necessary to protect the integrity of America’s  elections, and the sanctity of ensuring that only US citizens are voting in our  American elections. Congress created the need for the SAVE Act and  Congress must close the loopholes caused by federal law that would allow  noncitizens to vote in our elections. 

What we are witnessing in 2024 is a perfect storm that necessitates  passage of the SAVE Act – now. Without delay. What are the factors in that  perfect storm? 

1. The open borders policies of the Biden-Harris Administration, led by  Border Czar Vice-President Harris, that have resulted in an  onslaught of millions, yes, MILLIONS, of illegals pouring across  America’s borders, and being shepherded and located in communities  all across the nation, where hundreds of millions of our tax dollars are  being paid to leftist advocacy groups to ‘resettle’ these illegal  immigrants. The programs operated by these leftwing groups includes  assisting illegals in obtaining drivers licenses, ID cards and, in too many  instances, getting them registered to vote. 

• The Ranking member and his Democrat colleagues insist that ‘it is  already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections in the  United States. But let’s be honest: 
• It is illegal to enter this country without proper documentation….but there is a complete breakdown of the rule of law when it comes to enforcing and upholding  America’s immigration laws. 
• The Dept of Homeland Security cannot tell us how many  illegals have entered the United States since January 20,  2021, cannot tell us where these illegals have been taken or sent to live, cannot seem to locate the illegals that have entered the country these past 3 ½ years….all of which is in violation of federal law. How then, are we supposed to believe that in this atmosphere of complete lawlessness, that people who have been flooding into the country illegally are going to STOP and say, “wait….it is a violation of federal law for me to register and vote if I’m not a  citizen…” Seriously?

• Then there is the Biden Executive Order 14019 – in which this  Administration, acting on the advice and with actual involvement WITHY  federal agencies via the White House of a leftwing advocacy group  Demos. The EO directs every federal agency to engage in voter  registration and ‘voter education’ activities….using our tax dollars and  federal employees to identify and turn out Democrat voters. I have  attached to my testimony a copy of the directive sent to all US Marshalls  by the Dept of Justice, in just one example of how the Biden-Harris  Administration is abusing and misusing the federal government for its  own political purposes. The directive to the federal Marshalls is that  they are to offer voter registration and voter education materials to all  persons with whom they come into contact. And that includes the  criminals and federal prisoners in their custody! Attached is a redacted  file of just one such prisoner that a federal Marshall provided to me,  showing that the inmate is a citizen of Mexico, imprisoned in a federal  facility for reentering the United States after being deported. And this  federal Marshall was required under the directive of the Biden-Harris  Department of Justice to provide voter registration and voter education  materials to this inmate. 

• The 3d prong of the perfect storm for massive numbers of  noncitizens voting in our 2024 elections is the porous nature of our  election laws, both federal and state. Yes, it is illegal under federal  law for noncitizens to vote; yes, to be a qualified elector in virtually every  state, one must be a US citizen. The problems are several.
  
  Let’s start with the federal law: 
• The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) requires covered  states to accept and use the federal voter registration application.  That form has only a box to check, asking if the person is a citizen. 
• The US Supreme Court, unfortunately, ruled in 2013 that a state  may not request the Election Assistance Commission to add state specific instructions to the federal form, such as the specific  request by the State of Arizona to require documentary proof of  citizenship to be required to register to vote in Arizona. 
• As a result of that decision, Arizona now has a two-tiered  voter registration system: The state registration list comprised on persons who DO provide documentary  proof of citizenship when they register to vote. That allows  a voter to cast a ballot in all state, local, and federal elections. But then there is the most troubling federal only  voter list, comprised on individuals who do not, cannot or  will not provide proof that they are US citizens. Those  voters are allowed to vote for President, US Senate, and  US House of Representatives. As of July 1, there were over  42,000 such registrations in Arizona. Those are individuals  who will be allowed to cast a vote for President unless the  US Supreme Court allows the recently enacted law in  Arizona to take effect – which prohibits persons on the  federal registration list from casting a ballot for  presidential electors. 42,000 persons who have not  provided proof of their citizenship but will be issued a  federal only ballot….in a state in which the margin in the  2020 general election between President Trump and Joe  Biden was 10,457 votes of more than 3.2 million cast. 

• The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) passed in 2002 requires  every state to maintain a statewide voter registration list, and  further requires that before any applicant can be added to the  voter rolls, the state must first verify identity and residency. How?  By requiring that the applicant provide his/her drivers license  number or, if the applicant has none, then he/she must provide  the last four digits of the social security number. Here are the  problems with that law and that process: 
• Neither drivers’ licenses nor social security numbers  provide proof of citizenship. 
• Every state issues drivers licenses to noncitizens; 19 states issue drivers licenses to illegals 
• Noncitizens who are in the United States legally are issued  social security numbers; and this administration has categorized millions more illegals as asylees and parolees,  who are eligible and are being issued social security numbers. 
• So the two verification requirements for voter registration  imposed by Congress only verify identity and residency.  Neither confirm citizenship status! 

• The problems of illegals getting on the voter rolls of every state are  serious and real. 
• There are hundreds of examples going back years and  years in which noncitizens have been added to the voter rolls of various states – and the process of identifying and  removing them is not easy. 
• For example, the Public Interest Legal Foundation  sued the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania SIX YEARS AGO (in 2018) to obtain the records regarding the admission by the PA Dept of Transportation  (PENNDOT) that a ‘glitch’ in their ‘system’ had resulted in the illegal registration of more than 100,000 aliens added to Pennsylvania’s voter rolls.  https://publicinterestlegal.org/press/pilf-sues-pennsylvania-release-data-100k-noncitizen-voter-registrants/ That case is still not resolved because efforts to gain access to the data and records has been stymied by Pennsylvania officials for more than half a decade. 

• Then, there are the recent announcements by several state officials who have realized that this is a serious problem and a very real threat to our elections now, this year.

• Virginia’s Governor Glenn Youngkin recently announced that his administration has removed over  11,000 noncitizen registrants from its rolls between 2014 and 2023 — with more than 6,300 from January 2022 to July 2024 alone https://www.newsweek.com/thousands-non-citizen-voters-discovered-governor-1937025 A citizens voter rolls organization has reviewed that list and determined that of those noncitizens removed by Gov.  Youngkin, almost 1,000 votes have been cast illegally by those noncitizens in 2023 and 2024.
  
• Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas announced last week that  Texas has just removed over 6,000 noncitizens registered on Texas voter rolls since 2021. Governor Abbott Announces Over 1 Million Ineligible Voters Removed From Voter Rolls | Office of the Texas Governor | Greg Abbott 
• Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen ordered 3000  noncitizens removed from Alabama rolls two weeks ago. https://www.waff.com/2024/08/14/al-secretary-state-finds-over-3000-non-citizens-registered-vote/ 
• Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana last month issued an executive order requiring his state’s voter registration forms to highlight the fact that only citizens of the United States are eligible to register or to vote.  https://www.wrkf.org/politics/2024-08-26/gov-landry-aims-to-stop-noncitizen-voting-with-executive-order  

CONCLUSION 

I could go on. But the point is this: it is very easy for noncitizens  to be added to a state’s voter rolls and it is very difficult to identify and  remove them. In states that have automatic or opt-out voter registration  at the DMV, there are literally thousands of illegals being added to the  voter rolls every day. 

Next week, on September 17, we will celebrate National Constitution and Citizenship Day, which commemorates the passage  237 years ago of the US Constitution by the Constitutional Convention.  We should all celebrate the rights and privileges that we as American  citizens enjoy. To do that, the Only Citizens Vote Coalition has  designated next week as the National Only Citizens Vote Week – to  conduct a public education campaign across the nation that if you are a  US citizen you must exercise your rights and privileges to register and  vote this year. But if you are NOT a citizen of the United States, it is  illegal for you to register and vote in our federal election. Everyone  must be reminded of these important principles: 

• If you are a citizen, please register and vote. 
• If you are NOT a citizen, it is illegal for you to register, it is illegal for  you to vote. 
• And it is important to shine a light on the taxpayer funded groups  who are using and abusing these most vulnerable people who  don’t speak the language, are not in the US legally, and who are at  the mercy of political operatives who would use them for their own political power. 
  
  

Only US Citizens should be allowed to vote in our elections… and it is crucial  that Congress enact the SAVE Act and start taking seriously the threat to  American sovereignty of millions of noncitizens illegally participating in our  elections. 

Thank you for your kind attention.

OPENING REMARKS

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Committee:

​

I am Cleta Mitchell, Senior Legal Fellow at the Conservative Partnership Institute.

​There are several key reasons why the SAVE Act is necessary. Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility is and does exactly what the title says: it safeguards American voter eligibility and it is desperately needed to secure the 2024 elections.

​The SAVE Act will reverse a decision of the US Supreme Court from 2013 in which the Court ruled that only Congress can direct and decide the content of the federal voter registration form, to require proof of US Citizenship in order to register and vote in US elections. Quite simply, the SAVE Act would do what the Supreme Court determined in 2013 that only Congress can do: safeguard eligibility for voting in federal elections by requiring documentary proof of US citizenship to register to vote.

With the borders opened on January 21, 2021 by the Biden-Harris Administration, with illegals pouring across the borders by the millions and being taken who knows where in our country, the SAVE Act has become absolutely vital to protecting our elections from massive illegal voting by noncitizens.

Not only will the SAVE Act require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, but it also contains several other components that are vital for the 2024 elections:

• It requires that states compare their existing voter lists to citizenship data – to identify and remove noncitizens who are already registered
• It establishes a new criminal penalty for those who knowingly register noncitizens to vote
• It requires federal agencies such as the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security to make available to the states at no cost, citizenship data that states and local election offices need in order to confirm citizenship of persons registered or seeking to register.

One important aspect of the SAVE Act would be to ensure that the 22 states who have same day registration, meaning that an individual can register and immediately be allowed to vote, will not be eligible to vote until having provided proof of citizenship. 

This requirement will interrupt one of the biggest threats to the integrity of the 2024 election:  the organized roundup by leftwing advocacy groups of scores of illegals to register and vote them on the same day, before anyone can determine if the individuals were eligible to vote in the election.

Democrats oppose the SAVE Act, ostensibly because it is ‘already illegal for noncitizens to vote in a federal election.’ Yes. It is. And it is illegal for millions of people to swarm across our borders without documentation, but nonetheless, this Administration under Border Czar Kamala Harris has adopted just such a policy of opening the door and letting absolutely anyone and everyone into the country. Illegally. Already against federal law.

​If the Democrats sincerely want to keep noncitizens from voting, then let me ask you:

• Where are the enforcement actions from the Dept of Justice? 
• Where are the memos to US Attorneys across the nation warning about potential widescale violations of the prohibitions on noncitizen voting? 
• Where is the FBI hotline to report suspicious registrations of illegals?
• When is the Merrick Garland press conference announcing that it is illegal for noncitizens to register and vote in the election and violators will be apprehended, prosecuted and deported?



Did I miss that public education campaign?

​No. I didn’t miss it. It doesn’t exist. 

​The Democrats plan for 2024 is to CHANGE the electorate. If they can’t persuade the American people to want their Marxist policies for America, just import voters who don’t speak the language, don’t have a shared commitment to our country and our national principles, get them into the very porous voter registration system, and collect their votes.

​Just Facts.com researcher James Agresti published a report that a conservative estimate is that 10-17% of noncitizens are registered to vote, and based on previous elections at least 1 - 2.7 million noncitizens will vote in the 2024 presidential election.

​Democrat controlled cities such as San Francisco, New York and Washington DC have granted voting rights to noncitizens. 

​Leftist groups fought having the citizenship question on the 2020 Census, a question that had been on the Census for more than a century. 

​EVERY DEMOCRAT IN CONGRESS voted against putting the citizenship question back on the Census.

​ Every Democrat also voted NO to apportioning US House seats based on US citizens instead of population. 

​Why? California would have lost 4 US House seats following the 2010 Census and 3 more in 2020 if ONLY US citizens had been counted for apportionment of the US House among the states. 

​That isn’t only US House seats, it is 7 more electoral votes … for the Democrats. 

​It is why the Democrats voted NO on reversing the decision of the District of Columbia to allow noncitizens to vote in DC. 

​For Democrats, noncitizens are their future political base. 

​Please do the right thing. Pass the SAVE Act. We need the SAVE Act immediately before the 2024 are marred by illegals and noncitizens votes, thus permanently changing the future of our country.

​Thank you.   

PRESS RELEASE

Election Integrity Attorney Cleta Mitchell Provides Testimony on Noncitizen Voting

During House Judiciary Hearing on September 10, 2024 at 2:00 PM EASTERN.

Watch Hearing LIVE HERE

In a no-holds-barred testimony to the full House Judiciary Committee today, nationally-renowned election integrity attorney Cleta Mitchell accuses the White House and its Democrat allies of ignoring the dangerous influx of illegal immigrants over our borders and the uptick in noncitizen “voter” registration as their strategy to fundamentally “change the electorate.”

With the 2024 elections less than two months away, Ms. Mitchell also addresses the criticality of passing the federal SAVE Act, which will make enormous and key strides in protecting the ballots of citizen voters from being canceled out by noncitizens voting illegally.

Ms Mitchell’s Opening Remarks can be found HERE, and her full testimony is available HERE. The hearing can be viewed HERE starting at 2 PM ET today. 

Cleta Mitchell is a Senior Legal Fellow at Conservative Partnership Institute, Founder of Election Integrity Network, Co-Founder of the Only Citizens Vote Coalition, and Founder and Chair of the Foundation for Accountability and Integrity in Elections Fund (FAIR Elections Fund.)