Louisiana Governor Continues Pushing Noncitizen Voting Narrative to the Public
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) signed an executive order on Monday to ensure that noncitizens are not placed on the state’s voter rolls, even though it is already illegal for them to vote and there’s no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting.
Landry pushing the fear of noncitizen voting onto the public is not new. Last month, Landry signed bills into law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and establishing procedures to remove people from voter registration lists.
In his reasoning for why Monday’s order is necessary, he said that during the Biden administration, there have been “more than 7.8 million illegal border crossings” and “those persons who have failed to lawfully become United States citizens do not have a right to vote in Louisiana’s elections.”
Noncitizen voting was prohibited by a 1996 law, and in the new order, Landry did not provide any proof that people crossing the border illegally are voting in U.S. elections.
In his order, Landry said state agencies providing public assistance or disability services, which are required to distribute voter registration applications, “shall provide notice…that only a U.S. citizen may register and vote in Louisiana.”
The notice will be on voter registration forms and will say, “The Louisiana Constitution prohibits non-citizens from registering and voting. Therefore, it is illegal for non-citizens to register and vote in Louisiana.”
However, Landry notes that no one will be prohibited from completing a voter registration form because it has to be processed and approved in that voter’s jurisdiction anyway.
Also, Landry ordered the commissioner of the Office of Motor Vehicles to provide the secretary of state with a list of names of non-permanent residents or noncitizens who hold a Louisiana license or ID.
His order follows numerous actions by Republicans at the federal and state levels to push the narrative of noncitizen voting onto the public.
During a press conference Monday, Landry discussed that one of the reasons he knows noncitizen voting is a threat is because Virginia removed 6,000 “noncitizens” from their voter rolls. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) noted this in an executive order earlier this month.
However, in the order, Youngkin directed the state Department of Elections to remove voters from the list who can’t verify their citizenship. This doesn’t just stop noncitizens from voting, it also deters eligible voters who don’t have easy access to proof of citizenship documents. A recent survey found that one in 10 voting-age citizens in the U.S. cannot easily access documents to prove their citizenship.
If Youngkin followed these same guidelines previously, then the 6,000 “noncitizens” he removed may not actually be noncitizens after all.
Landry’s arguments — and the arguments of many Republicans — are contingent on purges of alleged noncitizens like the one in Virginia.
A few months ago, when the U.S. House was discussing a nationwide proof of citizenship bill — which has since passed the chamber — Brennan Center for Justice President and CEO Michael Waldman argued it’s not a coincidence that the argument about noncitizen voting has started to gain attention this year.
“Why is it happening now? It’s being pushed preemptively, I believe, to set the stage for undermining the legitimacy of the 2024 election this year,” Waldman said. “The Big Lie is being pre-deployed.”
This could also create grounds for the GOP and right-wing groups to target states’ rolls and potentially get voters removed, which they have already done in a variety of lawsuits.