Matt Gaetz Introduces Bill to Allow States to Purge Noncitizen Voters At Any Time

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) speaking with attendees at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) announced his plans to introduce a bill  Friday that will allow states to purge noncitizens from their voter rolls at any time. 

The bill, called the National Motor Voter Clarification Act, is a direct response to a recent lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) against Virginia officials for their efforts to purge noncitizen voters from the state’s voter rolls. 

According to the lawsuit, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) Executive Order 35 detailed a new program to purge noncitizen voters. The DOJ alleged that the new program violated the National Voter Registration Act’s (NVRA) Quiet Period Provision, which says that no voters can be purged within 90 days of an election. 

Virginia’s program identified and removed more than 6,000 people from the state’s voter rolls, according to the lawsuit. The voters removed from the state’s rolls were identified because they responded “no” to citizenship questions on certain Department of Motor Vehicles forms. 

Gaetz’s bill would amend federal law to remove the Quiet Period Provision so that states can purge noncitizen voters at any point in time, even within 90 days of an election. 

“My bill will ensure Governors are allowed to do their jobs and remove illegal aliens from the voter rolls without fear of being targeted by the Biden-Harris Justice Department,” Gaetz said in a statement. “It’s telling that the only ‘election integrity’ work the Biden-Harris Department of Justice seems interested in is ensuring maximal turnout for people who can’t even legally vote!”

The GOP has long spread disinformation and myths about noncitizens voting en masse. But, despite numerous GOP claims and lawsuits alleging otherwise, instances of noncitizens voting in federal elections are extremely rare. 

Read the bill here.

Read Gaetz’s statement on the bill here.