Federal judge grants the Biden-Harris DOJ's wishes regarding noncitizen voters in Virginia



The Biden-Harris Department of Justice sued the Commonwealth of Virginia earlier this month in an attempt to arrest and reverse its efforts to keep noncitizens off the voter rolls.

A Biden-nominated judge obliged the DOJ Friday, ruling that Virginia must restore the registrations of over 1,600 individuals allegedly identified as noncitizens.

According to Bloomberg News, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles claimed the removals were a "clear violation" of the National Voter Registration Act's quiet period provision, which requires states to complete programs intended to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from registration lists by no later than 90 days prior to a primary election or general election for federal office.

The Biden judge ordered the state to dispatch notices to everyone whose registration was canceled under Youngkin's individualized voter roll cleanup program.

Giles indicated that these notices must go out even to those who election officials have reason to believe are noncitizens, telling the state's lawyer, "I'm not dealing with beliefs. I'm dealing with evidence."

Charles Cooper, a lawyer for the state, told the court, "Congress couldn't possibly have intended to prevent the removal ... of persons who were never eligible to vote in the first place," reported the Associated Press.

'It should never be illegal to remove an illegal voter.'

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin indicated that Virginia will appeal the ruling and, if necessary, take the the matter all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the injunction.

"Let's be clear about what just happened: only eleven days before a Presidential election, a federal judge ordered Virginia to reinstate over 1,500 individuals — who self-identified themselves as noncitizens — back onto the voter rolls," Youngkin said in a statement.

The governor noted further that the state was simply following through on a law "passed in 2006, signed by then-Governor Tim Kaine, that mandates certain procedures to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls, with safeguards in place to affirm citizenship before removal — and the ultimate failsafe of same-day registration for U.S. citizens to cast a provisional ballot. This law has been applied in every presidential election by Republicans and Democrats since enacted 18 years ago."

Blaze News previously reported that Youngkin issued an executive order on Aug. 7, exactly 90 days before the general election, requiring both that the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections routinely update voter lists to remove individuals identified as noncitizens and that the state Department of Motor Vehicles expedite the interagency data-sharing with the DOE with regard to noncitizen transactions.

"Call me crazy, but I think American elections should be decided by American citizens and Virginia elections should be decided by Virginians," Youngkin said in an interview.

The DOJ swooped in with a lawsuit on Oct. 11, claiming the initiative violated Section 8(c)(2) of the NVRA.

Former Virginia Attorney General Richard Cullen, Youngkin's lawyer, contended that the program was kosher because it is not a systematic program but rather an individualized process that begins with "individuals themselves indicating that they are a noncitizen during a DMV transaction."

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said of Giles' ruling, "It should never be illegal to remove an illegal voter. Yet, today a Court — urged by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice — ordered Virginia to put the names of non-citizens back on the voter rolls, mere days before a presidential election.

Miyares suggested that this is a clear case of the Biden-Harris administration weaponizing the legal system "against the enemies of so-called progress."

"That is the definition of lawfare," continued the state attorney general. "To openly choose weaponization over good process and lawfare over integrity isn't democracy: It's bullying, pure and simple, and I always stand up to bullies."

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Rhode Island officials prompted possible noncitizens to register to vote: Report



Officials in Rhode Island, one of the bluest states in America, reportedly sent out notices to possible noncitizens, urging them to register to vote.

In 2021, Rob Rock — who was then the director of elections at the Rhode Island State Department and is now deputy secretary and director of administration — was corresponding via email with Kyle Upchurch, program manager at the Center for Election Innovation & Research, the Federalist reported.

During their exchanges, Upchurch inquired about a group of residents referred to as "eligible but unregistered" to vote. In response, Rock claimed that the state had sent mailers to so-called EBUs, some of whom were flagged as noncitizens.

"We sent two versions of the EBU," Rock wrote, according to emails viewed by the Federalist. "One to people who have a 'Y' citizenship flag and one to those who have a 'No' citizenship flag. Each PDF contains the English and Spanish versions."

How many mailers were sent overall and how many were sent to noncitizens specifically remains unclear. However, the purpose of the mailer, according to a statement to the Federalist from Department of State Director of Communications and Public Affairs Faith Chybowski, was to identify recently naturalized citizens.

The text of the mailer appears to support Chybowski's explanation.

"Our records show that you have not been eligible to vote due to your U.S. citizenship status. If your status has changed recently, you may now be eligible to vote," the mailer reads, according to a copy ostensibly reviewed by the Federalist.

The mailer also reportedly warns recipients that they must be U.S. citizens to register to vote.

'Why do you care whether voters are 22 or 63, other than younger voters tend to lean left?'

Unfortunately, recent attempts to clean up voter rolls in other states revealed that noncitizens are regularly registering to vote, despite the federal prohibition against doing so.

Virginia recently removed from its voter rolls more than 6,300 noncitizens who, according to Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, "accidentally or maliciously" registered to vote. The Biden-Harris DOJ responded by suing the state.

After facing a series of lawsuits late this summer, Arizona discovered that perhaps as many as 97,000 residents had registered to vote without ever providing proof of citizenship. The state supreme court ruled late last month that these residents could still vote in state and local elections in 2024.

Rhode Island claims to have removed nearly 150,000 names from its voter rolls since 2020.

Despite a nationwide problem of noncitizens appearing on voter rolls, officials in Rhode Island may not compel someone to provide documented proof of citizenship when registering to vote, the Rhode Island State Department told the Federalist. Instead, registrants provide "an attestation that the signer is a citizen," Chybowski said.

Perhaps even more alarming, Rhode Island sent the mailer soliciting more voter registration because of its membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center, better known as ERIC.

ERIC bills itself as a "nonpartisan" organization designed "to help election officials" in member states "maintain more accurate voter rolls and detect possible illegal voting."

It is also funded entirely through fees paid by its 25 members, including the District of Columbia. In other words, taxpayers pay for its existence.

Far from "nonpartisan," though, ERIC was founded by David Becker, a former DOJ attorney characterized by a former colleague as "a hard-core leftist" who "couldn’t stand conservatives."

Just a few weeks ago, Becker dismissed concerns about noncitizens voting in American elections, indicating that such reports were a "made-up threat" coming from former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies.

"Remember to seek out only OFFICIAL election info, from trusted sources like election officials," he wrote in mid September.

Becker is no longer listed on the ERIC website, but the organization still seems to make election-related demands that favor Democrats. For instance, ERIC shares with third parties certain demographic information about voters, including age.

"Why do you care whether voters are 22 or 63, other than younger voters tend to lean left?" asked Michael Greibrok of the Foundation for Government Accountability, a federal watchdog group.

Among the third parties with which ERIC coordinates is the Center for Election Innovation & Research, the group Kyle Upchurch represented when he mentioned "eligible but unregistered" concerns with Rob Rock of the Rhode Island State Department back in 2021.

And indeed ERIC appears fixated on EBUs. On its website, the group laments that America has perhaps as many as 51 million EBUs scattered throughout the country.

Tens of millions of EBUs in a free country are only a problem if those individuals desire to register to vote but have been prevented by external circumstances beyond their control. In all likelihood, they do not want to register to vote and may even have deliberately elected against doing so. ERIC apparently wants them to register anyway.

"ERIC was established to clean up the voter rolls in member states. However, the member agreement only mandates adding voters, not removing them," Ned Jones, director of the Citizens Election Research Center at the Election Integrity Network, noted to the Federalist.

"Under the ERIC agreement, member states may be registering noncitizens," he added.

Since 2021, at least nine states have parted ways with ERIC, perhaps on account of its partisan activism: Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

"ERIC is a bipartisan organization that operates in a nonpartisan manner," ERIC Executive Director Shane Hamlin told the Washington Examiner in December 2023. "We valued the states that resigned, but we will continue to work on behalf of our remaining members in improving the accuracy of America’s [voter] rolls and increasing access to voter registration for all eligible citizens."

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Government Funding Bill, Election Integrity Implode In U.S. House

16 Republicans joined Democrats in killing the stopgap funding measure and the SAVE Act requiring proof of citizenship to vote.

Over 300 noncitizens register to vote in Oregon, thanks to DMV — 2 have cast ballots



The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicle Services registered more than 300 noncitizens to vote in recent years, and while officials have scrambled to insist that these erroneous registrants won't impact elections, at least two of them have already cast ballots.

Last week, Oregon DMV officials learned that at least 306 noncitizens had been registered to vote after they applied for a state driver's license, Willamette Week first reported. These officials have since blamed the problem on a "data entry issue," the AP reported, citing Kevin Glenn of the state Department of Transportation, which oversees the DMV.

DMV officials have since added a step to the verification process in acquiring a driver's license ... but do expect to find other incorrect registrants.

Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade said on Friday that her office would notify each of the 306 individuals and inform them that they will not receive a ballot unless and until they can furnish proof that they are eligible to vote.

"While this error is regrettable, the secretary and the Elections Division stand by automatic voter registration and its many benefits," her statement continued.

Gov. Tina Kotek (D) claimed that the discovery is just proof that the system is working as designed and that the wrongfully registered voters will have no bearing on the 2024 election.

"The error in data entry which may have affected the voter eligibility of some Oregonian’s voter registration was discovered because the Oregon DMV and the secretary of state were doing their due diligence ahead of the 2024 election," Kotek said. "My office will continue to closely monitor the situation. This situation will not impact the 2024 election in any way."

DMV officials have since added a step to the verification process in acquiring a driver's license to prevent other such inappropriate voter registrations in future. They also promised to continue investigating the problem but do expect to find other incorrect registrants.

Oregon Elections Director Molly Woon appeared eager to shield the noncitizens from blame. "These folks were registered by no fault of their own," she told the Oregonian/OregonLive. "They didn’t do anything wrong."

Almost a decade ago, the Oregon DMV began automatically registering people to vote when they applied for or tried to renew a driver's license. At the time, officials insisted that these changes would not result in noncitizens voting in Oregon elections in defiance of state and federal law.

"Driver and Motor Vehicle Services spokesperson David House said there is no risk people without proof of citizenship or legal residency will get registered to vote by obtaining a driver’s license," read a 2019 article from the Oregonian/OregonLive.

That same year, state law began permitting people who have no "proof of legal presence" in the state to obtain a driver's license nevertheless. In other words, illegal aliens may easily obtain a driver's license in Oregon.

Not only have hundreds of noncitizens since been incorrectly registered, but at least two of the errant registrants have reportedly cast a ballot since 2021.

While officials have insisted that 306 individuals spread across the state represent just a tiny fraction of the overall state electorate, several races and ballot referenda in the 2024 Oregon primary election were decided by just a few hundred votes or less.

The North Plains urban growth boundary was rejected by fewer than 500 votes, the Molalla River school bond passed by about 115 votes, and Stan Baumhofer defeated Dick Courter for the Republican nomination for the state House District 33 race by just 34 votes.

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Illegal alien votes in 'multiple' US elections after stealing identity of American citizen, DOJ alleges



An illegal alien residing in Alabama assumed the identity of an American citizen and used that false identity to cast votes in "multiple" U.S. elections, the Department of Justice has alleged.

On Thursday, the DOJ announced that Angelica Maria Francisco, a 42-year-old native of Guatemala, has been assessed nine charges involving false claims of citizenship in connection with voting, false statements in application for a United States passport, use of a United States passport obtained by false statements, and aggravated identity theft, according to the DOJ press release.

Authorities believe that sometime around 2011, Francisco assumed the identity of an American citizen and used that false identity to obtain an American passport. She then allegedly used that passport to travel back and forth to Guatemala in 2012, 2015, and 2018 before renewing the passport and visiting Guatemala again in 2022.

Francisco also allegedly used the false identity to register to vote in Alabama in 2016 and to vote in the 2016 and 2020 primary and general elections, the DOJ claimed.

To reduce the number of noncitizens voting to as close to zero as possible ... Republicans in Congress have attempted to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility — or SAVE — Act, which would restrict voting in federal elections to US citizens only.

Francisco most recently resided in Russellville, Alabama, a city of nearly 11,000 people about 75 miles west of Huntsville. When and where she entered the U.S. is unclear, though the DOJ described her as "undocumented."

The DOJ also stated that a plea agreement has been filed in her case, indicating that Francisco "has agreed to plead guilty to all of the charges." A U.S. District Court will schedule a hearing for her case.

The DOJ announcement undermines recent narratives from Democrats and members of the mainstream media that noncitizens voting in U.S. elections is too "rare" to have significant impact on election results.

To reduce the number of noncitizens voting to as close to zero as possible and thereby shore up confidence in American elections, Republicans in Congress have attempted to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility — or SAVE — Act, which would restrict voting in federal elections to U.S. citizens only.

The bill passed the House in July, after 216 Republicans and five Democrats voted in favor of it, and it now moves on for consideration in the Senate, currently under Democrat control. To increase the chances that it will become law, congressional Republicans have pushed to tie the SAVE Act to a continuing budget resolution.

"If Senate leadership truly believes our democracy is sacred, and that the SAVE Act is redundant because it's already illegal for undocumented immigrants to cast a ballot in federal elections, then passing a CR with the SAVE Act included shouldn't be an issue. If it is a problem for Democrats, they should explain to the American people what the hang-up is," wrote Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) in a recent Newsweek op-ed.

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'Bunch of psychos': Sen. Rubio slams NYC Dems over noncitizen vote measure, plans bill to pull city's funding



Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) announced on Friday that he plans to introduce legislation this week to cut federal funding for U.S. cities that choose to allow noncitizens to vote.

What are the details?

The forthcoming legislation comes in response to a move made by Democratic leaders in New York City last week that granted more than 800,000 legally permanent immigrant residents the power to cast ballots in local elections for offices such as mayor and city council.

With the measure ratified with a veto-proof majority on Thursday, New York City became the largest municipality in the country to extend the franchise to noncitizens.

But the move did not sit well with many in the city, as well as Republican onlookers across the country, Rubio included.

"No city which allows non-U.S. citizens to vote should receive U.S. government funds," the senator tweeted Friday, adding, "Next week I am going to file a bill to make that the law."

No city which allows non-U.S. citizens to vote should receive U.S. government funds \n\nNext week I am going to file a bill to make that the law
— Marco Rubio (@Marco Rubio) 1639175035

One day later, Rubio returned to Twitter to address the issue once again, this time saying "I love NYC. But its government is run by a bunch of psychos."

"Now look, there's a lot of crazy stuff going on in the news these days," Rubio said in a video. "But not requiring people to be citizens in order to vote, that takes a special kind of psycho, that's crazy talk."

I love NYC \n\nBut it\u2019s government is run by a bunch of psychospic.twitter.com/dNdlSZBKfk
— Marco Rubio (@Marco Rubio) 1639281626

"So here's what I'm going to do about it," he went on to say. "I'm going to file a bill in the Senate, and I'm going to pursue it as an amendment every chance I get, that basically says if you [pass legislation] that doesn't require people to be U.S. citizens in order to vote, then you shouldn't be getting U.S. citizen taxpayer money."

What else?

State and city Republican officials in New York have also pledged to take legal action against the new measure.

“We will pursue every legal action to see that this dangerous law is struck down," state GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy declared last week, according to the New York Post, adding, “Besides being bad policy, it’s unconstitutional, it’s dangerous and un-American.”

Republican councilman Joseph Borelli claimed that the measure violates the state's constitution.

“The people in this building are doing something against the state constitution,” Borelli said. “The truth is, this will influence our elections, and the people who are registered to vote, the 5.6 million registered voters, ought to have a say in this.”

It is unclear at this point how much support Rubio's forthcoming bill will garner in the Democrat-controlled Congress, but he said in his Saturday video that he wants to get lawmakers on record on the issue.

NYC to grant 800K noncitizens right to vote; state GOP blasts bill as 'worst idea out of New York City Democrats ever'



New York City is poised to become the largest place in the country to grant noncitizens the right to vote in local elections, the Associated Press reported.

A city council measure that is expected to be ratified on Thursday with a veto-proof margin will allow legally documented, voting-age residents the ability to cast ballots in elections for mayor, city council, and other municipal offices.

Under the legislation, noncitizens will not be able to vote in federal elections that determine the president or members of Congress or state elections that determine the governor or state lawmakers.

At present, the legislation would affect more than 800,000 residents of the city who, though they are not citizens, are legal green card holders or have the right to work in the United States.

The AP reported that "little stands in the way of the effort becoming law," given its broad support within the city council and its passive support from Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. The mayor has raised concerns about the bill's legality and argued that it will undermine the “value of citizenship," but has said he will not veto it.

Progressive voting rights and immigration activists have lauded the effort as inclusive and fair to people who reside in the city legally, pay taxes, and send their children to school.

Republicans in the city have vowed to launch a legal challenge to the measure if it is signed into law.

“We are here today pledging action against perhaps the worst idea out of New York City Democrats ever — that’s giving noncitizens the right to vote in local elections,” state GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy said during a press conference last week, according to the New York Post.

“We will pursue every legal action to see that this dangerous law is struck down," he declared, adding, “Besides being bad policy, it’s unconstitutional, it’s dangerous and un-American.”

Another Republican, councilman Joseph Borelli, argued the bill is in violation of the state's constitution.

“The people in this building are doing something against the state constitution,” he said. “The truth is, this will influence our elections, and the people who are registered to vote, the 5.6 million registered voters, ought to have a say in this.”

The measure serves as a flashpoint in a growing debate over voting rights in America. As Democrats seek to expand voting to noncitizens, who just so happen to typically support Democratic candidates, Republicans across the country fight to conserve the value of citizenship.

Last year, voters in Alabama, Colorado, and Florida ratified measures stipulating that only U.S. citizens could vote. Similar measures have been adopted in Arizona and North Dakota.