Even before the 2024 U.S. presidential election takes place, Donald Trump and his allies have initiated multiple lawsuits, asserting that non-citizens might unlawfully influence the election outcome by casting illegal votes.
Legal experts note that Trump’s court filings provide minimal evidence of non-citizen voting, a practice that independent studies confirm is exceedingly rare and unlikely to impact election results.
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver remarked, “The former president is repeating his usual strategy, framing the narrative as, ‘If I win, the election is legitimate; if I lose, it was rigged.'” This approach, she noted, mirrors his tactics in previous presidential runs, including his brief 2000 campaign under the Reform Party.
A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, who spoke on behalf of the Trump campaign, declared that their legal actions are intended to prevent non-citizen voting, which they say represents a threat to the integrity of U.S. elections.
Although it is a felony for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, independent studies have consistently shown that such occurrences are exceptionally rare. Despite this, supporters of Trump’s legal efforts argue that even one illegal vote is too many.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, addressed a congressional committee last week, saying that although non-citizen voting is infrequent, it is critical to enforce regulations to preserve this rareness. He reported that his office recently discovered nearly 600 non-citizens on the state’s voter rolls, which have about 8 million registered voters. “This year we identified 135 people who had voted and another 400 who were registered but had not yet voted,” he explained.
Additionally, a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University found that Trump’s assertions regarding widespread non-citizen voting in the 2016 presidential election were baseless, identifying only 30 instances out of 23.5 million ballots cast, which amounts to a mere 0.0001% of the total votes.
Dax Goldstein of the nonpartisan States United Democracy Center labeled these lawsuits “meritless” and part of a strategy to undermine confidence and trust in the election process. Meanwhile, polls indicate a tight race between Trump and Harris, particularly in key battleground states. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito underscored what is at stake, noting that even one non-citizen voter could drastically influence the results, pointing out the narrow margins that could determine the election.
The lawsuits, initiated by the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, the America First Legal Foundation and Republican state attorneys general, focus mainly on state and county election processes. They claim that officials are not doing enough to stop non-citizens from registering or remaining on voter lists.
According to Rick Hasen, a law professor and election expert, the legal teams supporting these instances use a more measured language than that used by Trump and his supporters in public discourse. He implies that public messaging seeks to convince Republican voters of rampant fraud, while court documents must conform to more rigorous legal standards.
As a matter of historical record, Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election through more than 60 lawsuits were largely rebuffed due to lack of evidence.
This year, four lawsuits filed in states such as Michigan and Texas allege that a Biden administration initiative to promote voter registration was a biased attempt to influence the electorate.
As a matter of fact, in North Carolina, the RNC challenged the state Board of Elections on the registration of approximately 225,000 voters, citing insufficient documentation. In response, state officials identified a relatively small number of people who declared noncitizen status during jury service but clarified that they cannot remove anyone from the voter rolls this close to election day.
Some local political operatives, including Chuck Coughlin, CEO and President of the political consulting firm, HighGround, Inc. argue that these concerns about non-citizen voting are unfounded and represent a narrative designed to mislead Republican voters about the integrity of the election. “It’s not happening, it’s a MAGA narrative intended to gaslight Republicans about election integrity”, stated Coughlin.
