Legislators in the Idaho House filed a bill Thursday that would prevent those whose citizenship status is uncertain from registering to vote.
Idaho Secretary of State would compare voter registration information with citizenship data from other datasets, such as the Idaho Transportation Department, the Social Security Administration’s Help America Vote Information System, and other, unnamed datasets containing citizenship status, according to House Bill 94, introduced by Idaho House Majority Caucus Chair Jaron Crane, R-Nampa.
A constitutional amendment that the Idaho Legislature had sought to specifically prohibit noncitizens from casting ballots in elections was decisively passed by Idaho voters in November.
Crane told legislators on Thursday that while this is similar to what we did, the Secretary of State actually goes through this procedure.
Some voted, but the secretary of state of Idaho is deleting 36 likely noncitizens off the voter registration list.
Phil McGrane, the secretary of state for Idaho, told the Sun over the phone Thursday morning that he hadn’t had time to look at the measure in detail. However, he stated that he intended to introduce a law on voter roll maintenance that, in his opinion, is more comprehensive and covers the Secretary of State’s Office’s noncitizen voter review initiatives from the previous year.
McGrane told the Sun, “We’ll be talking with him to figure out what we move forward because I think there are more tools that we use than may be covered in the bill.” Additionally, I believe that the law we have been working on will likely be the state’s best option.
Crane’s bill was introduced by the Idaho House State Affairs Committee on Thursday, with a unanimous voice vote.
The bill’s introduction sets the stage for a thorough committee hearing, which will include public testimony and a potential vote to move it to the Idaho House floor.
Legislation must pass both the Idaho House and Senate and not be vetoed by the governor in order to become law. The bill would go into effect on July 1st if it were to become law.
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The bill would mandate that registered voters with uncertain citizenship be removed.
According to the bill, any registrant on the statewide voter registration list whose citizenship status in the United States cannot be verified by comparing them with one or more databases will be struck off the list of eligible voters.
According to the bill, each voter must be informed in writing if the secretary of state is unable to verify their citizenship status and given the chance to provide documentation or other proof of citizenship in order to be included back to the list of eligible voters.
The citizenship status of the applicant must be verified using one or more databases mentioned in the law before any voter registration application is approved and added to a county or statewide voter registration list.
Before voters in Idaho approved the noncitizen voting constitutional amendment in 2024, some Democratic lawmakers were concerned that the language could be interpreted to prevent noncitizens from voting in private elections, such as those for parent-teacher associations, even if they were in Idaho legally.
It seems that Crane’s new measure expressly addresses public elections.
According to the new statute, it is illegal for anyone who is not a U.S. citizen to cast a ballot in any public election on any topic. This covers, among other things, all primary and general elections, federal, state, and local elections, as well as any public election in which ballot initiatives, constitutional changes, or referenda are up for vote.
According to the measure, if it becomes law, willfully breaking the clause prohibiting noncitizens from voting would be considered a crime of trying to cast a ballot while ineligible. That alludes to a felony that is already included in the election legislation of Idaho.
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