Ted Cruz's Election Move Raises Eyebrows

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas became embroiled in a spat with a former United States attorney when he backed proposed legislation from GOP Senator Katie Britt of Alabama by saying that "illegal aliens" can vote in U.S. federal elections.

On the social-media app X, formerly Twitter, Cruz responded to a tweet from right-wing news website Daily Caller, linking to an article about Britt's proposed framework to "prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections."

"Illegal aliens should not be able to vote in federal elections," Cruz posted. "Period. This should not be controversial."

Joy Vance, the former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama appointed by President Barack Obama, said the legislation, as well as the tweet, acted as "another example of the GOP making up a fake problem & focusing people on it instead of real issues like gun violence or climate change."

Vance added that the issue was irrelevant because Britt's proposal is already law: "People who aren't citizens can't vote," Vance said. "There's no need for Alabama's Senator to introduce a bill because it's already the law."

Cruz responded "Utterly false. Receipts:" and showed two pictures of articles that were about legislation passed, giving non-U.S. citizens the right to vote in local elections. The first was an article by ABC-7 in December 2021 titled NYC Council passes bill giving voting rights to non-citizens. It referenced a bill passed by the New York City Council that allowed "people who have lived in the city for at least 30 days and are legal permanent residents in the United States" to vote in citywide elections.

The second article was from Fox News this year and spoke about the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act passed by the Council of the District of Columbia, also concerning local elections.

Both articles that Cruz mentioned focused on local elections, not the federal elections he was originally referring to. The U.S. Government website says that "some areas allow non-citizens to vote in local elections only."

A community note appeared on Cruz's first tweet on the issue, confirming that "Only US citizens can vote in federal elections," and the U.S. Government website states this is the case.

People who cannot vote are: "Non-citizens, including permanent legal residents, cannot vote in federal, state, and most local elections."

"Wrong again, 'fact-checkers,'" Cruz's office told Newsweek on Friday. "While it's true that illegal aliens are not allowed to vote in federal elections, states are not allowed to actually verify the citizenship status of anyone when they register to vote. The Supreme Court wrongly concluded that the National Voter Registration Act prohibits states from verifying a person's citizenship when they register to vote.

"With New York and D.C. currently registering illegal aliens to vote, there is a strong likelihood that aliens are voting in federal elections. This bill would change that and allow states to verify people's citizenship status when they register to vote. Maybe the keyboard warriors who wrote this community note should read the bill first."

There could be a window of wiggle room for the likes of Cruz and Britt to focus specifically on stopping non-U.S. citizens from voting in local elections.

A statement from Britt said: "Voting in our country is a sacred right that must solely be limited to American citizens. To allow States to uphold this principle should be simple commonsense. We are seeing certain cities across our nation begin to openly allow noncitizens to vote in local elections."

Britt also said that this "effectively disenfranchises hardworking American citizens, insults those American citizens who came to our country legally and took the time and effort to go through the citizenship process, and undermines faith in our entire electoral system."

Advocates of non-U.S. citizens voting in elections say the issue is about "expanding the right to vote" to people who care about their community.

Council of the District of Columbia member Charles Allen spoke to Fox News for the article Cruz referenced. He said: "This bill is in line with our D.C. values and this council's history of expanding the right to vote and welcoming new voices into our political process and government. Our immigrant neighbors of all statuses participate, contribute and care about our community in our city."

Cities like Washington, D.C., are inviting non-citizens to vote in elections, Cruz told Newsweek on Friday.

"As the Washington Post has noted, it's a terrible idea that creates 'logistical nightmares' for election officials, who now have to create separate ballots for non-citizens to use, to ensure they don't vote in federal elections.

"Additionally, the Post noted this invites very real foreign influence into our local elections. What my bill with Sen. Britt would do is ensure that our federal elections are protected from foreign influence. Perhaps Democrats disagree with this proposition."

Update 12/15/23, 3:05 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Cruz's office and Cruz.