[EL] Verifying Citizenship For Voter Registration

[Thessalia Merivaki]

Individual rejected voter registration data show that states process voter
registration applications differently. In Florida, if the citizen box is
not checked, and if the SSN is missing, then the application is immediately
rejected with the individual being marked as "non-citizen" and "missing
SSN".

In GA, individual applications are classified as "pending" if an
applicant's citizenship status is being verified, and rejected if the
applicant is a non-citizen.

It is not very clear as to whether a non-citizen list exists that the
election officials consult, but it is a question worth asking them on how
they do it. My inquiries in Pinellas county, FL for instance, were very
fruitful in understanding how local elections officials process these
forms.


Thessalia Merivaki, Ph.D.

Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of History and Politics
Davis 234
University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
352-871-5260
Office Phone: 727-873-4495
*http://www.usfsp.edu/hp/full-time/thessalia-merivaki/
<http://www.usfsp.edu/hp/full-time/thessalia-merivaki/>*

On Mon, Feb 13, 2017 at 5:18 PM, Pildes, Rick <pildesr at mercury.law.nyu.edu>
wrote:

> I would appreciate help with this question, for purposes of upcoming
> classes:
>
>
>
> When registering to vote, people must check a box indicating their
> citizenship status and sign the form, with criminal penalties for perjury
> if they have knowingly falsified their status.
>
>
>
> For a State that is concerned about whether non-citizens are registering,
> despite this oath, what (if anything) can the State lawfully do to verify
> the citizenship status of potential voters?
>
>
>
> Most students are surprised to learn there is no national data base of
> citizens against which a State could check status.  Dan Tokaji has informed
> me that the Real ID Act does not provide an answer, even if it were fully
> implemented in the states (which it's not).  People are required to provide
> evidence of lawful status to get a qualifying Real ID, but permanent
> residents and asylum applicants are allowed to get it, and the ID itself
> isn't required to show citizenship or immigration status.  We know there
> are certain things the States cannot do, such as demand that the federal
> voter-registration form require documentary proof of citizenship at the
> time of registration.
>
>
>
> The same question arises for academic researchers who might be interested
> in trying to determine whether any non-citizens actually register to vote
> (whether in mistaken belief or otherwise) and if so, how many.  How would a
> researcher go about trying to get data on this question?
>
>
>
> The controversy over the Richman et. al. studies and the critiques of
> those studies, which have been highlighted on this blog, don’t answer this
> question.  See https://electionlawblog.org/?p=90668 and
> https://electionlawblog.org/?p=89545 and
>
> https://electionlawblog.org/?p=87732.  These issues concern what to make
> of the self-reporting of individuals on their citizenship and registration
> status in the CCES surveys.  If we accept that the Richman studies are
> meaningless, for reasons these critiques identify, that still does not give
> us an affirmative answer.  Moreover, in the Ansolabehere/Luks/Schaffner
> re-survey of the 19,000 respondents to the CCES survey of 2010, 99.25%
> report being citizens – so this pool is obviously not representative of the
> citizen/non-citizen population in general, let alone in border States like
> TX, AZ, and NV (even if we agree to rely on self-reporting).
>
>
>
> I’m inclined to tell my students there is nothing States currently can do
> to verify the citizenship status of those who register to vote as
> citizens.  But if I am missing something, I’d appreciate hearing before
> reporting that.  Even if that’s right, that does not mean there is a
> problem, of course.  My own instinct is to think there isn’t a meaningful
> problem.  I suspect the most reliable place to find credible information
> would come from election-contest litigation, in which each ballot is
> examined one by one.  But I’d appreciate any further insights.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Rick
>
>
>
> Richard H. Pildes
>
> Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law
>
> NYU School of Law
>
> 40 Washington Square South, NY, NY 10012
>
> 212 998-6377
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>



-- 
Thessalia Merivaki, Ph.D.

Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of History and Politics
Davis 234
University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
352-871-5260
Office Phone: 727-873-4495
*http://www.usfsp.edu/hp/full-time/thessalia-merivaki/
<http://www.usfsp.edu/hp/full-time/thessalia-merivaki/>*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20170213/3be4ff98/attachment.html>