Election integrity and voting laws have been contentious issues for the last few election cycles, and Republicans, from President Trump on down, have campaigned on ensuring election integrity. On Friday, we learned that Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) is releasing a package of legislation designed to deal with at least one aspect of this issue.
House Republicans are rolling out a new package of election security legislation this week, with GOP lawmakers already setting eyes on 2026.
Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, introduced the bills this week, with four lawmakers co-sponsoring the entire package and various other members supporting specific pieces.
The three pieces of legislation are a bill to prohibit noncitizen residents of Washington, D.C., from voting in local elections, a bill to block noncitizens from helping administer elections and a constitutional amendment to prevent noncitizens from voting.
This package, then, is aimed at preventing noncitizens from voting in American elections. It would seem that a voter ID requirement would accomplish that just as well and would go a lot farther toward ensuring the integrity of our elections.
The constitutional amendment, however, is unlikely to be successful, given the current makeup of the House and Senate, and the Constitution's Article V requirement of a two-thirds majority of both houses to pass a resolution for ratification. The proposed amendment reads:
SECTION 1. A person who is not a person lawfully accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States, a person owing permanent allegiance to the United States, or a citizen of the United States may not vote in any election for Federal, State, Tribal, or local office, including offices in the District of Columbia or in any of the territories or possessions of the United States.
‘‘SEC. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.’
The states are, according to the Constitution, primarily responsible for the running of elections. But the Constitution also gives Congress some latitude for setting overarching rules. In Article 1, Section IV, the Constitution says:
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
Note that the "Places of chusing (sic) Senators" refers to the time when Senators were appointed by state legislatures.
Democrats are pointing out that most of the non-citizen voting issues described in this package of legislation are already illegal.
See Related: Speculations about the Senate 2026 Midterms
It's likely that this won't be the last such package of election-integrity legislation that will be introduced in the coming weeks. While free and fair elections are the keystone of a free republic, those elections must be open and honest, and only qualified citizens should be voting. Democrat opposition to voter ID laws, among other election-integrity issues, is rather baffling unless we presume that Democrats are not interested in honest elections. Congress is, per the Constitution, entitled to set rules in place to address these integrity issues.
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