Barry Loudermilk Asks Idaho Secretary Of State: Is ‘Non-Citizen Voting’ A ‘Non-Issue’?

2 days ago

During Tuesday’s House Administration Committee hearing, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) questioned the Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane about steps to eliminate non-citizen voting.

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Transcript

00:00I now recognize the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Loudermult, for five minutes for the purpose

00:04of questioning our witnesses.

00:05Well, thank you, Madam Chair.

00:06Thank you all for being here.

00:07I appreciate the job, the work that you all do.

00:10It is so very important for our free republic to have integrity in our elections, and that

00:16has been something that has risen in the interest of the American people in the past several

00:24years.

00:25I've been the longest-serving member of this committee, and this used to be an obscure

00:29committee when all that our jurisdiction was security of the capital and federal elections,

00:35and then in 2020 that became important to a lot of people for various reasons, and I thank

00:42you for being here.

00:45Secretary McCrane, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions.

00:49I understand that the Idaho state law requires voters to be documented U.S. citizens.

00:54Correct.

00:55Has this requirement unduly denied the vote to any lawful citizens?

00:59Not that I'm aware of.

01:01Okay.

01:02I also understand that Idaho recently removed a number of non-citizens from the voter rolls.

01:09How was your office able to accurately identify and remove non-citizen voters in a timely manner?

01:15I appreciate the question.

01:17As I mentioned, last summer we signed the Only Citizens Can Vote Act, and working through

01:21a process using our Idaho Transportation Department, Idaho State Police, and then most notably Department

01:27of Homeland Security, we ran the entire 1.1 million registered voters in Idaho through those

01:32systems to verify citizenship.

01:34I mean, easily determining citizenship for the overwhelming majority, but then really dialing

01:39it into a case-by-case basis to narrow it down to 34 individuals who were non-citizens

01:44on Idaho's voter rolls.

01:46But I think using that precision and scrutiny really helped, but as I identified in my remarks,

01:51there are still tools that are needed to help really bolster this for all of us.

01:55Had you done that in the past, or was this the first time that you really started drilling

02:01down looking for non-citizens?

02:03This was the first time that we'd actually had that, and I think this will be continued

02:06work, as you see from the President's executive order and other efforts.

02:09Okay.

02:10I appreciate that.

02:12Some of our colleagues continue to maintain that non-citizen voting is a non-issue.

02:18Is that true, or do you have a different opinion on that?

02:21I think every American wants to make sure that their vote can count, and that their vote counts

02:25the same as everybody else, and that there is no one who's ineligible participating in our

02:29elections.

02:30Because as we know, any time that happens, especially that razor-thin election like I

02:34mentioned earlier, it can cancel out somebody else's vote.

02:36So I do think this is an issue for determining accuracy.

02:39Also, Idaho recently adopted the Only Citizens Can Vote Act, as you've mentioned.

02:45Can you share with us about how you and the governor were able to successfully collaborate

02:49with state law enforcement and verify citizen status, which you have a little bit.

02:54Is there anything specific in there that we can learn from how you work with law enforcement

03:00and other agencies?

03:02I think specifically, it really does tie in both to voter ID, right, so identification

03:08that identifies citizenship.

03:09I think that's an ongoing conversation and something that you can continue to do work on.

03:14And then the other part really is investing in USCIS.

03:17So earlier today, I met with USCIS officials to talk about how can we bolster these efforts.

03:22I think they're eager to do the work.

03:24One of the things they reiterated to me was they are going to remove whatever barriers.

03:28So you heard from Secretary Allen, some of the challenges other states had, to remove

03:33those barriers, but to make sure we have the accurate data we need to do this voter verification.

03:38Idaho competes with many of the states you guys represent for one of the fastest growing

03:41states in the nation.

03:43That means people are moving, people are coming in, and this is an ongoing effort to keep

03:47our voter rolls up to date and accurate.

03:49So what can we do as Congress to assist you going forward with this?

03:57What would you like to see Congress do to make that more efficient and more accurate?

04:04I think first and foremost is invest in this database.

04:07There needs to be a database built with this purpose in mind.

04:10And then also to review some of the policies.

04:12I will say there are some really unique incidents we identified and either this is concerned

04:16to make sure both non-citizens are not participating, but also citizens aren't interfered with.

04:22There's the Child Citizenship Act of 2000.

04:25There are what I would classify as undocumented citizens.

04:29These are people who have become citizen through their parents' naturalization, but it's actually

04:33not recorded because we haven't built the tools in place to do the verification we're doing.

04:37I think the efforts of this committee, though, you look at whether it's the SAVE Act, the

04:40President's Executive Order, are aimed towards that.

04:43So if you can continue to invest in those resources and these agencies, that will really make a difference.

04:47Okay. Thank you.

04:49And Secretary Landry, I have one question for you.

04:52I have a very good friend that used to serve in this chamber, is now the governor.

04:56Is there any relation?

04:57We are not related.

04:58Governor Landry and I are from the same area of the state, and Landry is a very common Cajun

05:04name in Louisiana.

05:05It's the second most common Cajun name, so it's sort of like Smith in South Louisiana.

05:10Well, I assumed you weren't because I understood everything that you said while you were here.

05:15With that, I yield back.

05:16I won't tell him you said that.

05:18Please do.

05:20I know.

Barry Loudermilk Asks Idaho Secretary Of State: Is ‘Non-Citizen Voting’ A ‘Non-Issue’?

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