Every state agrees, at least on paper, that only citizens should vote. The trouble is what happens between that principle and the polling place.
New research from TPPF’s Chuck DeVore lays out just how much daylight exists between the two and offers a tested model for closing the gap.
The federal voter registration form created by the 1993 National Voter Registration Act asks applicants to swear they’re citizens. Except, it doesn’t ask them to prove it. States can require documentary proof for their own state and local elections, but the U.S. Supreme Court held in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council that they can’t impose that same standard on the federal form. The result is a system built on an honor code, which only works until someone decides not to honor it.
This tension goes back to the early days of our republic. Property requirements, poll taxes, and Tammany Hall’s naturalization mills all tell the same story: whenever registration rules are loose enough to game, someone eventually games them for political advantage. The specifics change, but the incentive doesn’t.
The solution DeVore highlights is Arizona’s bifurcated system. Voters who provide documentary proof of citizenship get a full ballot. Those who register only with the unverified federal form become “federal-only” voters, limited to congressional races. This at least lets a state enforce citizenship requirements everywhere federal law allows, instead of surrendering the whole registration process to self-attestation.
DeVore takes that idea a step further by proposing that states route federal-only voters to dedicated precincts equipped solely for federal ballots. That would simplify what’s currently an administrative headache (separate rolls, separate ballots, separate rules) while still honoring federal law.
Texas has already done important work to strengthen election integrity by improving voter roll maintenance and enhancing voter eligibility verification. The next task is strengthening the voter registration process.
Verifying citizenship shouldn’t be controversial, and the tools to do it without running afoul of federal law already exist. Arizona built the model. Now, Texas and other states would be wise to adopt it.
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