Fighting the Big Lie of Noncitizen Voting

With just weeks until voting ends in the 2024 election, communities of color, immigrants, young people, and low-income people face voter suppression and harmful myths designed to keep them from casting a ballot. Disinformation sows fear and doubt about safe and accessible elections — but Tides and our partners are pushing back on the biggest lie of the election season to protect voters and our democracy.

The Big Lie of 2024: Noncitizen Voting

Let’s start with the biggest lie of this election season: the myth that noncitizens are illegally voting. Noncitizens already cannot vote in federal elections. In fact, it’s a federal crime. Supporters of this claim falsely allege that millions of unnaturalized immigrants are voting to influence the outcome, yet experts ranging from the Brennan Center to the Cato Institute agree that noncitizens are not voting in elections. 

This disinformation has spread from the presidential debate stage to the states. Here’s how this lie is impacting Tides partners and grantees:

Voter Intimidation in Texas

The Healthy Democracy Fund proudly supports Jolt Initiative for their critical work ensuring eligible young Texan Latinos can make their voices heard and exercise their freedom to vote. In September, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton invented allegations about noncitizen voting without evidence against Jolt Initiative. Jolt Initiative has retained legal counsel and rapid communications assistance to protect their staff and young canvassers against this investigation that seeks to intimidate nonprofits during this election cycle. Despite this investigation, Jolt Initiative continues to organize young people to vote. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into Jolt Initiative, baselessly alleging that Jolt, which organizes young Latinos in Texas to vote, is registering noncitizens (they are not).

A Bogus Lawsuit in Arizona

A lawsuit over a database error involving proof of citizenship could have prevented nearly 100,000 voters in Maricopa County from voting in state elections and participating in the state’s ballot measure on abortion access. Two Healthy Democracy Fund grantees, Voto Latino and One Arizona, intervened in the lawsuit and protected the rights of thousands of voters to vote in state legislative races and ballot measures. As a result, the state Supreme Court ruled to allow nearly 98,000 people to vote on the full ballot this fall, including the abortion access ballot measure.  

One Arizona intervened in a bogus lawsuit that could have prevented nearly 100,000 voters from participating in state elections, including Arizona’s ballot measure on abortion access.

Last-Minute Voter Suppression Legislation in New Hampshire

Governor Chris Sununu signed a new law (HB1569) that requires new voters to provide documentation such as a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization papers before they can cast a ballot. These proof of citizenship requirements target new voters, namely students and young people. The New Hampshire Youth Movement, a Tides Foundation partner, is fighting back as the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging this new law, in partnership with Elias Law Group. 

Anti-Immigrant Ballot Measures

Legislators have placed measures on the ballot to ban noncitizen voting in various states, including North Carolina and Wisconsin. These anti-immigrant ballot measures divide voters, sow hatred and suspicion, and ignore the fact that noncitizens already cannot vote.  

This Disinformation Is Fueling Voter Suppression and Straining the Election System

This chaotic environment, from voter suppression laws to baseless litigation, has created new challenges for voters, election administrators, and civic engagement organizations just weeks before registration deadlines and the general election. 

Voter Purges in Oklahoma and Ohio

Just three weeks before the October 11 voter registration deadline, the Oklahoma State Election Board and the Secretary of State’s office purged 1 in 5 voters in the state. In Ohio in late July, the Secretary of State removed 158,000 Ohioans from the rolls. Leaders from the Ohio NAACP and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a Healthy Democracy Fund grantee, have underscored that more than half of the purged list come from counties in Ohio with the largest Black populations. Responding to a decade of extreme voter purges, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative is registering 100,000 voters in 2024 alone. 

Responding to a decade of extreme voter purges, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative is registering 100,000 voters in 2024 alone.

New Rules for Election Certification in Georgia

Georgia is ground zero for election certification hijinks. The State Election Board voted on a set of extreme rules that could undermine vote counting and certification for the 2024 elections, including hand counting of ballots. This rule could cause Georgia to miss the December 11th deadline for sending its certified presidential election results to the federal government. Lauren Groh-Wargo, the CEO of Tides partner Fair Fight, shared in a recent op-ed, “the board increased the likelihood that final certification of Georgia’s election results could be delayed. The only reasonable conclusion is that the board’s majority intends the mayhem it is creating.” Voting rights lawyers are challenging this ruling from the State Election Board. 

Removing Ballot Drop Boxes in Rural Pennsylvania

In late September, officials in Luzerne County in Northeastern Pennsylvania announced that they would remove ballot drop boxes. Healthy Democracy Fund grantee In This Together Northeastern Pennsylvania held a press conference, urging local decision makers to reverse this decision. Meanwhile, the mayor of Wausau, a city in Central Wisconsin, personally carted off the drop box in front of city hall. These actions remove an option for casting a ballot for tens of thousands of people in these rural communities and continues the disinformation campaign from 2020 about fraud in mail-in voting. 

Fighting Disinformation With Voter Education

Adjusting to new voter suppression laws, stopping voter purges, and countering disinformation require trusted leaders to educate everyone in their community about how to cast a ballot. Here’s what Healthy Democracy Fund grantee organizations are doing to educate voters in response to rising tensions: 

Helping Immigrants Register To Vote

In Pennsylvania, only 54% of eligible Asian voters are registered, and many speak languages other than English. The Asian American Community Fund of Pennsylvania (AACFPA) is tracking voter registrations that are stuck in “pending” to ensure they are processed. AACFPA’s capacity to use this data and their expertise in communicating with AAPI voters in 22 languages create a powerful combination to assist naturalized citizens to register to vote. 

The Asian American Community Fund of Pennsylvania is tracking voter registrations that are stuck in “pending” to make sure they’re processed and communicating with AAPI voters in 22 languages to help naturalized citizens register to vote.

Stopping Voter Intimidation

Rural Arizona Engagement is preparing for an election protection program spanning seven rural counties (Pinal, Pima, Cochise, Yuma, Yavapai, Coconino, Mohave). In 2020 and 2022, vigilante groups have intimidated voters at polling locations, and voters were turned away from early voting sites. Organizations like RAZE will assist voters in the face of harassment at the polls. 

Curing Ballots To Make Sure Every Voice Is Heard

As more people have used mail-in voting since 2020, more people made small errors, such as not signing the outer envelope, which caused their ballots to be rejected and their votes to go uncounted. Research has shown that people of color, young people, and non-English speakers make mistakes more frequently than the general electorate. The process for fixing a technical error is known as “ballot curing.” Many Healthy Democracy Fund grantees are preparing for ballot curing programs focused on communities of color, college campuses, and immigrant communities to ensure that everyone’s vote counts. 

Together, We Can Stop Disinformation and Voter Suppression.

The Shelby v. Holder Supreme Court decision in 2013 unleashed a wave of state-level voter suppression. Passing federal law to protect the freedom to vote in 2025 is the solution. Tides partners and Healthy Democracy Fund grantees are mitigating voter suppression through voter education, litigation, and communications, but only federal legislation can make it easier register and cast a ballot for everyone in this country. 

Stopping vigilante harassment of voters fueled by baseless claims of noncitizen voting and similarly requires long-term grassroots organizing and public education about how elections are run. Sustained investment in trusted leaders is the key to stopping these dangerous lies that undermine our democracy.

Join the Healthy Democracy Fund and Tides partners in building a stronger democracy where everyone’s vote is counted and everyone’s voice is heard.