Posts falsely claim data shows non-citizens registering to vote

Social media posts claim undocumented immigrants are registering to vote en masse in the US states of Arizona, Texas and Pennsylvania, due to policies that allow people to sign up without photo identification. This is false; citizenship is required to vote in federal elections and the figures cited online do not reflect new registrations, but the number of verifications using a Social Security number, officials in each state said.

"The number of voters registering without a photo ID is SKYROCKETING in 3 key swing states: Arizona, Texas, and Pennsylvania," says an April 2, 2024 X post.

"Since the start of 2024: TX: 1,250,710 PA: 580,513 AZ: 220,731 HAVV allows voters to register with a Social Security Number (4 digits). Illegals are not able to get licenses there. But they can get Social Security Cards (for work authorization permits)," continues the claim amplified by X owner Elon Musk and Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

A surge of crossings at the US-Mexico border has made migration a defining issue of the 2024 presidential election, prompting former US president Donald Trump and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to propose a bill, designed to keep non-citizens from voting in federal elections.

Non-citizens, including permanent residents with green cards, cannot vote or register to vote in federal elections, and attempting to do so is a crime under a law passed by Congress in 1996 (archived here). A few states allow non-citizens to vote in local elections (archived here).

Trump's efforts exacerbate unfounded concerns of undocumented immigrants exerting influence on US elections. These narratives often revolve around misleading claims that Democrats are "importing voters," -- a phrase repeatedly used by Musk -- in a plot to rig results (archived here).

But the latest claims suggesting non-citizens are registering to vote by the thousands are "nonsense," said Kenneth Mayer, a professor of US politics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (archived here). He told AFP on April 9 that the posts are "part of a bad faith campaign to undermine faith in the election system."

What is HAVV?

The social media posts mention the Help America Vote Verification (HAVV) system, claiming it enables undocumented people with access to a Social Security number to register to vote (archived here). But this is false.

The HAVV system was developed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (archived here).

Each state must establish a computerized voter registration list and verify new voter data with its Motor Vehicle Administration (archived here). If a new voter does not present a valid driver's license during registration, the state must request information through HAVV to confirm; a person's name, date of birth, last four digits of their Social Security number and whether records show the individual as deceased.

An individual must be a US citizen, 18 years of age or older at the time of the election and meet state residency requirements to be eligible to vote (archived here). North Dakota is the only state without formal voter registration but has other safeguards to ensure secure elections (archived here).

Mayer said: "It's possible for non-citizens legally present in the US and able to work to get a Social Security number, but the data will show that they are non-citizens."

Additionally, the figures in the post do not represent the number of new voters registering without a photo ID in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Instead, they detail the number of requests states made to the SSA through HAVV to verify voters' identities between December 31, 2023, and March 23, 2024 (archived here).

"The HAVV system does show matches for social security numbers," but he said it "only shows whether the person appears in the SSA database, not whether their registration has been verified."

Voter registration numbers

Election officials in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Texas said voter registration requests were much lower than those suggested by social media posts.

Stephen Richer, Recorder of Maricopa County (archived here), which represents 62 percent of Arizona's voting population, refuted the claim in an April 3  X post (archived here). "Only 39,653 new voters have registered in Maricopa County in 2024 in total. For Arizona, that number is about 60,000," he said.

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson (archived here) released a similar statement (archived here) noting: "It is totally inaccurate that 1.2 million voters have registered to vote in Texas without a photo ID this year." Since the beginning of 2024, the number of voters in the state has increased by 57,711, according to the statement.

In Pennsylvania, Department of State communications director Amy Gulli (archived here) told AFP the claim "is false."

The department's website (archived here) addressed the issue further saying: "The Help America Vote Verification (HAVV) data cited in an April 2024 viral social media post does NOT represent the number of newly registered voters in PA, and any claim to the contrary is false."

The state received approximately 75,000 new voter registrations as of April 3.

Additionally, Pennsylvania uses HAVV to verify identity when a person requests an absentee or mail-in ballot, which means a voter's partial SSN could be checked multiple times a year.

Voting safeguards

All three states have voting safeguards to ensure secure elections.

David Lublin, chair of the department of government at American University's School of Public Affairs (archived here), said federal law requires that first-time voters present identification (archived here). If you register without one, you will need to present it the first time you vote.

"Some states have more restrictive requirements on top of that," he told AFP on April 9.

Certain states accept non-photographic forms of identification, such as a voter registration card, birth certificate, or Social Security card (archived here). These states also allow poll watchers to "challenge voters' identity and/or eligibility to vote," according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (archived here).

Despite states using different methods to verify voters' citizenship, Lublin said: "Nobody who is a non-citizen will pass that check, and it's far more common for citizens to be incorrectly flagged as non-citizen."

Martha Kropf, a professor of political science and public administration at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, said: "Typically, election officials weed out the people who are not citizens when they verify" their Social Security number (archived here).

"There are pretty explicit punishments for saying you are a US citizen and eligible to vote when you are not," she said on April 9. "And, consider this -- if you were a non-citizen would you register to vote and then vote and risk being deported back to your home country?"

Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation surrounding migration here and the 2024 US election here.