Activists connected to the Election Integrity Network are advocating for racially profiling voters they believe are noncitizens, following through on a conspiracy theory right-wing media have helped to spread.
“Noncitizen voting” has become a central pillar of the right-wing movement’s attempt to sow doubt in the results of the upcoming 2024 election, bolstered by false right-wing media claims. A Media Matters study found that in a three-week period in September and October, Fox and Newsmax spread baseless claims about noncitizen voting over 140 times.
Noncitizen voting is already illegal and extremely rare, but this myth has been used to restrict access to the ballot, with disproportionate impact on communities of color and immigrants.
Leaders in the election denial movement, including representatives of Cleta Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network, have called for targeting individuals who may be noncitizens by looking for “ethnic” or “Hispanic” names and handing out flyers at Latino churches.
In an interview with CBS, James Womack, head of the North Carolina Election Integrity Team (a chapter of the larger Election Integrity Network), discussed creating a “list of suspicious voters” who may be on the voter rolls in North Carolina.
CBS then aired a clip of a video it had obtained in which Womack suggested voters with “Hispanic-sounding last names” are “suspicious.”
Reuters also reported that in another North Carolina Election Integrity Team call led by Womack, one participant “raised the subject of how to spot an ‘illegal’ and suggested that a person who can't speak English probably doesn't have the right to vote,” and other NCEIT calls included similar conversations about how to supposedly identify noncitizen voters. From Reuters:
When asked about these comments Womack told Reuters his group’s “antenna are up about the influx of Hispanics, and they're accidentally being registered to vote.”
In September, The New York Times reported on Election Integrity Network representative Darlene Hennessy saying in a Zoom call with other activists that their efforts to stop noncitizens from voting should target “ethnic” neighborhoods and names.
Another, Darlene Hennessy, an activist from the Detroit area, recommended hanging up signs in “ethnic” neighborhoods warning people not to vote if they were not eligible. She also suggested searching voter rolls for certain types of surnames.
“I think it’s unfortunate, but sometimes the only way you can find out is to look for ethnic names,” Ms. Hennessy said, according to a recording of the call obtained by The New York Times.
“We don’t want to be doing anything illegal,” she added.
The New York Times reported that after she was asked about these remarks Hennessy “said in a statement that she regretted her language and would be stepping down from her leadership role in the Michigan chapter of Ms. Mitchell’s project.”
Only Citizens Vote volunteers, a noncitizen-focused group created by the Election Integrity Network and Tea Party Patriots, have “discussed” handing out flyers warning against noncitizen voting at “Latino churches.” From Documented:
Only Citizens Vote promises to “protect American citizens' right to vote” and fearmongers about “millions of illegal aliens and noncitizens” possibly voting in the 2024 election. The group’s website lists dozens of election-related partner organizations including Heritage Action for America and Womack’s North Carolina Election Integrity Team.
Flyers available on Only Citizens Vote’s website, which are available in English and Spanish, read “If you are NOT a citizen of the United States of America, it is ILLEGAL for you to vote” and “Voting by noncitizens is a criminal, deportable offense” and have a red stop sign.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections has ordered similar Spanish-language signs to be removed from polling places for using “extranjero,” the Spanish word for “foreigner” rather than “noncitizen,” citing concerns that naturalized citizens born outside the U.S. could misunderstand that they will be deported for exercising their lawful right to vote. (Womack claimed the North Carolina Election Integrity Team’s signs did not use the word “extranjero” and will remain hanging.)
Mitchell, head of the Election Integrity Network, recently called for MAGA activists to surveil their local departments of motor vehicles for noncitizens registering to vote and to distribute the Only Citizens Vote materials.
Another EIN leader, Kerry Toloczko, claimed there are activists handing out these materials “in churches, in parking lots, in voting centers.” Toloczko also appeared on Newsmax and claimed the Department of Justice is pushing for noncitizens to vote even though it is illegal.
Update (10/24/24): This article has been updated with additional reporting.
