Video of Florida voter registration drive used to mislead on proof of citizenship question
FILE – A Florida voter registration application is shown, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020, at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department in Doral, Fla. Social media users are sharing a video of a voter registration drive in Florida to raise questions about noncitizen voting in U.S. elections. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
CLAIM: A video shows a worker at a voter registration drive in Florida registering people to vote without asking for proof of citizenship.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context. It’s true workers at the drive did not ask for proof of U.S. citizenship, but that’s because the law does not require such proof to register to vote. However, federal and state law stipulates that Florida voters must be U.S. citizens to cast a ballot in any race. Voters confirm their citizenship under penalty of perjury. Noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare in the U.S. as states, including Florida, have processes to prevent it.
THE FACTS: Shortly before the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, social media users shared a video of a voter registration drive in Palm Beach, Florida, to raise questions about noncitizens voting in U.S. elections.
In the video, a worker with Mi Familia en Acción speaks with a man and a woman outside the Central Palm Beach Service Center. The pair questions the worker about whether people register to vote inside, why she and her colleagues are wearing blue shirts, if she is registered to vote, if she is a U.S. citizen, and who funds Mi Familia en Acción.
The woman then asks the worker, “What do you have to have to sign up to vote? A driver’s license?” The worker replies, “No — no, no, no, you have to be a U.S. citizen. It’s a felony.” After the woman asks how registrants prove their citizenship, the worker says that “you have to trust in the people” and reiterates that lying about U.S. citizenship on a voter registration form is a felony.
“‘Mi Familia Vota’ worker in Palm Beach is registering voters near the DMV,” reads one X post that shared the video. “Proof of citizenship isn’t required.” It had received approximately 21,000 likes and 11,700 shares as of Wednesday.
The video was first posted on X by Jeff Buongiorno, a Republican candidate for supervisor of elections in Palm Beach County. Buongiorno asked whether this is “what Floridian’s had in mind” when the state constitution was amended in 2020 to require voters in Florida elections to be U.S. citizens.
Mi Familia en Acción and Mi Familia Vota are nonprofit, nonpartisan sister organizations that support the Latino community. The latter is registered in Florida as a third party voter registration organization.
Mi Familia en Acción confirmed that the video shows a voter registration drive it hosted in Palm Beach and that the worker is a temporary paid canvasser, but refuted the baseless implication about fraudulent activities related to the event.
“Mi Familia en Acción is a non-partisan organization, voter registrations are part of our day-to-day work to strengthen our democracy,” the organization wrote in a statement. “We do not encourage or register non-citizens to vote.”
Buongiorno told The Associated Press that he is “100% concerned that they’re registering noncitizens” and that Florida’s current laws “are disenfranchising citizens from coming out and voting.”
“I’m concerned of fraudulent registrations by noncitizens, I’m concerned about synthetic identities, and we need to tighten this up in the state of Florida or our elected officials who certify the elections, they’ll be committing perjury when they certify the 2024 election,” he continued.
Although it is true Florida voters are not required to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote, all voters in the state must be U.S. citizens, according to federal and state law. They must confirm as much under penalty of perjury upon registration. Voting as a noncitizen, or even just registering to vote, can be punishable by fines, prison or deportation.
Though research shows there have been incidences of noncitizen voting over the years across the U.S., it’s exceedingly rare, in part because of the risk involved. States, including Florida, have additional mechanisms to prevent it, though there isn’t one standard protocol they all follow.
“People, by and large, do not falsely submit voter registration applications when they don’t believe that they’re eligible because the risk is just too high,” Valencia Richardson, legal counsel for voting rights at the Campaign Legal Center, told the AP. “The consequences, particularly for noncitizens, are simply not worth it.”
A handful of municipalities in other states allow noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens are never allowed to cast ballots at the federal or state level.
Richardson explained that both federal and state law require Florida election officials to maintain accurate voter lists. This means removing anyone who is ineligible to vote, including noncitizens, but also ensuring that eligible voters are not unlawfully removed. She said there are many ways to confirm citizenship, such as checking department of motor vehicle records, asking the secretary of state’s office or getting in touch with the voter themselves.
The Florida Department of State did not respond to a request for comment.
Research and audits in several states show that there have been noncitizens who successfully registered to vote and cast ballots, although it happens rarely and is typically by mistake.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, for example, recently found 137 suspected noncitizens on the state’s rolls — out of roughly 8 million voters — and said he was taking action to confirm and remove them.
In 2023, Florida removed 268,521 active voters from its registration rolls and as of May 31, had removed 113,166 in 2024 so far. The data does not break down why they were removed. In addition to not being a U.S. citizen, reasons for removal can include death, a felony conviction, not listing a valid Florida residence, or moving out of state.
Florida currently has approximately 13.4 million active registered voters. When registering, new applicants must provide a Florida driver’s license or identification card number, or the last four digits of their social security number. Alternative forms of ID for those who do not have any of these numbers include a U.S. passport, debit or credit card number, utility bill, or bank statement. Voters must present a picture ID with their signature when voting at a polling place.
The House on Wednesday passed the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act, a Republican proposal that would institute a proof-of-citizenship requirement for voter registration. It is unlikely to advance through the Democratic-led Senate and the Biden administration said it’s strongly opposed to the legislation because it says safeguards already are in place to verify voter eligibility and enforce the law against noncitizens trying to cast ballots. Democrats are also concerned that the bill would disenfranchise some U.S. citizens.
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This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
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