by Stanley Dunlap, Georgia Recorder [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

October 23, 2024

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Wednesday that an audit of U.S. citizenship conducted by his office revealed 20 noncitizens who had registered illegally to vote.

Raffensperger released the findings of a voter citizenship audit that revealed that nine of the 20 noncitizens identified in the citizenship audit had voted illegally in previous Georgia elections.

Raffensperger said that the 20 noncitizens identified by the audit have been referred to local prosecutors for further investigation. Additionally, the audit prompted an ongoing investigation to determine the citizenship status of 156 additional registered voters.

State election officials reported Wednesday that the majority of the nine noncitizens illegally voted before the state implemented citizenship verification through the Department of Driver Services in 2012. There are currently 8.2 million registered voters in Georgia. A voter must be a U.S. citizen and possess a valid identification card in order to vote in Georgia.

Raffensperger said this year’s audit is the most comprehensive citizenship check ever conducted in Georgia. The audit reviewed records from county courts, the Georgia Department of Driver Services and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The identities of the 20 noncitizens were discovered when they declared they were not citizens after being requested for jury duty.

Raffensperger announced in July that the audit was underway.

“Other states that have conducted audits were not able to get to the level of detail that our office achieved with this audit,” he said. “This is due to Georgia’s commitment to cutting edge technology, as well as our willingness to collaborate with other government agencies to ensure that we have the most up to date data. Georgia is a model when it comes to preventing noncitizen voting.”

The results of the citizenship audit were announced during a record-breaking early voting turnout, with 2 million Georgians already casting ballots in the general election on Nov. 5.  Several million Georgians are expected to cast ballots in the presidential race between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris as well as congressional races, state legislative elections, and other contests.

In recent years, conservative leaders in Georgia and other states have called for states to enact laws prohibiting noncitizens from voting.

Earlier this year, a bill that proposed allowing Georgians to vote on a constitutional amendment prohibiting non-citizens from voting in local elections failed to advance in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Raffensperger has been a leading advocate for the enhanced proof of citizenship in Georgia in order for someone to qualify to vote. In 2022, he conducted a citizenship review of Georgia’s voting rolls and determined that 1,634 voters were denied participation because their citizenship could not be verified.

Former GOP U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, chairwoman of voting advocacy organization Greater Georgia, accused Raffensperger of misrepresenting the recent audit results and delaying the findings from being released to the public.

She urged Raffensperger to provide more information regarding how the noncitizens were able to register to vote and what steps are being taken to prevent this from happening in the future.

“The revelation that 20 noncitizens – and potentially 156 more – have registered to vote in Georgia is long-awaited information that Georgians deserve to know,” Loeffler, who founded Greater Georgia in 2021 to increase voter registrations among Republicans, said in a statement Tuesday. “But it is deeply concerning that our Secretary of State refused to share his findings for months – and during that time, repeatedly and falsely assured voters that ‘zero’ noncitizens were registered to vote. Voters just want the truth – and if state officials continue to withhold or misrepresent it, they will soon erode the trust that has been rebuilt in our system thanks to strong laws and advocacy.

Raffensperger announced Wednesday that his office will continue to conduct citizenship audits on an annual basis. He described the state’s voter registration list as being the cleanest in the U.S., with over 3.3 million notices sent to potentially ineligible voters since 2019.

He said the state’s ability to prevent noncitizens from voting in elections begins with citizenship verification through the Department of Driver Services and the state’s online voter registration portal.

State election officials credited the importance of the state’s new voter registration system and membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center have played in maintaining accurate voter registration data.

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