Sen. Cruz Presents Legislation to Ensure Federal Law Does Not Preempt States’ Abilities to Require ID for Voter Registration
Bill will close loophole in ‘Motor Voter’ law recently created
July 19, 2013
| press@cruz.senate.gov / (202) 228-7561
WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) today presented legislation that will close a loophole in the federal “Motor Voter” law that preempts states from enforcing requirements to ensure those registered to vote are U.S. citizens. Cosponsors of his bill include Sens. David Vitter (LA), Mike Lee (UT), John Cornyn (TX), Tom Coburn (OK), Thad Cochran (MS), Mike Crapo (ID), Jeff Sessions (AL), Ron Johnson (WI) and Jim Risch (ID).
“The right to vote is a fundamental building block of our nation’s democratic process and it is crucial that we have the measures in place to uphold the integrity of our elections,” said Sen. Cruz. “This bill ensures that states can enforce the commonsense requirement that those registered to vote must actually be U.S. citizens.”
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. that the federal Motor Voter law, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, preempted Arizona’s commonsense requirement that a person present concrete evidence of citizenship before they are allowed to register to vote.
As Justice Alito explained in his dissent, this is not what Congress intended thorough federal Motor Voter legislation. The Court’s ruling leaves a hole in federal law that allows non-citizens to register by using the promulgated federal form without showing proof of citizenship. This encourages voter fraud and undermines efforts to ensure elections are fair and accurately reflect the will of U.S. citizens.
Sen. Cruz also presented an amendment to immigration legislation that would have fixed this loophole, but Senate Democrats refused to allow a vote on it.
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