The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to repeal a law allowing foreign nationals to vote in local elections in the District of Columbia, part of a broader Republican effort to amplify former President Donald J. Trump's false claims about widespread illegal voting by immigrants, a rare occurrence that is already illegal in federal elections.
There is little chance the bill will be taken up by the Democratic-led Senate or reach President Biden's desk to be signed into law. But Republicans are using it and others aimed at cracking down on foreign voters to stomp on distrust in the country's election laws and infrastructure ahead of November's general election — a key pillar of Trump's strategy to launch a preemptive attack on Democrats and accuse them of stealing the presidency.
Despite ample evidence to the contrary, the former president has long falsely claimed that federal elections are prone to widespread voter fraud and illegal voting by undocumented immigrants, skewing the results in favor of Democrats — accusations echoed by Republican lawmakers.
The U.S. capital is one of more than a dozen municipalities in the country, mostly in California, Maryland and Vermont, that allow foreign residents to vote in local elections but rarely do so, even when local laws allow people who are eligible to vote to do so.
The vote was 262-143 to repeal the district's voting laws and ban foreigners from voting, with 52 Democrats and all Republicans supporting the move.
Republicans on Thursday said the D.C. law is a gateway to more sinister efforts underway across the country to give voting rights to people who don't have the right to vote.
“This is a dangerous and bad precedent and an un-American attempt to grab power. It must stop here and now. We must stand up,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-New Jersey.
He and other Republican lawmakers said they were reprimanded for warning that foreigners might soon gain voting rights, and cited a Washington, D.C. law as proof their fears were justified.
“Today, here we are, in Washington, D.C., the capital of our nation, allowing illegal immigrants to vote in an illegal election. Yesterday's conspiracy. Yesterday's conspiracy is today's reality.”
There is no evidence that foreign nationals voted in the 2020 presidential election, but Trump and other Republicans have reiterated the possibility this year, arguing that a surge in migrants at the US-Mexico border makes it more likely and that even a tiny number of illegal votes could swing the election.
“The foreign national vote, whether it's one vote or a million votes, dilutes the voting power of our citizens,” the bill's author, Texas Republican Rep. August Plueger, said Thursday. “Congress must take clear and decisive action to ban foreign nationals from voting in all elections, including in Washington, D.C.”
Some Democrats argue that because most immigrants pay the same taxes as Americans, contribute to the local economy and send their children to local schools, they should have the right to vote regardless of their status.
“At the local level, everyone has the same fundamental interest in things like efficient trash collection and good public schools,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland.
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat and the district's non-voting representative, said Congress should not interfere in the district's local issues and criticized the timing of the effort, given that primaries have already begun in some D.C. races.
“They did it to disrupt the election,” she said of Republican lawmakers.
Under the Constitution, Congress has authority over issues in Washington, D.C. The House of Representatives advanced two bills last year that would overturn D.C. laws, including a non-citizen voting bill and an overhaul of the criminal code.
The Republican-led effort was partially successful when President Biden signed a bill repealing the criminal justice reforms, but the Democratic-led Senate refused to consider repealing the foreign voting law, which went into effect last March. The Senate is expected to take up the bill again this year, leaving the voting law intact.
Luke Broadwater Contributed report.