Why do so few noncitizens try to vote?

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act—the SAVE Act—is legislation that would require citizens to provide “documentary proof” that they are American citizens when they register to vote. The bill passed the House on a party-line vote, but it remains unlikely to pass the Senate, where it would need to clear the 60-vote threshold. Proponents of the measure aligned with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement have said they believe large numbers of noncitizens are voting and corrupting elections. Opponents consider it a way to suppress the vote. President Trump has continuously held back legislation—even bipartisan legislation—over his insistence that Congress pass the SAVE Act.

Trump has long said his electoral losses are due to massive numbers of noncitizens voting for Democrats in elections. Three days into his first term on January 23, 2017, Trump told a group of congressional leaders that the 3 million popular votes Hillary Clinton won over Trump contained large numbers of unauthorized immigrants and other noncitizen voters. There is insufficient evidence for this claim, which opponents call a conspiracy theory. And yet it became the basis for the SAVE Act, which would require individuals to provide documentary evidence that they are American citizens when they register to vote. The Act would:

1. Specify what proof would be acceptable, such as “evidence as identification that complies with the REAL ID Act of 2005 that indicates U.S. citizenship”
2. Require states to provide an alternative path to proving citizenship if they cannot do so with the documents contained in the REAL ID Act
3. Require states to establish an affirmative system to identify voters who are not citizens
4. Require states to remove citizens from their rolls
5. Establish a private right of action against someone who registers a noncitizen and establishes criminal penalties for some actions.

The history of noncitizen voting

Until Trump raised the issue, voting by noncitizens had never been a major factor in campaigns. According to an April article in The New York Times, nationally, “The Heritage Foundation’s database of documented cases of voter fraud includes 100 cases of noncitizens voting from 1982 to 2025. That is about 0.000008% of more than 1.3 billion votes cast in presidential elections during that time.” (Note that The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank often supporting Trump’s positions.) Over time, various states have examined their voting rolls to determine how many noncitizens have registered to vote or actually voted. The state of Georgia, for example, conducted a citizenship audit of its voter rolls. In 2024, more than 5 million people voted. Of those, the audit found 20 noncitizens on the rolls, and nine of those people cast ballots in previous elections. In the 2016 election in Nevada, a statewide audit found that of the more than 1.1 million people who voted, 100 noncitizens had registered (likely due to a Department of Motor Vehicles office error) and only three had voted.

The following table summarizes results in states that have studied the issue.

Why are these numbers so small?

The most important reason is that very few noncitizens would take the risk of drawing attention to themselves by trying to vote. The fastest way to risk deportation is to break the law—which is why, contrary to claims made by some Trump supporters, immigrant communities tend to have lower crime rates than other similar communities. Trying to register to vote as a noncitizen is a crime punishable by jail time and/or fines. Some states, like Arizona, also require a valid state driver’s license or the last four digits of one’s Social Security Number (SSN) to register to vote.

Another reason so few noncitizens vote is that other steps in the process of registering to vote require proof of citizenship. This could be confusing to people outside the United States because, unlike most of the countries, the U.S. has never required a national identification card. But in the United States, there is not a single database that a voter registration department can use to check citizenship. Instead, there are three sources states use to verify the citizenship of a potential voter. The first is REAL ID, the second is SAVE “Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements,” and the third is the Social Security Administration.

After the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the issue of a national identification card was debated and rejected. Instead, in 2005, Congress passed REAL ID, which required states to obtain proof of citizenship to give someone a driver’s license. Although it took many years to be fully implemented, a REAL ID license is now essential for boarding an airplane or entering a federal building. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that about 60% of people who have driver’s licenses now hold a REAL ID, although the number of people who have REAL ID licenses varies state by state.

Other states allow citizens to get “standard” or non-REAL ID licenses without proof of citizenship. However, these do not qualify as REAL ID states. In Colorado, for instance, a “standard” driver’s license issued to noncitizens contains a black banner stating: “Not Valid For Federal Identification, Voting or Public Benefit Purposes.”

Another place where documentary evidence is part of the system is another SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) database. This second resource was created to determine eligibility for benefits by verifying citizenship. It has recently been expanded to include Social Security numbers. Twenty-six state governments use the SAVE system to cross-reference with their voter registration rolls to make sure that only citizens can vote. Most states have processes for maintaining lists in which they, for example, delete the names of people who have died. As they do list maintenance, they can also check citizenship using the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE database.

The SAVE Act would require all states to run their voter lists through this other SAVE database to identify noncitizens. The Department of Justice has asked all states to release voter data with what critics worry is the intention of identifying noncitizen voters and removing them from the rolls. Some states have cooperated, but many others have gone to court to object to the request on privacy grounds. The Department of Justice has already lost some of these lawsuits. As the table above shows, looking for noncitizens among tens of millions of voters is somewhat like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Besides driver’s licenses and cross-checking with SAVE, some states require a person to present a Social Security number to register to vote. Social Security gives out three kinds of cards. One is specifically for people admitted to the United States to work; it says, “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS;” another is for people who need a number to get some benefits but who are not allowed to work; it says, “NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT.” These labels make it clear that people in these categories cannot vote.

What’s really going on here?

The SAVE Act is a solution in search of a problem. A minuscule number of noncitizens register to vote, and even fewer manage to vote. Adding extra documentary proof to the registration process will only suppress the vote of people who are under resourced. Passports, for example, are an important proof of citizenship, but only about 51% of Americans hold a passport, and most of those people are college educated. (Civil rights groups are organizing to encourage African American voters to get passports.) REAL IDs already require documentary proof of citizenship. The other SAVE program also has lists of citizens. And Social Security knows who is and is not a citizen, and they issue different cards accordingly.

The bottom line is that registering to vote already requires documentary proof, and thus very few noncitizens try to vote. Making the process more complex will only keep people who should vote from voting in the first place.