Some Republican-led states are moving to require voters to prove their citizenship, as Texas advances a controversial measure that could make it harder for eligible voters to get on the rolls because of changed names, mislaid paperwork or database errors.
Voting rights advocates and Democrats warn the plans could prove particularly tricky for people who change their names, including women who do so when they get married or divorced, because their legal names don’t match the ones on their birth certificates. Supporters call the criticism overblown, saying most Americans can readily show they are citizens.
The emerging laws are part of a GOP push led by President Donald Trump to tighten requirements to cast ballots. Voting by noncitizens is both illegal and rare, and the attempts to crack down on voting by foreigners could drive down participation from a much larger pool of legitimate voters, according to election experts….
About 500,000 of the 18.6 million voters already on the rolls in Texas would need to provide proof of citizenship under the proposal therebecause they don’t have driver’s license numbers or Social Security numbers on file with election officials. Similarly, it would require new voters to prove their citizenship with a passport, birth certificate or naturalization papers.
Not everyone has access to citizenship documents, and the measure does notspecify how officials should handle records that don’t match because of name changes. Some other states with similar laws require those who change their names to submit marriage certificates or divorce decrees, which voting rights advocates say amounts to an additional barrier to casting ballots.