All state agencies that provide voter registration forms and assistance must also include a notice that says noncitizens are not permitted to vote in Louisiana, Gov. Jeff Landry announced Monday in the state's latest bid to tighten its voting protocols ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Landry signed an executive order requiring that notice Monday. The order also instructs the state Office of Motor Vehicles to share with the secretary of state's office the names of noncitizens and non-permanent residents of Louisiana — an estimated more than 40,000 people — to ensure their names are not on the voter rolls.
"The right to vote in United States elections is a privilege that's reserved for American citizens," he said.
Landry’s order, issued just over two months before the November presidential election, in part codifies existing practice. It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal and state elections, and the state already uses data from the Office of Motor Vehicles and Social Security Administration to verify those who register to vote, said Secretary of State Nancy Landry, who joined Landry Monday, as did Attorney General Liz Murrill.
The secretary’s office also cross-references voter rolls with jury questionnaires that indicate citizenship status, the secretary said.
Landry told reporters Monday that 48 noncitizens have been removed from Louisiana voter rolls over the past two years.
M. Christian Green, president of the League of Women Voters of Louisiana, said that figure – a tiny fraction of the roughly 3 million registered voters in the state – suggests Landry’s move is unnecessary.
“It just seems like such a heavy hammer to wield to get a very limited number of people who are registering while noncitizens, and perhaps only doing so because they’re not clear what the form is that’s being handed to them when they get a driver’s license or ID,” she said.
Still Nancy Landry and Murrill joined the governor in tying the need for executive action to problems with illegal immigration at the southern border, with Landry calling it “an extra layer of protection.”
The move is also in keeping with similar moves in Virginia, Idaho and other Republican-led states ahead of the matchup between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, where Republicans have made concerns about noncitizen voting and illegal immigration at the U.S. southern border central campaign issues.
It also follows lawmakers' passage this session of 11 voting-related bills, pushed by Nancy Landry as "election integrity" measures that will shore up her office's already-strong procedures.
One of those new laws requires proof of citizenship to register to vote starting Jan. 1.
Noncitizens who violate the rules could be hit with fines or prison time under both federal and state law.
"If you are illegally registering to vote or helping someone to vote illegally, we will prosecute you," Murrill said.