1,634 noncitizens attempted to register to vote in Georgia

The first citizenship audit of voter rolls in Georgia history has turned up 1,634 people who tried to register to vote but could not be verified as U.S. citizens.

The noncitizens identified in the audit conducted by the secretary of state’s office were placed into “pending citizenship” status and not allowed to vote.

“Ensuring that only citizens are voting in Georgia’s elections is key to upholding the integrity of the vote in Georgia,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday. “As liberal states and cities around the country are changing their laws to allow noncitizen voting, I will continue to take steps to ensure Georgia’s elections are executed with integrity. Leading the state’s first citizenship audit of the voter rolls is an important part of that effort.”

Fifteen U.S. cities – including New York City and San Francisco – allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. Most of those cities are in Maryland.

The audit consisted of gathering data from the state Department of Driver Services and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services through the federal agency’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.

In all, 2,258 voter registration applications are currently in “pending citizenship” status. The difference between the two numbers is because the secretary of state’s office was unable to obtain the required information on 624 noncitizens who were flagged by the DDS. Those 624 remain in “pending citizenship” status.

None of these individuals have cast ballots in Georgia elections.

This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.