Georgia finds more than 2,000 suspected foreigners trying to get on state's voter rolls

An audit by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has identified more than 2,000 suspected foreigners who tried to register to vote in the state though none reached the point of casting ballots, officials told Just the News.

The findings, set to be released this week by Raffensperger's office, are expected to be used by the Georgia elections chief to make the case for his signature effort in 2022 to get a constitutional amendment to ban non-citizen voting.

Georgia's audit is the second by a state in just a few weeks to detect an effort by foreigners to get into a position to cast ballots in states where non-citizen voting is illegal

An audit of Texas voter rolls released in December identified nearly 12,000 non-citizens suspected of illegally registering to vote, and county officials in Texas are now being asked to determine if any actually cast ballots.

In Georgia's case, officials told Just the News that its audit found a total of 2,258 potential non-citizens on the state's voter rolls, in pending status, and flagged the names to local county election officials. The non-citizens won't be allowed to vote unless they provide proof of citizenship.

The officials said the audit identified applicants on the Georgia's rolls most likely to be non-citizens based on identification factors, but it is possible a few may turn out to produce proof of citizenship or recently may have become citizens.

Currently, Georgia state statutes make it illegal for foreigners to vote, but Raffensperger has been arguing for that prohibition to be enshrined in the state constitution via an amendment to make it harder to roll back.

"Well, laws can be changed," Raffensperger told Just the News last month in an interview on the John Solomon Reports podcast. "The Constitution is much more difficult to change. And so I've already asked and requested the General Assembly to go ahead and put a constitutional amendment on the ballot for November 2022, to make sure that only American citizens vote in our elections in Georgia."

"State law does preclude non-citizens," he added. "But if you look at the Constitution, it just says you have to be a citizen. ... It doesn't preclude non-citizens. So there's a little loophole there. And all it takes is a good New York lawyer to figure out that loophole."

The Georgia and Texas audits come as Democrats in many localities — including New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, two Vermont cities and several Maryland communities — have moved to permit non-citizens to vote in local elections.