Congressman proposes bill to prevent non-citizens from voting in local elections

House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil has introduced a measure to prevent non-citizens from voting in local elections. 

"In Washington D.C. next year, an individual that's not a United States citizen – say they work for the Russian embassy and they're a Russian national – after living 30 days in our nation's capital, they'd be allowed to vote for mayor," Steil said Tuesday on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show.

"That doesn't make any sense. Let's allow U.S. elections to be for Americans."

The Democrat-run District of Columbia is the most recent local government in the U.S. to allow non-citizens to vote in its elections.

D.C. in March joined municipalities in three states – California, Maryland and Vermont – in allowing such voting. 

President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation J. Christian Adams confirmed the accuracy of the statement about non-citizens voting.

The D.C. Council passed a bill in February that was signed into law and allows non-citizens in the federal city to vote in local elections. Congressional Republicans unsuccessfully attempted to block the measure.

The bill was introduced by Council Member Charles Allen, a Democrat.

"This bill is in line with our D.C. values and this council’s history of expanding the right to vote and welcoming new voices into our political process and government," Allen said at the time. "Our immigrant neighbors of all statuses participate, contribute and care about our community in our city."

He did not responded to a request for comment Tuesday.

Steil, a Wisconsin Republican, on Monday introduced his American Confidence in Elections Act, which if enacted, "equips states with election integrity tools, implements key reforms in D.C., and protects political speech."

"How do we do that?" Steil asks. "We need to put things in place like photo ID. We need to make sure that it's only U.S. citizens that can vote. We need to be able to provide states the tools they need to clean up their voter rolls."