Former top DOJ election official urges Congress to empower states to verify citizenship of voters

'Motor Voter needs to be amended' J. Christian Adams said

Published: November 2, 2022 6:54pm

Updated: November 2, 2022 9:03pm

A former top Justice Department voting rights prosecutor on Wednesday urged Congress next year to modify federal law to empower states to verify voters' citizenship before they cast ballots.

"Congress should allow states to verify citizenship," said J. Christian Adams, the former DOJ lawyer and now president of the election integrity group Public Interest Legal Foundation. "It is the number one thing that should happen in Congress. Motor Voter needs to be amended."

Motor Voter is also referred to as The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 which "requires that states offer voter registration opportunities at state motor vehicle agencies." According to Adams, verifying citizenship is just an honor system and that needs to change.

"All you got to do is permit states to validate that voters are citizens," Adams told the Wednesday edition of the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "Right now it's an honor system. Congress said all you need to do is have the registration form that says 'Are you a citizen? Yes or no.' You just have to take their word for it under federal law. That needs to change."

According to the Public Interest Legal Foundation's election database, there have been over 500 tied elections over the past five years.

"There have been over 500 ties in elections in just the last four or five years," Adams stated. "We're cataloging this at a rolling database at publicinterest.legal.org. 466 was last week's number. We found over 100 more. You just have to do a lot of digging. No one's ever compiled this. The left is never going to do it. Because it shows one vote counts if you have this many tied elections."

Adams said that the amount of voters who show up to the polls will if a "red tsunami" will occur.

"I think if everybody was registered to vote and voted in this country, they'd be a lot more adherent to the Constitution," Adams said. "I think there's too many people who believe in liberty that don't participate."