The Biden administration is not scheming to register noncitizens to vote

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland delivered a March 3 speech on voting rights in a Selma, Alabama, church, and his comments became fodder for a misleading claim about elections.

"What you’re about to hear is Joe Biden’s attorney general — yes, the Biden administration — arguing for ending voter ID laws," Robby Starbuck said in a March 3 Instagram video. Starbuck, a Republican, announced in November 2020 that he would run for Congress in Tennessee but was removed from the primary ballot in April 2022 by his own party. We have checked him on election claims before.

Starbuck’s video showed footage of Garland delivering a speech to commemorate "Bloody Sunday," the day in 1965 when police beat voting rights activists as they tried to march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama. The event led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which ensured people were not denied the right to vote based on race. 

In the footage Starbuck shared on Instagram, Garland said, "The right to vote is still under attack. And that is why the Justice Department is fighting back. That is why, one of the first things I did when I came into office was to double the size of the voting section of the Civil Rights Division. That is why we are challenging efforts by states and jurisdictions to implement discriminatory, burdensome, and unnecessary restrictions on access to the ballot, including those related to mail-in-voting, the use of drop boxes and voter ID requirements." 

That’s when Starbuck cut in. "So, this administration," Starbuck said, "who is letting millions of illegal immigrants into our country … He’s let all these people in and then wants to end voter ID. Well why do you think that would be? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what’s going on. They would love for these people to register and vote." 

The caption on the Instagram video says, "The idea we don’t have to prove we’re citizens with the right to vote is insane and we all know it." 

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Starbuck’s claim echoes similar ones from Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump that Democrats are registering immigrants in the country illegally to vote. Those claims are wrong. It can take a decade or longer for an immigrant to become a U.S. citizen, a requirement to vote in federal elections.

Cases of noncitizens voting are statistically rare. Some noncitizens accidentally end up on voter rolls when applying for driver’s licenses. But states and counties have safeguards to check for voter eligibility.

In the transcript of the full speech, Garland specified that all "eligible citizens" have the right to vote. He did not say noncitizens should be allowed to vote. 

When we asked Starbuck for comment, he said, "It’s a fact that many Democrats have created policies that allow illegal aliens to vote in a bunch of the cities they control." He pointed to bills introduced in New York City and San Francisco as well as cities in Maryland, Vermont and Rhode Island that would allow noncitizens to vote in local and school board elections. Some of the measures he referenced did not become law.  

Only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in federal and state elections. Noncitizens can vote in local elections in some Maryland and Vermont cities as well as in San Francisco school board elections.

But this is not new. In Takoma Park, Maryland, for example, noncitizens have been allowed to vote in local elections since 1992. In Vermont, noncitizens were first allowed to vote in local elections in 2018. 

Rhode Island introduced a bill last year that would allow non-citizens to vote in local elections, but it did not pass and a similar New York City law was ruled unconstitutional and never took effect.

When talking about voter identification requirements, Garland said some state voter ID laws make voting more difficult, especially for Black Americans. 

Biden has said over the years that voter ID laws affect people of color disproportionately. 

Voter identification requirements at the polls vary from state to state. Thirty-six states have laws requiring voters to show some form of identification when voting, according to information from the National Conference of State Legislatures. 

Some states ask for photo identification while other states allow non-photo IDs such as utility bills and bank statements. The remaining 14 states use other methods to verify voters’ identities.

We contacted the Justice Department, but it declined to comment. 

A 2022 Justice Department fact sheet described some of the agency’s court actions regarding voter identification, including suing Arizona in  a 2022 for a state law that required voters to provide proof of citizenship when voting. 

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Video shows former Vice President Mike Pence endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

People who oppose strict voter ID laws generally agree that ID requirements are acceptable if there are other available options for voters that don’t restrict access to voting, a 2021 PolitiFact article found. 

For example, Biden’s administration issued a 2021 executive order that would make it easier to use tribal government identification cards as an acceptable form of voter identification for Native Americans. 

Another example of alternative options would be signing an affidavit verifying one’s identity, which is permissible in some states. 

In every state except North Dakota, people must register before voting. Voters provide proof of identification such as a driver’s license, a social security number, or utility bill or bank statement to register to vote. 

Federal law mandates that all first-time voters who register to vote by mail provide ID. Registering to vote if you are ineligible is a felony in most states.

People who support stricter voter identification laws at the polls say those requirements make the process more secure, while those who oppose the strictest forms of voter ID laws say it makes voting less accessible to minorities. 

Research collected by the Brennan Center for Justice found that strict voter ID laws disproportionately affect people of color. The risk of voter fraud is low and there are a wide variety of voter ID requirements and verification processes in place.  

An Instagram post claims that the Biden administration seeks to end voter ID requirements to allow immigrants in the country illegally to vote.

In a March 3 speech, Garland specified that all "eligible citizens" have the right to vote.

Federal law does not allow noncitizens to vote in federal and state elections. It takes immigrants about a decade  to become citizens. 

Cases of noncitizens voting are statistically rare. 

We rate the claim False. 

PolitiFact Senior Correspondent Amy Sherman contributed to this report.