In Fairfax County, Virginia, election officials quietly remove noncitizens from the voter rolls almost every month. In the past four years alone, the county has canceled 1,912 voter registrations belonging to individuals who identified themselves as noncitizens. None were discovered through a verification system; they surfaced only when the registrants voluntarily disclosed their status. This vulnerability exists by design, not by accident.
American election law does not permit verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration. Under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, states must accept and use the federal mail-in voter registration form created by the Election Assistance Commission. That form includes a checkbox for affirming citizenship and requires a signature under penalty of perjury, but it does not allow states to request documentation verifying citizenship. Virginia, like every other state, must operate within this framework.
