Speech #1100065649

If it is fraud. it is fraud. and it shouldnt have been limited to just 60 days. That amendment is included in this legislation on its floor here today. Illegal voting by noncitizens can occur when voting registration forms are filled out more than 60 days before a Federal election. It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in Federal elections. and that raises an important issue of interpretation that I would like to take just a moment to address. Mr. Speaker. We have to ensure that the courts give this bill its full intended scope to protect our elections from all fraud. all denial of peoples right to vote. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 requires that a person registering to vote affirm that they are a U.S. citizen. If a noncitizen signs or attempts to sign any form that can be used for voting purposes. including a voter registration form. and that form states that they are a citizen when they are not. then that is a false statement. This bill specifically defines electionrelated information to include "information regarding a voters registration status or eligibility." If a noncitizen fraudulently votes for. say. candidate Jones. they will necessarily negate the legitimate vote of a legal voter that voted for candidate Brown. That effectively denies the legal voters right to vote. In the landmark case Reynolds v. Sims. the Supreme Court stated "the right of suffrage can be denied by a debasement or dilution of the weight of a citizens vote just as effectively as by wholly prohibiting the free exercise of the franchise." So an illegally voting noncitizen in that case would violate the clear terms of H.R. 1281 and be subject to up to 5 years in jail. Regarding the issue of intent. Blacks Law Dictionary defines "constructive intent" as "a legal principle that actual intent will be presumed when an act leading to the result could have been reasonably expected to cause that result." If someone knows they are not a citizen but they sign a voter registration form that states that they are a ci tizen. and then that person votes illegally and knows they are voting illegally. then they obviously know that their illegal vote is going to cancel out the vote of another legally voting citizen.