Peace Garden News

U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) joined legislators from both the U.S. House and the Senate in sending a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland saying they are "deeply concerned" about the lack of action to remove non-citizens from voter rolls. 

"We are deeply concerned by reports of non-citizens registering to vote and voting in federal elections," the legislators said in the letter. "As of today, there has been no response from you or your Department regarding the inquiry on July 12, 2024, seeking information on efforts undertaken by your Department to enforce laws prohibiting non-citizen voting."

"Given that the 2024 Presidential Election is in less than 34 days, your Department’s inaction and refusal to provide any information regarding its efforts to promote public trust and confidence in our elections is especially alarming," the letter said. "Clearly, there is a non-negligible amount of voter participation by non-citizens in federal elections, which is not only a serious threat to the integrity of our elections and the democratic process they represent, but also has the potential to reduce Americans’ trust and confidence in election results."

The letter restates a prior request for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to share information on enforcement actions since January 2021, including statistics on prosecutions and referrals concerning non-citizen voting. It calls for accountability and prompt measures to bolster public trust in the electoral process.

"Since the initial letter, several more concerning reports have been released by state officials indicating that a large number of non-citizens appear on their voter rolls," the letter said, citing recent reports from the Virginia Attorney General who announced 6,303 non-citizens had been identified and removed from Virginia’s voter rolls throughout 2022 and 2023.

Another example cited by the legislators was a report out of Texas made in August, which detailed over 6,500 non-citizens who had been registered to vote in Texas, 1,930 of which had a voter history when they were removed from the voter rolls.

Besides Cramer, the letter was signed by seventy-two other legislators from the House and Senate.

Sen. Kevin Cramer was first elected to the United States Senate in 2018, after serving three terms as North Dakota’s At-Large Representative in the House of Representatives. Cramer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and a Master’s degree in Management from the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. 

A native of Kindred, North Dakota, Cramer and his wife, Kris, have five children and six grandchildren.