Georgia Uncovers Noncitizen Registered Voters

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks at a news conference at the State Capitol in Atlanta on Nov. 6, 2020. Dustin Chambers/Reuters

A citizenship audit in Georgia uncovered at least 20 people who were registered to vote even though they are not citizens, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on Oct. 23.

The statewide audit, which utilized records from county courts, the Georgia Department of Driver Services, and the federal government, confirmed that 20 people who had said on affidavits in response to a juror summons that they’re not citizens were registered to vote, Raffensperger told a briefing.

Officials canceled all 20 registrations and referred the cases to local prosecutors.

Officials did not say whether any of the 20 have voted, although at least some of them have been on the rolls since before 2012, when Georgia started using real ID, according to Raffensperger’s office.

“This is the most comprehensive citizenship conducted in the history of Georgia,” Raffensperger said.

To register to vote in Georgia, you must be a U.S. citizen and a resident of Georgia. You must also be at least 18 years old.

The 20 noncitizens reside across seven counties: Bobb, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Henry.

Officials identified 156 other individuals who may not be citizens but are registered to vote. They are still investigating those individuals.

Being convicted of registering to vote as a noncitizen is a felony. Those convicted can land up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

The audit is the second in two years. Moving forward, Raffensperger says he will conduct a citizenship audit once a year.

“This is a vital step in maintaining election security and integrity in Georgia,” Raffensperger said previously. “We are double-checking to make sure that if any non-citizens attempt to register to vote, they will not be able to vote unless they prove that they are U.S. citizens.”

More than 4.9 million people in Georgia voted in 2020. There are approximately 8.2 million registered voters in Georgia, including about 1.2 million inactive voters.

Inactive voters are those who file a change of address form, don’t respond to certain mail, or are identified through cross-state checks. If they do not respond to a document mailed by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, then they are made inactive. If they then do not vote for two consecutive election cycles, their registration is canceled.

In 2023 alone, Georgia officials sent some 432,000 mailings to voters who moved, including 100,685 voters who filed a change of address form with the U.S. Postal Service indicating they moved to a different state.

Some 2 million ballots have already been cast in the November election, primarily through early in-person voting, according to Raffensperger’s office. The turnout so far is 28.8 percent.