Complaint: Illegal Memo Lets People Who Fail ID Checks Onto Pennsylvania’s Voter Rolls Anyway – By Brianna Lyman (The Federalist) / May 21, 2024
Pennsylvania’s State Department issued a directive in 2018 that may allow noncitizens and other ineligible applicants to register to vote in violation of the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA), according to a complaint brought by America First Legal (AFL) and obtained first by The Federalist.
HAVA requires a voter to provide a valid driver’s license number — or, if and only if he has no driver’s license, the last four digits of his Social Security number — on his voter registration form. Election officials are then required to confirm whether the numbers provided are valid by checking them against state and federal databases. The system is meant to ensure that prospective voters are eligible. (Notably, foreign nationals can still obtain a Social Security number or driver’s license.)
But AFL, along with the law firm Zimolong LLC, argues that a 2018 directive the Pennsylvania Department of State issued to all 67 counties saying voter registration applications “may not be rejected based solely on a non-match between the applicant’s identifying numbers on their application and the comparison database numbers” is a violation of HAVA and potentially permits ineligible voters — including noncitizens — on the state’s voter rolls.
HAVA states that a voter registration application “may not be accepted or processed by a State unless the application includes” the driver’s license number of “a current and valid driver’s license” or “the last 4 digits of the applicant’s social security number.” (The exception is if an applicant has been issued neither, in which case HAVA requires the state to “assign the applicant a number which will serve to identify the applicant for voter registration purposes.”)
