Not One Democrat Could Say ‘Only Citizens of the United States Should be Able to Vote in Federal Elections’ During Senate Hearing

During a March 12 Senate Judiciary Hearing on the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, none of the three Democrat witnesses could say that they believed only U.S. citizens should be allowed to vote in federal elections. Witnesses for the Democratic majority were Damon T. Hewitt (Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law), Lydia Camarillo (President of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project), and Sophia Lin Lakin (Director of the Voting Rights Project American Civil Liberties Union Foundation). Witnesses for the Republican minority were Hans von Spakovsky (Manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow Heritage Foundation), and Maureen Riordan (Litigation Counsel for the Public Interest Legal Foundation). Following the reading of their prepared statements, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) asked the witnesses to provide “a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer” to some questions. The first was, “Do you believe that only citizens of the United States should be able to vote in federal elections?” None of the three Democrat witnesses would provide a straightforward answer. Mr. Hewitt said, “We don’t have a position about non-citizens voting in federal elections, we believe that’s what the current laws are, and so we’re certainly fighting for everyone who is eligible under current law to vote.”...