Raffensperger, Arizona secretary of state at odds over noncitizen voting

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (Republican, Georgia) and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (Democrat, Arizona) clashed over the issue of foreign nationals’ voting rights during a panel discussion on “Meet the Press” scheduled to air Sunday.

MSNBC’s Kristen Welker hosted Raffensperger, Fontes, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (Democrat) and Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmitt (Republican) for a wide-ranging interview about the threats they’ve faced, misinformation, artificial intelligence and more.

Welcker asked Raffensperger why it was such an urgent issue for foreign nationals to vote in elections, given that it is extremely rare and illegal.

“Because I believe only American citizens should vote in elections. I ran for office in 2018 saying the same thing. I was the first Secretary of State in Georgia to implement 100 percent citizenship verification,” Raffensperger replied.

He said the state found about 1,600 people who tried to register to vote but were unable to verify their citizenship.

“So my fellow Georgians asked me, ‘Are foreign nationals voting in Georgia?’ We checked, and I can tell you, ‘No, they’re not voting,'” Raffensperger said.

Fontes told Raffensperger that example proved his point.

“We did an audit and we found that there were attempts at voter fraud, but none of these people were actually registered, none of them actually voted, and so the point is that in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and across the country, elections have been safe and secure from foreign nationals voting,” Fontes said. “So I think this is misleading.”

Fontes noted that Arizona has a foreign voting rights law and that the state’s standards are “higher than other states,” but some argue that this is not the case.

“We really have to look at the facts,” Fontes said.

Benson said the “good news” was that they could at least all agree that they didn’t want foreigners to vote.

“So we’re all committed to that, and I think it’s really important that people know that we’re doing everything we can and more to ensure that, regardless of our party, the facts show in every state, that only American citizens are voting,” she said.