Schmidt: Could Be 'Tens of Thousands' Of Non-Citizens Who Registered To Vote In Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- Philadelphia election Commissioner Al Schmidt told state lawmakers this past week that there may be tens of thousands of non-US citizens who have registered to vote in Pennsylvania…and that for their sake, state officials should try to contact them.

Commissioner Al Schmidt told a Senate committee that many of the non-US citizens who registered to vote in Philadelphia, perhaps unwittingly, did so through a glitch in the state's motor voter system. While the known cases number only several hundred, he says they are all self-reported. Schmidt says more than 100,000 PA driver's license numbers with Immigration and Naturalization Service indicators match with voter registration records. That doesn't mean that there are that many non-citizens registered to vote, but…

"We're not talking about an insignificant number here," said Schmidt. "We're talking about a potentially very significant number of thousands and tens of thousands."

Schmidt says those people should be contacted. Besides the issue of election integrity, he says registering to vote – even unintentionally – will derail an immigrant's path to US citizenship.

Read more
f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.