Sharing the Facts About Voter Eligibility & Secure Elections

Only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in federal and state elections in the United States. But false claims about voting eligibility have proliferated this year, designed to get Americans to doubt the security of our elections.

States United recently conducted research into how voters are thinking about this topic. We wanted to know more about the questions voters have, and about which factual messages would be most helpful for them to hear.

Here are some facts that voters found informative.

On voter eligibility

Only U.S. citizens can legally vote in federal elections and state elections. That’s the law everywhere in the country.

On laws and enforcement

In America, we have multiple state and federal laws in place to help make sure only eligible U.S. citizens can register to vote and cast ballots in federal elections. These laws include the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. Bipartisan federal and state officials, along with the courts, enforce this requirement.

As part of our system of checks and balances, election officials cross-check federal and state databases to help make sure only eligible voters register.

On voter roll safeguards and local control of elections

Elections are run by members of our communities, all over the country. They make sure only eligible voters can cast a ballot and only eligible votes are counted. States and counties regularly clean their voter rolls to remove people who have moved away, have died, or are otherwise ineligible to vote.

On false claims about voter eligibility

The real threat to elections is false claims about voter fraud. Those spreading lies about noncitizen voting are often the same people who don’t accept the results of the 2020 election. They’re using the same old tactics—claiming there will be fraud—to undermine trust in the 2024 results.

On where election officials should keep their focus

Officials who oversee elections have a duty to spend taxpayer funds wisely and focus on real issues that make our elections safe, fair, and secure. There are only a handful of cases of noncitizens even trying to vote – and processes in place to ensure only eligible votes are counted.