South Dakota announced Monday it has removed 273 noncitizens from its voter rolls, dealing a major blow to Democrats’ narrative that foreign nationals aren’t interfering in U.S. elections.
The announcement was revealed in a Department of Public Safety (DPS) press release, which noted that the “discovery was part of a review to ensure the integrity of South Dakota’s elections and safeguard against improper voter registration.” The agency said the efforts to remove these noncitizens from the rolls are being handled by the office of Republican Secretary of State Monae Johnson.
“Ensuring the integrity of our elections is our highest priority,” Johnson said in a statement. “We are proud of the thorough work done to safeguard South Dakota’s voter rolls. We worked closely with DPS to resolve this issue, and we’re constantly working to make sure that only eligible citizens are participating in our elections.”
While regularly dismissed by Democrats and their media allies as a non-issue, foreign nationals inserting themselves into America’s electoral process is anything but. In recent months, numerous states have collectively removed thousands of noncitizens who were registered to vote in their respective jurisdictions.
On Monday, Oregon announced that state officials identified “an additional 302 people on the state’s voter rolls who didn’t provide proof of citizenship when they were registered to vote,” according to Fox News. That figure brings the total number of suspected noncitizens registering to vote since 2021 up from its previous estimate of 1,259 to 1,561.
In May, the office of Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose discovered 137 voter registrations “assigned to Ohio residents who have twice confirmed their non-citizenship status” to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. State officials revealed in August they subsequently found an additional 499 noncitizens who were registered to vote.
In an August executive order, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin disclosed that the commonwealth’s department of elections had removed 6,303 foreign nationals from the state’s voter rolls since he took office in January 2022. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen revealed that same month plans to clear 3,251 potential noncitizens from the Yellowhammer State’s voter registration lists.
Texas has similarly removed 6,500 suspected noncitizens from its voter rolls since 2021, according to an August announcement by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Last month, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird brought charges against Jorge Oscar Sanchez-Vasquez, a noncitizen legally residing in the United States, for allegedly registering to vote and casting a ballot in a 2024 city council race.
