An audit uncovered 20 noncitizens out of 8.2 million registered voters in Georgia, according to findings announced by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Wednesday.
Nine of those 20 noncitizens cast ballots years ago, before ID verification checks were in place, while the other 11 were registered but never actually voted, the audit showed. Election officials canceled their voter registrations and reported them to law enforcement agencies.
The secretary of state’s office said it identified the 20 noncitizen voters based on their own admission that they weren’t U.S. citizens when called for jury duty. The audit found them by comparing jury affidavits and a federal citizenship database with voter registration lists.
“We are committed to ensuring that only U.S. citizens can vote in our elections through rigorous citizenship verification at the front end, and in maintaining the cleanest voter rolls in the nation through continuous list maintenance,” Raffensperger, a Republican, said in a statement.
Georgia law requires voters to be U.S. citizens, and evidence of citizenship is required before registering to vote.
A previous audit two years ago found no noncitizens had voted in Georgia. This year’s audit was more comprehensive because it reviewed voters’ affidavits when they were asked to serve on a jury.
Citizenship checks became more rigorous since 2012, when Georgia began implementing citizenship verification through the Department of Driver Services as well as REAL ID standards, which require evidence of citizenship for permanent licenses. According to Raffensperger’s office, the nine noncitizens believed to have cast ballots did so before 2016.
An additional 156 people whose citizenship status couldn’t be determined will be investigated further by the secretary of state’s office.
Raffensperger announced the start of the citizenship audit in July, and it was recently completed.
“Although Georgia is well into the early voting period, we hope that his findings and transparency will help bolster voter confidence,” said Kelly Loeffler, a Republican former U.S. senator and chairwoman of Greater Georgia, a voter registration organization.
The audit checked voters’ citizenship status based on records from county courts, the Department of Driver Services ad the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Raffensperger said he will conduct citizenship audits annually from now on.
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