Special Report: USCIS Could Prevent Hundreds of Thousands of Would-Be Citizens from Voting in November’s Elections

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) and Boundless Immigration have released a special report entitled “Denying the Right to Vote: Politicization of the Naturalization Process as a Novel Form of Voter Suppression,” which details how U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) willful mismanagement of the naturalization process in 2020 has already prevented tens of thousands of would be voters from participating in November’s upcoming elections. The report releases new data demonstrating that would-be citizens are highly motivated to vote — particularly in several closely watched states for the upcoming Presidential election. It also details specific policies that USCIS can implement immediately to ensure that tens of thousands of naturalization applicants are able to become citizens in time to vote. 

This report provides a summary analysis of the ways that federal officials have consciously sought to politicize the naturalization process during the 2020 election year in what appears to be a novel form of voter suppression. The report also examines the potential impact of this novel form of voter suppression in closely watched states in the upcoming presidential election, and details immediate steps that federal officials can take to mitigate these harms, allowing tens of thousands of additional U.S. residents to become citizens in time to obtain the right to vote.

KJ