Razor-Thin House Margins Show Why 'Rare' Noncitizen Voting Still Matters and Why the SAVE America Act Is Needed
Source: Brianna Lyman. "House Race Shows Why 'Rare' Noncitizen Voting Does Matter." November 9, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author says that people who call noncitizen voting 'rare' are missing the point, because a few hundred votes can decide a House seat and several races this year are that close. She points to New Jersey, where about 400 noncitizens voted after a registration error, as proof that the numbers can be big enough to matter, and argues Congress should pass the SAVE America Act to require proof of citizenship.
Conclusion
Even if noncitizen voting is 'rare,' it is still significant because small numbers of illegal votes can decide close races, so election integrity measures like the SAVE America Act (documentary proof of citizenship and voter ID) should be passed.
Premises
- Several 2026 House races are being decided by very small margins (99, 233, 280 and 321 votes).
- New Jersey discovered more than 6,000 noncitizens registered because of a DMV software error, and nearly 400 of them voted, which is more than triple the 99-vote margin in North Carolina's 5th District.
- Because a few hundred illegal votes can decide a House race, the 'rarity' of noncitizen voting does not make it unimportant, even if such votes would not sway a presidential race or statewide totals.
- Critics and media outlets (e.g., CBS's Leslie Stahl, Politico) have argued that noncitizen voting is 'rare' or 'overblown' and implied it therefore does not warrant countermeasures.
- The current system relies on an honor system in which registrants merely attest under penalty of perjury to their citizenship, leaving little to stop noncitizens from registering, even by mistake (as Politico conceded).
- Tight races make election integrity more important, not less, and the SAVE America Act would address the verification gap but remains unpassed.
Assumptions
- The New Jersey case of roughly 400 noncitizen voters is representative enough of a broader pattern to be relevant to other states and districts.
- Noncitizen votes would be concentrated enough in a given district to affect its outcome, rather than being spread thinly across many districts.
- Documentary proof of citizenship and voter ID would effectively prevent noncitizen voting without disenfranchising a significant number of eligible citizens.
- The importance of a type of electoral fraud is determined by whether it could plausibly flip close outcomes, not by its actual frequency or demonstrated effect.
- Registration errors that allow noncitizens to vote are evidence of a need for the SAVE America Act rather than for narrower administrative fixes.
- Votes cast by noncitizens in New Jersey (a state with different districts) are a valid benchmark for comparing against margins in North Carolina, Minnesota and Tennessee.