Mireya Reith (left), executive director of immigrant advocacy group Arkansas United, speaks against the Only Citizens Voting Act, sponsored by Rep. Wayne Long (right), R-Bradford, before the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)
A bill meant to further deter those who are not United States citizens from voting in Arkansas elections narrowly passed a legislative committee Wednesday.
Noncitizen voting is already illegal on the federal level. In Arkansas, the only documents required for voter registration are a Social Security card and a driver’s license or state-issued identification card, both of which noncitizens are able to obtain, said Rep. Wayne Long, R-Bradford, sponsor of the Only Citizens Vote Act.
The proposed law, House Bill 1422, would require the Department of Finance and Administration to share “names and identifying information of each” noncitizen with an Arkansas-issued ID or driver’s license with the Secretary of State’s office, which oversees elections. The DF&A, which oversees issuance of driver’s licenses and state IDs, would provide the information in quarterly reports starting Jan. 1, 2026.
Anyone with this ID is “a guest in our country,” Long told the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs.
“I don’t think it’s really a burden to ask them to help us protect the integrity of our voting system, and if they really do plan to become citizens, I think they probably would have an appreciation for the fact that we’re trying to make sure only citizens vote,” he said.
If a noncitizen is found to be registered to vote, the bill requires the Secretary of State to refer the individual to the Attorney General’s office for prosecution, and the clerk of the noncitizen’s county of residence would be required to cancel the person’s voter registration.
The individual would have the chance to provide proof of U.S. citizenship after being notified of the Secretary of State’s actions. Long said this provision should prevent citizens from being wrongfully removed from the voter rolls or having their licenses suspended, in response to a question from Rep. Denise Ennett, D-Little Rock.
When asked for data about noncitizen voting in Arkansas, Long said the Secretary of State’s office doesn’t currently “have any way of knowing” whether noncitizens have voted because they do not have data from the finance department that would indicate whether any noncitizens are registered to vote.
There are 71,648 noncitizens legally residing in Arkansas, and any of them “could potentially be voting, but we don’t really know,” Long said.
Opposition
The Secretary of State’s office has been “diligently looking” for ways to confirm registered voters’ citizenship status since the Legislature passed a 2023 law mandating the office do so, but this remains a “blind spot” within the office, assistant director of elections Josh Bridges told the committee.
Two advocates for immigrants in Arkansas spoke against HB 1422 and said noncitizens do not vote. Maricella Garcia, race equity director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, noted that voting as a noncitizen is “the most dangerous thing they can do.”
“I have spoken to the community at length,” she said, adding she used to be the director of Catholic Immigration Services. “No one wants to do the very few things that will permanently bar you from being eligible for any [legal] status.”
Immigrants in Arkansas “have been purged” from voter rolls “through the name-checking and data-sharing” outlined in HB 1422, said Mireya Reith, founder and executive director of Arkansas United, an immigrant advocacy group.
Additionally, “there are a lot of checks and balances” that prevent noncitizens from voting, she said.
“It’s just so important, on behalf of our members, that it be known that immigrants are very aware of the citizenship process and aren’t trying to vote when they’re not able to,” said Reith, one of two speakers against HB 1422.
Noncitizen voting is rare but has been legalized in a handful of municipalities nationwide, including in Washington, D.C., in 2023, leading to backlash from conservatives. Thirteen states — including Louisiana, Oklahoma and Missouri — have amended their constitutions since 2020 to specify that noncitizens cannot vote in those states.
President Donald Trump pushed the false narrative of noncitizens voting often in federal elections while he was campaigning for reelection last year, and U.S. House Republicans introduced legislation that would have required states to verify proof of citizenship to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections. The bill stalled in the U.S. Senate, which was controlled by Democrats at the time.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Driver’s license concerns
HB 1422 would also require the finance department to print noncitizen driver’s licenses and state-issued IDs in a vertical format. Individuals from ages 16 to 20 already have vertically printed ID cards.
The finance department would likely have to make more changes to the licenses of people under 21 to differentiate them from noncitizen licenses, Garcia said. This would both be time-consuming and make it difficult for the state to meet the requirement for Arkansans to have a Real ID to enter a federal building or board a domestic flight from May 5 onward, she said.
Noncitizen ID cards would be required to have the words “limited term” on them in conspicuous letters under HB 1422, with the expiration date matching that of the document signifying the noncitizen’s legal U.S. residency status. Current noncitizen ID holders would not be required to exchange their current IDs for new ones as soon as the proposed law goes into effect and would instead be allowed to wait until the card expires, Long said.
Election commissioners and poll workers would be required under HB 1422 to undergo training to recognize and refuse noncitizens’ identification if presented with them at polling locations.
Reith and Garcia both said the proposed special IDs would single out legal residents of Arkansas who are not U.S. citizens.
Driver’s licenses are necessary for engaging with law enforcement, and Reith said having a “safe document” that doesn’t “look different from everybody else’s” is important to immigrants who want to help their communities.
Long said it’s important for poll workers to be able “to recognize if someone’s trying to vote that should not be voting.”
Rep. Howard Beaty, R-Crossett, said the state should be able to “just catch one” noncitizen who does not “have good intentions” while acknowledging Reith’s point that the immigrants she works with are “good actors.” He asked Reith if HB 1422 would be worth passing for that reason.
“For us, part of how we catch and get ahead of finding who those individuals are is our community feeling safe to report,” Reith replied.
HB 1422 passed the committee with the minimum of 11 affirmative votes on a roll call vote. All members in favor of the bill were Republicans, while two Republicans and two Democrats voted against it. Five members were absent.
No members of the public spoke for the bill, which will next be heard by the full House.