Did 195 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously vote to allow noncitizens to vote in U.S. elections nationwide? No, that's not true: The vote concerned a District of Columbia law that allows noncitizens to vote in local elections only. In a vote of 262 to 143, the House passed a bill that would repeal, or cancel, that law. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, on May 23, 2024. The post read:
JUST IN: 195 Democrats in the US House of Representatives unanimously voted to allow non-citizens to vote in US elections. 212 Republicans voted unanimously against it.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri May 24 05:40:01 2024 UTC)
On May 23, 2024, the House passed a bill that would strike down a February 2023 D.C. law (archived here) that allows noncitizens to vote in local elections. Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress can revoke D.C. legislation.
The D.C. measure had no impact on federal law, which prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
The House vote was 262 to 143 (archived here). Fifty-two Democrats joined House Republicans in supporting the bill to repeal the D.C. legislation.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about noncitizens voting in the U.S. can be read here.
