Republicans seek expanded state powers to remove voters

Republicans in Congress want to give states more authority to remove ineligible voters — including noncitizens and people who have moved or died — from voter rolls, seeking to reinforce the Trump administration's own push to scrub the lists.

- Jonathan Shorman, Tribune News Service

Laurel Lee

At a US House hearing on Wednesday, lawmakers weighed changing a landmark federal voter registration law, the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, or NVRA, which requires state motor vehicle agencies to offer residents the opportunity to register to vote. Some conservatives say the law makes it too difficult for states to keep their voter rolls up to date.

Since President Donald Trump took office, the US Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have ramped up efforts to scoop up data on voters and pressure state officials to conduct more aggressive maintenance of their lists to ensure that everyone on the roll is eligible to vote. Some Democrats and privacy advocates have raised concerns about how the Trump administration plans to use the information. The Justice Department has sued more than a dozen mostly Democratic states, seeking to force officials to turn over lists of registered voters. While Republicans control Congress and the White House, any GOP-led measure likely would face a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. And the chance of major voting legislation clearing Congress before the November 2026 midterm elections is minimal.