The Biden administration rolled out new guidance last week to provide expanded access to voter registration during naturalization ceremonies of new United States citizens.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it is updating its policy manual “to increase awareness and expand access to voter registration during naturalization ceremonies.”
The new guidance “affirms that USCIS provides access to voter registration services at each administrative naturalization ceremony, including information regarding points-of-contact for voting and voter registration.”
“The ability to vote in federal elections is a fundamental right that comes with U.S. citizenship,” the agency said. “All individuals naturalized at an administrative naturalization ceremony are immediately eligible to register to vote.”
The new push stems from President Biden’s March 2021 executive order on “promoting access to voting” and demands agency heads to “evaluate ways in which the agency can, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, promote voter registration and voter participation.”
From Fox News:
The broader multi-agency push launched by the executive order has caused controversy with some Republicans in Congress, who have expressed concern about federal overreach and have called for more information to be released by the administration. Republicans in the House had called for the strategic plan to be made public and argued that Biden "has no legal basis to order all federal agencies to engage in voter registration, nor does he have the authority to order any federal agency to engage in efforts to promote voter participation."
