After reviewing state voter rolls going back to the 1980s, Louisiana’s Republican secretary of state announced this month that “non-citizens illegally registering or voting is not a systemic problem in Louisiana.” That finding aligns with years of research showing that, with vanishingly rare exceptions, only American citizens vote in American elections.
As part of what Secretary Nancy Landry called an ongoing investigation of potential noncitizen voting, officials ran the state’s voter files through the SAVE program, a federal tool that checks individuals’ citizenship status. In voting records dating back to the 1980s, Landry’s office identified up to 390 registered voters who could be noncitizens. Of those, 79 voted at least once during that more than 40-year period. However, list-matching alone — whether with SAVE or any other database, all of which contain flaws — isn’t enough to identify ineligible voters, let alone voter fraud. That’s why Landry has rightly acknowledged that the actual number could be even lower, as some of the potential noncitizen voter registrations flagged by the SAVE program could be the result of outdated or inaccurate data.
To put that number in perspective, we estimate that at least 74 million votes have been cast in Louisiana since the 1980s — and that estimate is a significant undercount due to data limitations. In other words, out of tens of millions of ballots cast in Louisiana over more than 40 years, only a tiny fraction of them were possibly cast by noncitizens, and even those cases are unconfirmed.
Of course, any instance of possible voter fraud is serious. Landry’s office has asked flagged voters to provide documents proving their citizenship, and those who fail to do so may be removed from the rolls and prosecuted under state and federal law. But the investigation’s preliminary results confirm that widespread noncitizen voting is simply not taking place. “I take great pride in the steps our office takes to maintain accurate voter rolls,” Landry said at a press conference.
Louisiana’s findings come just a year after its state lawmakers passed legislation requiring prospective voters to provide “proof of American citizenship” to register to vote in state elections. The law went into effect in January and is currently being challenged in court. That law is part of a broader trend: A federal bill known as the SAVE Act, which would impose a strict “show-your-papers” policy nationwide, passed the House but stalled in the Senate earlier this year after drawing widespread public opposition. Research shows that more than 21 million Americans lack easy access to a passport or birth certificate. The SAVE Act would devastate voter registration and disenfranchise millions of eligible American voters.
A state senator who backed Louisiana’s law and was present for Landry’s announcement said he was surprised by how few cases of noncitizen voting were uncovered. It’s little wonder he was surprised, as the myth of widespread voting by noncitizens has persisted for years, despite being thoroughly debunked. The reality is that states have implemented multiple layers of voter list maintenance procedures and election security measures to prevent and catch inadvertent errors and instances of voter fraud. And for noncitizens, the risks of illegally voting — including prison time and deportation — are severe, while the rewards of casting a single improper ballot in an election are negligible.
Louisiana verified the facts: Only American citizens are voting, with exceedingly rare exceptions, and existing policies and security measures ensure that remains the case. Like any sound policy, voting rules should be grounded in that reality. There is no need for a show-your-papers rule in Louisiana or in the rest of the country.
Methodology Note
To estimate the approximate number of votes cast in Louisiana dating back to the 1980s, we added Louisiana’s voter turnout in state and federal elections between 1998 and 2025, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office, plus turnout estimates in Louisiana’s general federal elections from 1980 through 1997 (excluding the 1982 election), as compiled by Michael P. McDonald. The state does not make topline turnout numbers available prior to 1998. McDonald’s data includes only ballots cast in federal general elections. It therefore excludes state and local elections held on other days, special federal elections not held concurrently with the general election, and all primary elections.
