Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato vowed Monday to find a way to help naturalized citizens register to vote in the wake of restrictions recently enacted by the Trump administration.
Federal officials last month barred nongovernmental organizations — such as the League of Women Voters — from providing voter registration support at government ceremonies at which immigrants become U.S. citizens.
“One of the greatest rights that we have in America is the right to vote and to exercise our voice in the electoral process,” Innamorato said during a meeting of the county’s elections board.
“So know that our administration is deeply committed to figuring out a solution to ensure that we can continue to welcome our new neighbors, our new citizens with open arms and ensure they can exercise the privileges of being an American.”
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in an August 29 memo announced that only state and local election officials will be allowed to provide voter registration services at the end of administrative naturalization ceremonies, which differ from similar ceremonies presided over by a judge.
That means groups like the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh, an organization that has for years provided such support, can no longer be present at the ceremonies overseen by the government to help new citizens register to vote.
The League of Women Voters is a national group that describes itself on its website as a “nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights…”
Ruth Quint, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh, on Monday urged the Allegheny County Board of Elections to find ways to fill that void.
“The roles once filled by our volunteers can now only be filled by local and state officials like yourselves,” Quint told the board.
She confirmed, however, the new restrictions do not extend to naturalization ceremonies handled in court by a judge..
Quint’s group has for years provided voter registration assistance to new citizens citizens at their naturalization ceremonies.
County officials are planning a meeting to further discuss options Monday.
The August memo acknowledged that previous policy had allowed nongovernmental organizations to provide voter registration applications and additional information at naturalization ceremonies.
But, federal officials said, the use of such groups was “sporadic and varied based upon the location.”
Staff from Citizen and Immigration Services previously provided voter registration applications and information when local officials could not, the memo continued, and there was an “administrative burden” associated with ensuring the nongovernment organizations involved are nonpartisan.
“This change in no way impacts new citizens’ access to information and applications to register to vote, as this information will continue to be provided by state or local election officials, or USCIS staff at the end of naturalization ceremonies,” the memo said.
The League of Women voters in 2016 went through a “lengthy vetting process” by Citizenship and Immigration Services. Officials went through their materials to make sure the group was nonpartisan.
They’ve participated in naturalization ceremonies since then — until the new federal rule barred their services.
Quint urged county officials to ensure new citizens have the kind of support her organization had offered. Volunteers from the League of Women Voters had regularly been on hand at naturalization events to provide information, answer questions and help people register to vote.
“Naturalization is one of our most popular volunteer gigs,” Quint said. “There’s a waiting list to get into these ceremonies because it’s so positive and so heartwarming.”
Some of the volunteers, she said, are naturalized citizens themselves.