Raffensperger: audit finds noncitizens were only 1 in 400,000 registered Georgia voters

A state audit uncovered fewer than one in 400,000 registered voters in Georgia who were noncitizens, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Wednesday at a press conference. The audit by Raffensper's office found just 20 noncitizens among more than 8.2 million registered voters.

“This is the most comprehensive citizenship check conducted in the history of Georgia, if not the most comprehensive check ever conducted in the United States of America,” Raffensperger said.

The registrations were canceled for all 20 noncitizens, who have been referred for potential criminal prosecution, Raffensperger said.

The 20 individuals were found through affidavits they submitted to get out of jury duty, according to Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer within Raffensperger’s office, who also spoke at the press conference.

Sterling said the audit shows noncitizenship voting is extremely rare, despite growing claims from some Republicans that noncitizens, who aren't eligible to vote, could somehow fraudulently vote in the Nov. 5 election.

"There are so many illegals in the country that if only 1 out of 100 voted, they would cast potentially hundreds of thousands of votes in an election," said House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson while standing beside former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in April.

The Georgia audit's findings are in line with previous studies that have failed to uncover more than a tiny handful of instances of noncitizen voting. A Brennan Center for Justice study of 42 jurisdictions in the 2016 general election only an estimated 30 incidents of suspected noncitizen voting referred for investigation or prosecution out of 23.5 million votes cast.

"One of the reasons the secretary ordered this noncitizenship audit is to prove to people that, while there are ways that some can potentially get on, it is ceasingly rare,” Sterling said.

Raffensperger, who famously resisted former President Donald Trump’s call to “find” nearly 12,000 votes to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the state in 2020, said he plans to conduct a comprehensive citizenship audit once a year.

Georgia is a crucial swing state, in which polls again show a tight race this year, and Raffensperger is again at odds with some fellow Republicans over election procedures.

Raffensperger has criticized a series of last-minute election rule changes from the Republican-controlled Georgia State Election Board, which has sometimes forged ahead when Georgia Republican Attorney General Chris Carr warned the changes were likely unlawful. Several rules have been paused or struck down by state judges this month.

Contributing: Erin Mansfield

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia audit: Only 20 noncitizens of 8.2 million registered voters