Cleta Mitchell, a former Democratic Oklahoma legislator who switched to the right in the ’90s, has become a zealous proponent of the noncitizen voting lie. She co-founded the Public Interest Legal Foundation in 2012 to combat voter fraud. The organization gained traction due to Trump’s claims of election insecurity, and Mitchell played a role in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Despite backlash, Mitchell launched the Election Integrity Network in 2021, recruiting election deniers and partnering with organizations to push legislation aimed at excluding noncitizens from voting.
Mitchell’s group, along with other conservative organizations such as True the Vote and the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, are united in their efforts to promote election integrity and challenge voter rolls. While the focus in 2020 was on mail-in voting and rigged machines, the narrative has shifted to illegal voter registrations in 2024. This fear of immigration and its impact on national security and culture has long been exploited by politicians like Pat Buchanan and, more recently, Trump.
The recent defeat of the SAVE Act, which sought to require proof of citizenship for voters, was a setback for these groups, but they continue to rally under the banner of election integrity. Despite increasing support for immigration among Americans in the mid-’90s and early 2000s, the influence of groups like the tea party has shifted the Republican Party further right on the issue.
Photo credit
www.nbcnews.com