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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., did not vote to allow illegal immigrants to vote in the 2024 elections.

The claim about Gallego, a candidate in the Arizona U.S. Senate race, was made by Kari Lake, a Republican contender for the seat.

Lake said July 16 at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee: “Just last week, Ruben Gallego voted to let the millions of people who poured into our country illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election.”

Lake alluded to Gallego’s vote July 10 against a bill that would require proof of citizenship for voting in federal elections.

The bill would not allow noncitizens to vote, which is illegal under current law.

The bill was approved by the GOP-controlled House of Representatives; no action is scheduled in the Senate, which is led by Democrats.

State audits and private research have found that noncitizen voting in federal elections is extremely rare.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

ABC15 Arizona: Kari Lake speaks at RNC day two

Congress.gov: H.R.8281 – Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act

Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives: Roll Call 345 | Bill Number: H. R. 8281

Roll Call: Campaigns seize on House-passed bill to require proof of citizenship to vote

USA.gov: Who can and cannot vote

U.S. Congress: H.R.8281 – Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act

Associated Press: Noncitizen voting isn’t an issue in federal elections, regardless of conspiracy theories. Here’s why

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Tom Kertscher joined Wisconsin Watch as a full-time reporter in October 2024. He started as a fact checker in January 2023 and contributes to our collaboration with the The Gigafact Project to fight misinformation online. Kertscher is a former longtime newspaper reporter, including at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He is a contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine and sports freelancer for The Associated Press.