Nashville Standard

United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) sought to pass his Equal Representation Act on the Senate floor today, a piece of legislation aimed at ensuring only citizens are considered when allocating Congressional seats and Electoral College votes. However, his proposal was blocked by Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), which Hagerty claims demonstrates the Senate Democrats' support for counting illegal aliens in U.S. elections.

Under current law, illegal immigrants are counted for congressional district apportionment and Electoral College votes. In states with high numbers of illegal alien residents, such as California, this results in the state receiving more congressional seats and Electoral College votes than would be justified by its citizen population alone. This also leads to congressional districts with fewer citizens, thereby increasing the weight of their votes.

Senator Hagerty argued that this system dilutes the votes of some Americans and incentivizes open borders and sanctuary cities as it increases the relative political power of states that accommodate more illegal aliens.

The senator cited a recent example involving Commerce Secretary Raimondo who confirmed in a committee hearing that migrants residing illegally in the country are counted in the census and thus influence Electoral College votes and congressional seats.

Hagerty's proposed bill would require the Census Bureau to include a citizenship question to differentiate between citizens and non-citizens for apportionment purposes. Furthermore, it would count only citizens for purposes of congressional and Electoral College apportionment.

Despite these arguments, Senator Schatz objected to Hagerty's motion. He opposed barring illegal immigrants from being counted in the allocation of congressional seats and electoral votes because he believes "it would clearly be a disadvantage to Democrats."