Seattle City Wire

U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) was joined by 201 other House Democrats in unanimously voting against the Equal Representation Act, which would prevent the inclusion of illegal aliens in the count for seats in the Electoral College. 

The Act, HR 7109, would “require a citizenship question on the decennial census” and “modify apportionment of Representatives to be based on United States citizens instead of all persons.” 

To do so, the bill proposes amending the House Code 2 U.S.C. 2a(a) to add “individuals who are not citizens of the United States” to the direction that “the President shall transmit to the Congress a statement showing the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed, as ascertained under the seventeenth and each subsequent decennial census of the population,” in order to determine the appropriate number of Representatives from each state. 

202 House Democrats voted against the bill, which passed with 206 unanimous “Yea” votes from House Republicans. Eleven Democrats and eleven Republicans did not vote. 

"Our democracy depends on accurate representation and electoral integrity,” Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), who proposed the legislation, said on the House floor. “Voting is a coveted privilege held by American citizens, and elected representatives are responsible for serving the interests of the voters in their district.”

"But even if not a single illegal alien casts a vote, the mere presence of illegal immigrants in the U.S. is having a profound impact on the outcome of elections, skewing the representation of Americans,” Edwards said.  

The bill now goes to the Senate.