U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is enhancing the guidance in our Policy Manual to provide clarity on voter registration accessibility during administrative naturalization ceremonies.
The updated guidance:
- Confirms USCIS's commitment to offering voter registration services at every administrative naturalization ceremony, including details about voting points-of-contact and voter registration;
- States that USCIS offices request the presence of election officials from state or local government election offices at ceremonies to manage the distribution, collection, and review of voter registration applications, and to officially register new citizens to vote;
- Reiterates that USCIS offices collaborate with non-partisan, non-governmental organizations for voter registration services when state and local government election officials are unavailable; and
- Specifies that, where feasible, USCIS offices extend invitations to governmental or non-governmental organizations providing on-site voter registration services to introduce themselves and address the naturalization candidates before the ceremony.
For streamlined procedures, USCIS has introduced Form N-401, Voter Registration Services Attestation (PDF, 273.71 KB), enabling non-governmental agencies to submit a one-time request per field office to participate in administrative naturalization ceremonies.
This guidance takes immediate effect.
This revision underscores USCIS's dedication to supporting Executive Order 14019, Promoting Access to Voting, by encouraging and facilitating the right to vote, eliminating any agency barriers that might hinder new citizens from registering to vote at naturalization ceremonies, and broadening access to voter registration.
For additional details, please refer to the policy alert (PDF, 318.85 KB).
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