Congress bans non-citizens from election jobs—with no definition of which jobs
H.R. 882 — No Foreign Persons Administering Our Elections Act · Filed by August Pfluger (R-TX) · 9 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 31, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits states and local jurisdictions from hiring non-citizens to administer federal elections. It applies to any federal election held after the bill's enactment. The bill does not define 'administer' or specify which election roles are covered, leaving implementation details unclear.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a prohibition on hiring non-citizens for election administration roles in federal elections. It is a straightforward hiring mandate with no market beneficiaries or private carve-outs.
What the text implies
- The term 'administer an election' is undefined — it could mean poll workers, election directors, IT staff, or all roles, creating ambiguity for compliance and enforcement.
- No exemption for green-card holders, visa holders, or individuals with permanent legal status — the bill uses only 'citizen' as the criterion, potentially excluding lawful permanent residents.
- States and localities may face labor shortages in election administration, particularly in rural or low-population areas, if non-citizen hiring was previously relied upon.
- The bill contains no enforcement mechanism, penalty, or remedy for violations — it is unclear how compliance will be monitored or what happens if a jurisdiction violates the hiring ban.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens may benefit from election administration integrity if non-citizen hiring posed a genuine security risk, but the bill lacks evidence of such risk, defines no scope for 'administer,' and may disrupt election operations by restricting hiring pools in jurisdictions with labor shortages. The actual civic benefit is speculative; the compliance cost is concrete.
Named in the bill
State election officials, Local election jurisdictions, Federal election administration
Where it stands
9 cosponsors: 9 Republicans.
- Jan 31, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 31, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on House Administration · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on House Administration”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $30,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 24 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
August Pfluger, the sponsor, reported $1,070,325 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Common Cause — $30,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (537 characters) on Sep 27, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 22, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress bans non-citizens from election jobs—with no definition of which jobs” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr882 Report an error
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