Voter Registration Guidance for Naturalization Ceremonies

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is updating guidance in the Policy Manual to provide clarification on voter registration access at our administrative naturalization ceremonies.

The updated guidance:

USCIS affirms that it provides access to voter registration services at each administrative naturalization ceremony. This includes offering information about points of contact for voting and voter registration.

USCIS offices will request that election officials from state or local government election offices attend ceremonies to distribute, collect, and review voter registration applications and officially register new citizens to vote.
USCIS offices will coordinate with non-partisan, non-governmental organizations for voter registration services in cases where state or local government election officials are not available.
The guidance also encourages USCIS offices to invite governmental or non-governmental organizations offering on-site voter registration services to introduce themselves and address naturalization candidates before the ceremony.

For consistency and efficiency, USCIS also created the Form N-401, Voter Registration Services Attestation (PDF, 273.71 KB), for non-governmental agencies to submit a one-time request per field office to participate in administrative naturalization ceremonies.

This guidance is immediately effective.

This update demonstrates USCIS’ commitment to support Executive Order 14019, Promoting Access to Voting, by promoting and encouraging the exercise of the right to vote, removing any agency obstacles that may prevent new citizens from registering to vote at naturalization ceremonies, and expanding access to voter registration.

For more information, please see the policy alert (PDF, 318.85 KB).