Dems Will Reject Chance To Keep Noncitizens Out Of Elections
The **Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act** is a proposed piece of legislation led by Republicans that aims to require documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration in federal elections. Currently, the system relies on an honor code where individuals simply attest to their citizenship status by checking a box. The political backdrop includes claims from Republicans that millions of illegal immigrants have entered the U.S., prompting the need for stricter voting regulations.
In July, the SAVE Act received overwhelming opposition from Democrats, with only five Democrats voting in favor. Notably, Speaker Mike Johnson is reportedly planning to link the SAVE Act to a continuing resolution that would keep the government funded. This strategy may compel Democrats to reconsider their stance since it effectively ties the issue of election integrity to government funding.
Democrats argue that the bill not only addresses a non-issue—since it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote—but also constitutes a method of voter suppression, particularly against constituencies that often support Democratic candidates. They emphasize that the current legal framework already imposes significant penalties for illegal voting, including prison time and deportation.
The opposition stems from concerns that while the SAVE Act is presented as a necessary enforcement measure, it could create barriers to access for legitimate voters. Additionally, past instances of noncitizens being found on voter rolls raise questions about the enforcement of existing laws. Democrats have voiced that their resistance is rooted in the belief that the legislation is more about political maneuvering than genuine voter protection.
All but five Democrats voted in July against the Republican-led Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. But Speaker Mike Johnson is reportedly giving Democrats another opportunity to safeguard our elections by tying the bill to a continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government funded through March.
After Democrats let millions of illegal immigrants into the country, Republicans introduced the SAVE Act. Currently, voters must simply check a box affirming they are a citizen when registering to vote — nothing more than the honor system.
Johnson, according to Punchbowl News, is planning on tying the CR to the SAVE Act. Utah Sen. Mike Lee previously expressed support for tying the two together, telling Fox News in August that attaching the legislation to the spending bill is “the best way to move that through, to make sure that the 10 million plus illegal immigrants who have come in in the last 3 and a half years, and the estimated roughly 30 million noncitizens total in the United States aren’t voting in this November’s election.”
But the reported move is already being criticized by Democrats such as Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray, who said “demanding outrageous partisan poison pills is a nonstarter,” according to Punchbowl News.
But Democrats are really only outraged that they will have to justify their resistance to keeping noncitizens out of federal elections.
What Is The SAVE Act?
The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act to make providing documentary proof of citizenship a requirement for voter registration. Technically, it is illegal for noncitizens to register to vote or vote in federal elections. But it’s a largely toothless provision — under current law, a registrant must simply attest to their citizenship status by checking a box under penalty of perjury.
The SAVE Act acts as the “teeth,” preventing anyone from getting on to the rolls by requiring them to show proof of citizenship.
But 198 Democrats voted against the bill in July, with five Democrats — Texas Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez Jr, North Carolina Rep. Don Davis, Maine Rep. Jared Golden, and Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez — joining Republicans to pass it.
Why Are Democrats Opposed To Safeguarding Elections?
Democrats contend the legislation is pointless since noncitizen voting is already illegal.
President Joe Biden said earlier this year that the “justification for this bill is based on easily disproven falsehoods” and that “making a false claim of citizenship or unlawfully voting in an election is punishable by removal from the United States and a permanent bar to admission.”
“It is against the law for noncitizens to register to vote and to vote in federal elections,” Rep. Joseph Morelle, D-N.Y., said in previous opposition to the legislation.
Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., echoed a similar sentiment, saying: “We know that it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. Under current law, noncitizens would face up to five years in prison for attempting to vote in federal elections and even risk being deported.”
But if it’s already illegal, why would Democrats take umbrage with policies that simply create an enforcement mechanism?
Well, only if they don’t really care if noncitizens decide our elections. Notably, in Democrat-run cities like San Francisco, certain noncitizens can vote in school board elections. In New York City, leftists fought to allow 800,000 noncitizens to vote in municipal elections, though a court rejected their challenge.
Noncitizens Have Been Caught Illegally On Voter Rolls
If the current laws on the books worked the way Democrats want to pretend they work, then 11,198 noncitizens would have never ended up on the voter rolls in Pennsylvania, more than 6,000 wouldn’t have been found (and cleared) from Virginia’s rolls, and 1,500 foreigners wouldn’t have been caught registered to vote in California by the state DMV in 2018.
What’s more is that despite Democrats’ insistence that noncitizen voting is illegal, the Department of Justice has only filed 35 criminal cases against noncitizens for illegally voting over a 20-year-period. But a 2016 audit in North Carolina alone found that 41 noncitizens cast a ballot while The Brennan Center for Justice found “about 30 incidents of a possible noncitizen voting” in “immigrant-heavy jurisdictions,” according to The Associated Press.
That means that, as an anonymous X account FoiaFan said, “the statute is not being credibly enforced.”
Further, Americans want their elections to be secure. A 2022 YouGov poll found that nearly 65% of Americans “say people should be required to show proof of citizenship in order to vote in elections.” Eighty-three percent of respondents said they would “be able to provide proof of their citizenship on short notice,” according to YouGov.
For a party that spent years feigning outrage about alleged foreign election interference that they believe led to former President Donald Trump winning, they sure don’t care about the possibility that foreign nationals are interfering in American elections via a vote!
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
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