If Dems Wanted Safe Elections, They’d Have Backed The SAVE Act

If Democrats were serious about restoring American confidence in “democracy,” they would have unanimously backed legislation to ensure noncitizens don’t cast ballots. Instead, House Democrats near-unanimously opposed such a bill’s passage Wednesday.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act made it through the lower chamber after lawmakers narrowly voted 221-198 to send the bill requiring documentary proof of citizenship to vote for president and Congress over to the Senate. Just five Democrats voted for the bill after the left-wing party dismissed the legislation as an instrument of racist “fearmongering” planted by “the extreme MAGA Republicans” to keep nonwhites from voting. This is what Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., had to say during Wednesday’s debate on the House floor:

Republicans want to throw up barriers because when people vote, they lose. Let me be clear, they don’t want you to vote. They don’t want to hear black voices, brown voices, LGBTQIA voices, young voices. Our fundamental access to our democracy is being politicized. And this xenophobic attack that we’re debating today will make it harder for Americans to vote.

And here’s what happened when the Daily Wire went around East Harlem asking black people if they had IDs or had any problem getting IDs, as opponents of voter ID laws often suggest:

“Who are these people talking to?” one woman asked the interviewer.

Probably Hakeem Jeffries. The SAVE Act, the House minority leader said Wednesday, was “designed to jam people up and prevent Americans from voting.”

Rep. Joseph Morelle, D-N.Y., also delivered a hysterical tirade on the House floor, claiming, “Republicans are pushing a bill that will disenfranchise U.S. military personnel protecting us overseas from registering.” Yeah, imagine a single human being in the U.S. military who couldn’t get ahold of a military identification card, ID, or passport, among other things, to prove his or her citizenship.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, went on the House floor to rail against the “absolute resistance and lies” coming from Democrats opposed to efforts to keep American elections conducted solely by American citizens.

“They’re telling the American people very plainly and clearly, it is their preference that noncitizens vote in American elections,” Roy said. “They’re destroying our borders. They’re allowing people to flood into our country. Millions of people being released in the United States … and now, all we simply want to do is ensure the integrity of American elections.”

More than 7.2 million illegals have entered the United States under President Joe Biden, a population greater than 36 states, according to Fox News. Other estimates put the total well over 10 million, “more than the individual populations of 41 states,” according to the Washington Examiner in October of last year. Numbers have only continued to climb since then. Gallup surveys show Americans are overwhelmingly concerned about the issue of unchecked immigration, and roughly 8 in 10 support voter ID laws.

Federalist Senior Elections Correspondent Matt Kittle on Tuesday explained that Democrats have benefited greatly from blocking legislation that attempts to keep noncitizens from voting in local elections, such as in our nation’s capital.

“Most House Democrats earlier this year voted against a measure that would have barred illegal immigrants and other noncitizens from voting in local elections in the nation’s capital. The bill is deemed dead on arrival in the Senate,” Kittle reported. “Not surprisingly, just 28 of the 500-plus foreign nationals voting in last month’s D.C. primary elections registered as Republicans, according to The Washington Post.”

So why wouldn’t they capitalize on those margins at the federal level too?

Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at [email protected]. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.