FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 10, 2024
Commonsense SAVE Act would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections
Arlington, VA – Legislation to prevent non-citizens and illegal aliens from registering to vote in federal elections—an overwhelmingly obvious and popular position among Americans—was passed today by the U.S. House of Representatives.
If enacted, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would amend the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to require that states obtain documentary proof of U.S. citizenship from individuals and to verify their identities in person when registering electors to vote in federal elections at a DMV, a voter registration agency (such as a welfare office), or by mail.
While only U.S. citizens can legally vote in federal elections, federal law has generally preempted and undermined state laws requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in such elections. In fact, the federal voter registration form relies on an ‘honor system’ only requiring individuals to check a box attesting American citizenship—no proof required.
The SAVE Act is being led by Rep. Chip Roy (TX) in the House and Sen. Mike Lee (UT) in the Senate.
House Speaker Mike Johnson recently issued a 21-page white paper outlining “irrefutable evidence” that non-citizens have voted illegally.
National Chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued the following statement:
“Only U.S. citizens, not foreigners nor illegal aliens, should ever decide the outcome of U.S. elections. Yet especially during a time of historic illegal immigration making it even harder for states to verify the accuracy of voting lists, radical Washington Democrats today took perhaps one of the most consequential votes in modern history. Proof of citizenship to vote is obviously a commonsense protection for our elections, but if you want non-citizens and illegal aliens to land on the voter rolls you obviously oppose it. The Left can’t credibly say that they don’t want illegals to vote—they do.
“We thank Speaker Johnson, Rep. Roy, and their GOP colleagues for protecting the integrity of our elections and the solemn right of American citizens to vote. The current ‘honor system’ whereby non-citizens need only check a box promising they are citizens doesn’t cut it. We urge the Senate to advance this critical legislation without delay and to give American voters the confidence and certainty in our system they deserve.”
Beginning in 2019, Washington, D.C. Democrats attempted to pass legislation which would have resulted in the automatic dumping of millions of legal and illegal aliens on to the voter rolls. Under H.R. 1, states would have been required to register people who were illegal aliens to vote, state officials would be threatened with criminal liability if they attempt to interfere, and penalties for such illegal voting would be removed—cancelling out millions of American votes.
Section 1012: Mandates states to perform automatic voter registration of every adult on numerous state databases, without regard to citizenship.
Section 1015: Decriminalizes foreigners voting in American elections if they were registered via H.R.1’s mandatory voter registration provisions (i.e., via Sec. 1012).
And to intimidate state and local officials from cleaning foreign citizens off the voter rolls…
Section 1201: Introduces a new, vaguely worded criminal offense if a prosecutor decides a state official’s efforts to keep their voter rolls clean may have ‘interfered’ with registering such person, again regardless of whether or not the registrant was a U.S. Citizen.
The Election Transparency Initiative, a partnership between the American Principles Project (APP) and Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America, was organized to combat federal H.R. 1 and H.R. 4 legislation and advocate for state-based election reforms that voters can trust.
Photo Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite
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