By a vote of 221-198, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 8281, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, late Wednesday evening. This comprehensive piece of legislation is aimed at addressing the urgent threat of noncitizens voting in federal elections and takes concrete steps to better ensure election integrity.
Specifically, the SAVE Act amends the National Voter Registration Act to require states to obtain documentary proof of U.S. citizenship and identity when registering an individual to vote in a federal election. Currently, various loopholes in federal and state election laws could allow noncitizens to obtain easy illegal access to the ballot.
The SAVE Act also requires states to establish a program to remove non-citizens from their existing voter rolls and empowers citizens to bring civil suits against election officials that fail to uphold proof of citizenship requirements for federal elections. These provisions will crucially be in place before this November’s election, helping guard against irregularities and questions about election integrity that could undermine voter confidence in the outcome this fall.
Passage of the SAVE Act comes following a nationwide AMAC Action outreach campaign from AMAC members urging their representatives to vote “yes” on this bill. Prior to passage, AMAC Action President Bob Carlstrom called the SAVE Act “vitally important to protect the sanctity of our elections, particularly with the influx of people that have entered our country illegally.”
AMAC members played a vital role in rallying support for this legislation, sending more than 19,000 messages to their elected officials. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also directly shouted out AMAC in a media briefing prior to passage the bill, thanking members for supporting the legislation.
Notably, five House Democrats crossed the aisle to vote for this common-sense bill. While Americans are deeply divided on almost every issue, the SAVE Act reaffirms one thing that still has broad bipartisan agreement among the public – the foundational principle that only U.S. citizens should be able to vote in U.S. elections.
Nonetheless, 198 House Democrats still voted against the bill, making clear their support for noncitizens voting. As Speaker Johnson said in a statement, “now the American people know where every member of Congress stands on this critically important issue. House Republicans believe that only Americans should vote in American elections. House Democrats have now proven they believe that illegal aliens should vote in American elections.”
President Biden has also threatened to veto the bill should it come to his desk for signature, aligning himself with the House Democrats who voted against the bill.
Since President Biden took office, at least 10 million individuals have illegally crossed into the United States, creating an unprecedented threat to election integrity. By some estimates, as many as 27 percent of these illegal aliens are registered to vote – creating a potential pool of more than 2.7 million voters who could alter the outcome of this November’s contests for the White House and control of Congress.
In recent months, various news stories have highlighted the severity of the threat of noncitizens voting – and even raised the alarming possibility that some left-wing groups are actively working to provide noncitizens access to the ballot box.
In April, for instance, photos surfaced on social media of flyers being distributed to U.S.-bound migrants in Mexico urging them to vote for Joe Biden – underscoring just how serious the threat is. Under the provisions of a 2021 Biden Executive Order, U.S. Marshals are also now required to provide everyone in their custody voter registration information – including illegal aliens.
As AMAC Newsline has previously reported, 14 states don’t require a photo ID to actually cast a ballot, in addition to not requiring an ID to register to vote. 28 states, including Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina, allow voters to use a student ID, which do not indicate if someone is a citizen. At least 19 other states and the District of Columbia have also passed bills allowing non-citizens to obtain driver’s licenses. A growing number of cities, including Washington D.C., now even allow illegal aliens to vote in local elections.
The SAVE Act now heads to the Senate. Although Senate Democrat leaders have indicated their intention to kill the bill, conservatives remain hopeful that enough Democrats will work with Republicans to deliver an important win for American democracy.