By Kristine Christlieb, special MFE contributor | July 11, 2024
In an unusual bipartisan effort, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H. R. 8281 known as the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act, legislation to prevent non-citizens from registering to vote in federal elections.
In a late afternoon vote on Wednesday, 216 Republicans and 5 Democrats locked arms to defeat 198 strongly opposed Democrats. In a remarkable display of party unity, not a single Republican broke ranks and voted against the bill.
“This is perhaps the most significant piece of legislation to come down the pipe to fortify election integrity and ensure clean voter rolls that we have seen in more than a decade,” said Patrice Johnson, President of Michigan Fair Elections. She continued, “The sponsors of this well-researched bill deserve our wholehearted gratitude and support.”
In 90 minutes of House floor debate, Democrats claimed voter suppression, saying Republicans were just creating additional barriers to voting.
In his seven-minute speech, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called the SAVE Act the “extreme MAGA Republican Voter Suppression bill.” He continued to call out “extreme MAGA Republicans” 13 more times.
Key Points of Debate
Democrats pointed out there are laws already on the books making it illegal for non-citizens to vote.
The SAVE Act is, in fact, an amendment to the 1993 National Voter Registration Act which makes non-citizen voting illegal. However, the SAVE Act puts teeth in 1993 legislation, requiring proof of United States citizenship before an individual can register to vote in federal elections.
Currently, new registrants are only asked to sign a statement attesting to their U.S. citizenship. They are not required to show a birth certificate, passport, or other document proving citizenship. A driver’s license and a utility bill with an address suffices. Citizenship is on the honor system.
Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) said, “This bill is essentially a poll tax. Because I am not aware of a single proof of citizenship document that does not cost an individual money to get it.”
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) responded. “I’ve been black my entire life. I’d like to bring up the most racist thing I’ve ever heard, that black and brown Americans are too stupid to get an I.D. to vote just like everybody else. I call this the soft bigotry of low expectation.”
Democrats also argued the SAVE Act would be burdensome to military personnel and married women whose birth certificates often have names different from their married names.
The need to document military personnel makes sense with the reminder that non-citizens can serve in the United States armed forces.
Times Have Changed
While the honor system may have been sufficient in 1993, Republicans believe political and demographic shifts have radically changed how and when we vote.
Polls show Americans’ confidence in the election process is weakening, and they oppose allowing foreign nationals to vote.
Many believe Democrat charges of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election marked the beginning of the current decline in voter confidence.
Without question, 2020 was the watershed year. The COVID pandemic created the opportunity for a flood of state-level changes in how and when people vote. Problems on election day created more skepticism.
In both presidential election years – 2016 and 2020 – victories were achieved with razor thin margins. In 2020, Trump lost to Biden in Georgia by 11,779 votes. Under those kinds of circumstances, the slogan “every vote counts” is writ large.
Loss of Sovereignty on the Southern Border
In a political environment where voters were already skeptical about the fairness of elections, President Biden added fuel to the fire and opened the country to a flood of illegal immigrants, many of whom were coached to claim they were seeking asylum and not economic opportunity.
When the Biden administration refused to enforce immigration laws on the books, Republicans believed Biden would not enforce honor-system laws preventing non-citizen voting. The SAVE Act grew out of that concern.
Yesterday, on the floor of the House, Speaker Mike Johnson said, “This will be one of the most important votes members of this chamber will ever take in their entire careers. And it’s an issue we never thought we would actually have to address, but that moment has come to us now.”
According to Epoch Times, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 1.9 million encounters with people trying to enter the United States nationwide in fiscal year 2021, including individuals apprehended while attempting to sneak across the border or otherwise deemed inadmissible when they arrive at the border. Those numbers rose to 2.7 million in fiscal year 2022 and 3.2 million in fiscal year 2023.
Senate Action
With Republicans in the Senate minority, some Democrat Senators will have to cross the aisle in order for the SAVE Act to make it to President Biden’s desk. Biden has already said he will veto it.
Without this legislation, there is the possibility voter rolls will balloon with non-citizen registrations. Preventing this possibility is vital because investigating and cleaning up these non-citizen voter registrants will be time-consuming and costly, making it likely they will remain on the voter rolls forever.
What you can do:
Check to see how your Representative voted. While no Republicans voted against the SAVE Act, some Republicans didn’t bother to vote at all on this crucial piece of legislation. For example, Rep. Kay Granger (TX) didn’t vote. And some Democrats voted for the SAVE Act!
Use your favorite social media platform to thank (or expose) your Representative for how s/he voted.
Get behind state-level legislation prohibiting non-citizen voter registration.
Contact your Senators, let them know you want them to support the SAVE Act. The ball is in their court!
Kristine Christlieb volunteers for Michigan Fair Elections as a special contributor. She publishes Trust but Verify on Substack:
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The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the Michigan Fair Elections. Every article written by an MFE author is generated by the author or editor alone. Links embedded within the article, however, may have been generated by artificial intelligence.
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