Republican members of Congress are urging support for legislation that will protect the integrity of federal elections in the wake of a blockbuster report from the New York Post that revealed thousands of non-citizens are obtaining voter registration forms at welfare agencies that fail to require proof of citizenship.
“Every state but Arizona — which recently passed a law barring the practice on state but not federal forms — gives applicants for either welfare benefits, driver’s licenses, or in some cases, mail-in ballots voter registration forms without demanding proof of citizenship,” the Post reported June 14, adding:
There is currently no requirement on federal voting forms to provide proof of US citizenship, though it is illegal to falsely claim one is a citizen or for a non-citizen to cast a ballot in a federal election.
But millions of migrants with humanitarian parole, refugee or asylum status are eligible for benefits that would bring them to the offices where voter registration takes place.
With the Biden administration having offered Obamacare healthcare enrollment and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to illegal immigrants, many can now access voter registration at the agencies that handle sign-ups for those benefits.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-FL, posted to X on June 17 that he found the Post’s report “extremely disturbing.”
“With more than a whopping nine million illegal immigrants having crossed our borders since Biden took office, we need to ensure these individuals are not allowed to vote in our elections,” Buchanan wrote. “That’s why Congress must pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act to require states to receive proof of citizenship when registering voters.”
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-TX, led in May a group of 49 House members in introducing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (H.R.8281).
“Secure elections are a key cornerstone for any representative government; without them, we won’t have a country,” Roy said in a statement at the time. “Radical progressive Democrats know this and are using open border policies while also attacking election integrity laws to fundamentally remake America.”
During the press conference that announced the introduction of the SAVE Act, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, spoke to critics of the measure who say it’s already a crime for non-citizens to vote in a federal election.
“That is true,” the speaker said, but added there are “four things that are also true”:
- There is no current mechanism in place to ensure the only ones registering or voting are citizens. Non-citizens who want to vote illegally only need to check a box on a form and sign their names.
- The speaker said he believes about 16 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States since President Joe Biden assumed the office of president, including numerous “sophisticated criminal syndicates and agents of adversarial government, here in our borders, and even on humanitarian parole.” Johnson pointed out the “millions that have been paroled can simply go to their local welfare office or the DMV, and register to vote there.”
“And please understand this – states are currently prohibited from asking somebody to prove that they’re a citizen when they use the federal voter registration form,” Johnson stressed.
- An increasing number of localities are “blurring the lines” by allowing non-citizens to vote in municipal elections.
- Democrats want to turn non-citizens into voters. “Two months ago,” Johnson said, “every Senate Democrat voted to count illegal voters in the census – to help them shore up more seats in Congress and more votes in the electoral college.”
On May 23, the House did pass a bill to ban non-citizens from voting in local elections in Washington, D.C., after several dozen Democrats broke with their party agenda and voted with Republicans. The Senate, however, is not likely to move ahead with that bill.
While left-leaning organizations such as the Campaign Legal Center claim there is no proof illegal immigrants are voting in U.S. elections, in early May the Washington Times revealed data showing that non-citizens have been caught voting, and that these illegal voters were found to be three times more likely to be Democrats than Republicans.
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-UT, introduced companion SAVE Act legislation in the Senate (S.4292).
“Illegal immigrants and non-citizens across the nation are being improperly registered to vote, allowing them to cast illegitimate ballots in federal elections,” Lee said:
At a time when trust in voting is more important than ever, we must stop foreign election interference and pass the SAVE Act. Voting is both a sacred right and responsibility of American citizenship, and allowing the people of other nations access to our elections is a grave blow to our security and self-governance.
The legislation states it would “amend the national Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require proof of United States citizenship to register an individual to vote in elections for Federal office, and for other purposes.”
“Under any method of voter registration in a State, the State shall not accept and process an application to register to vote in an election for Federal office unless the applicant presents documentary proof of United States citizenship with the application,” the measure continues.
Additionally, the SAVE Act would require states to remove non-citizens from existing voter rolls.
“While Biden and radical progressive Democrats give ISIS and criminals an app to literally schedule their illegal entry, Republicans must fight any chance of illegal voter registration until we can mass deport,” Roy said in a comment to the Post.
