Preserving citizen-only voting is election security in its most basic form.
That’s why the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The SAVE Act adds teeth to existing law that already deems non-citizen voting illegal. It would both require states to obtain proof of citizenship from applicants at the time of voter registration and add penalties for officials who knowingly register non-citizens. Additionally, the SAVE Act requires states to establish a process for removing non-citizens from the voter rolls once and for all.
What should be a bipartisan bill passed the House overwhelmingly along party lines—just five Democrats broke from their party to support the measure.
Which begs the question: Why do Democrats want non-citizens to be able to vote?
Democrats like to say that non-citizen voting is already illegal, so why do we need the SAVE Act?
Because without the added teeth of requiring proof of citizenship, our voter registration process is essentially relying on the honor system. Here’s how that’s been going:
- On August 7, 2024, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an Executive Order for election integrity. According to the press release, under Youngkin’s, administration, more than 6,300 non-citizens have been removed from the voter rolls through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program.
- On August 13, 2024 Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen removed more than 3,200 registered voters from the voter rolls due to non-citizen status. According to Allen, the illegal registrations were non-citizens assigned alien registration numbers for green cards.
- The Ohio Secretary of State and Attorney General referred 36 cases in which a non-citizen had registered and/or voted in Franklin County, Ohio elections. Of the 36 referrals, seven individuals were indicted for registering and voting in 2012, 2015, and 2016 as non-citizens. The remaining 29 referrals were not criminally charged because they had checked the “no” box on the citizenship question on the voter registration application. The 29 non-citizens were removed from the Ohio voter rolls.
- In Wake County, a former election official and election volunteer with the North Carolina Board of Elections was found guilty of assisting her boyfriend, Guadalupe Espinosa-Pena, a Mexican citizen, to register and vote in the 2016 general elections.
The 2020 election taught us that voters are anxious about election integrity—and for good reason. Voting schemes like ranked-choice voting, coupled with unprecedented ballot harvesting and outside influence in our elections have left voters feeling uncertain.
Now Democrats are signaling their support for adding non-citizen voting into the mix? Not a good look. As many as 10 million people have entered the United States illegally since President Joe Biden took office. In fact, the unprecedented surge of illegal border crossings has moved immigration policy to the forefront of many voters’ minds this election cycle.
Citizen voters deserve the support of both their Republican and Democratic representatives, and Congress should act to pass the SAVE Act ahead of the 2024 elections.
We need greater citizen engagement in our elections, not less. Citizen voters should not have to fear that their lawful vote could be canceled out by an illegal vote, no matter which party they support. Now is the time for Congress to signal to all American citizens that their vote counts and our elections are secure.
