In a hit piece skeptical of the Republican-led Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, the Associated Press (AP) acknowledged that foreign nationals have been caught “illegally registering and even casting ballots.” But that fact doesn’t stop Democrats and their media allies from opposing safeguards like the SAVE Act that threaten the advantages Democrats gain from loose election laws.
“The specter of immigrants voting illegally in the U.S. has erupted into a leading election-year talking point for Republicans. They argue that legislation is necessary to protect the sanctity of the vote as the country faces unprecedented levels of illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border,” the AP’s Ali Swenson wrote.
“Voting by people who are not U.S. citizens already is illegal in federal elections and there is no indication it’s happening anywhere in significant numbers,” Swenson insisted. But nine paragraphs later, she conceded that “there have been cases over the years of noncitizens illegally registering and even casting ballots.”
Swenson suggested these instances aren’t a big deal because “states have mechanisms to catch” such illegal voting. But in fact, the federal government has prevented states from requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
Federal voter registration forms do not require documentary proof of citizenship. Instead, each individual who registers to vote must simply check a box affirming he is a U.S. citizen. In other words, our elections hinge on the honor system.
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Why are Democrats so opposed to an additional “mechanism” to prevent foreign nationals from registering to vote if the current “mechanisms” have allowed aliens to slip through onto voter rolls?
Swenson claimed, “Democrats fear adding more ID requirements could disenfranchise eligible voters who don’t have their birth certificates or Social Security cards on hand.” But she also asserted, citing a left-wing activist, that people who register to vote provide some form of ID, such as a “Social Security number, driver’s license or state ID.”
“That means they already have shown the government proof of citizenship to receive those documents, or if they are a noncitizen with a state ID or Social Security number, they have been clearly classified that way in the state’s records,” Swenson wrote. But if these eligible voters already have documentary proof of their citizenship from when they obtained such IDs, how would requiring it to register to vote constitute “disenfranchisement”?
The real reason leftists oppose the SAVE Act — and election integrity reforms like it — is that Democrats and their ballot-trafficking operations benefit from weak election security.
When Georgia Republicans enacted an election integrity measure in 2021, Democrats — including President Joe Biden — likened it to “Jim Crow 2.0.” The left claimed the law requiring voter ID to vote absentee was racist, suggesting black voters would be disenfranchised because they wouldn’t be able to obtain IDs.
Of course, the disenfranchisement never actually happened. The state saw record-breaking turnout in the 2022 primary, with approximately 800,000 Georgians casting an early vote. That number was three times the amount of early votes cast in 2018 and higher than in 2020, The Washington Post reported. And in the general election that fall, 0 percent of black voters told pollsters they had a “poor” experience voting.
But Democrats had to make a fuss about the legislation because strong election integrity laws make their ballot schemes more difficult. Their reasons for opposing proof-of-citizenship laws like the SAVE Act are just as self-serving.
This article has been updated since publication.
