Nearly every single Democrat voted against legislation that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID for voting in federal elections.
The House passed the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act 218-213. Just Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas voted to pass the legislation alongside his Republican colleagues. A similar version, known as the SAVE Act, passed the House last year with the support of four Democrats.
The legislation now heads to the Senate, though it would need 60 votes to reach cloture. Self-described “Republican” Lisa Murkowski has already stated she would oppose the election integrity legislation, while Democrat Chuck Schumer has suggested the legislation is “dead on arrival.”
But as The Federalist’s Matt Kittle reported, Republicans — who control the Senate — could invoke the “talking filibuster,” which would force Democrats to keep talking to stall a vote on the legislation. Legislators would have no opportunity for a break and, as Kittle points out, would have to “explain to the 80 percent of Americans (including a significant number of Democrats) who support citizenship and ID requirements, why they so vehemently oppose basic election integrity.”
Some Republicans, however, don’t want to force a vote on the popular legislation, as Kittle reported — but they should.
While it’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote, the law is largely toothless. The SAVE America Act would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Right now, the only thing standing between a noncitizen and our free and fair elections is a tiny square box on the federal voter registration form asking prospective voters to attest under penalty of perjury that they are citizens. In other words, the honor system.
That honor system has allowed thousands of noncitizens to register to vote — including some who ended up casting a ballot. A Georgia audit found 20 noncitizens registered to vote — nearly half of whom cast a ballot in previous elections, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Pennsylvania previously found 11,198 noncitizens registered to vote, according to The Washington Times, despite — as Democrats are fond of repeating — it being illegal for noncitizens to vote. In September 2024 Oregon’s secretary of state found nine noncitizens who had voted in past elections after discovering “more than 300 noncitizens were erroneously registered to vote.” Alabama GOP Secretary of State Wes Allen announced in January that his office found 25 noncitizens had allegedly voted unlawfully, with 186 noncitizens registered to vote.
