CV NEWS FEED // House Republicans under the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, on Thursday passed the SAVE Act, a bill that would require all voters to provide proof of citizenship before casting their ballots and would also mandate that states purge their voter rolls of illegitimate voters.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act passed in a 220-208 vote, with four Democrats joining all voting Republicans to pass the bill. Those Democrats were Reps. Ed Case, D-HI, Henry Cuellar, D-TX, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-WA, and Jared Golden, D-ME.
Voter identification requirements, including requirements for proof of citizenship, are highly popular among American voters.
As Fox News reported Thursday before the House vote, a “Gallup Poll released ahead of the 2024 election found that 84% of respondents favor requiring a photo ID to vote, and 83% support requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time.”
Democratic critics, however, have tried to fight the SAVE Act by pointing out that it is already technically illegal for non-citizens to vote in US elections.
Speaker Johnson argued in May that Americans “all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are” nonetheless “voting in federal elections,” according to The Hill. “But it’s not been something that is easily provable. We don’t have that number. This legislation will allow us to do exactly that — it will prevent that from happening. And if someone tries to do it, it will now be unlawful within the states.”
Rep. Chip Roy, R-TX, who voted in favor of the bill Thursday, argued that there is “nothing more sacred under the Constitution than ensuring that the people are able to have the voice in the election of the people that represent them in Washington, and throughout the country,” The Hill also reported Thursday.
“Once that is undermined,” Roy added, “then people lose faith in the very institutions upon which this is built. This legislation is designed to restore that faith, to save our elections, to save election integrity.”