The U.S. House passed a bill Thursday, led by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, to require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
The bill passed 220 to 208, with all voting Republicans and four Democrats – including Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo — supporting the measure. The legislation now heads to the Senate where Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, has cosponsored the bill.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act, would require voters in federal elections to bring a U.S. passport, military identification card or any ID that is consistent with REAL ID requirements that indicates citizenship status to register to vote. Voters could also use a government-issued identification card along with a birth certificate, hospital record or similar form.
The Texas lawmaker argued that the SAVE Act is necessary because of the Biden administration’s immigration policies and non-citizens have been found on voter rolls.
“It’s a growing and increasing problem,” Roy told The Texas Tribune before the vote. “We just want to get in front of it now.”
Non-citizens are not legally allowed to vote in U.S. elections and there is no evidence to suggest that significant levels of non-citizens vote.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced in August that the state has removed 6,500 noncitizens from the voter rolls, including about 1,930 with a “voter history,” since September 2021. However, an investigation by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica revealed Abbott likely inflated that number and removed people who are U.S. citizens from voter rolls.
Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Houston, called Roy’s bill “basic housekeeping.”
“Election integrity is everything,” Hunt told the Tribune on Tuesday. “It's up to us to do the best that we can to make sure that in the future, we have free and fair elections for everyone in this country.”
Democrats argue that the bill places unnecessary hurdles on voting, restricts low-income voters from participating and could cause issues for people who have changed their name — like millions of married women.
“The SAVE Act is a blatant attempt to undermine our election system, weaken American democracy and unfairly suppress millions of eligible citizens from voting,” Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-California, said on the House floor Thursday.
If the SAVE Act became law, voters would also have to present their proof of citizenship in-person when they register to vote or change their registration — such as a name change – including when registering to vote by mail.
Rep. Joseph Morelle, D-New York, said on the House floor that the SAVE Act would cause a “paperwork nightmare,” for voters and “bury voter registration under a mountain of bureaucracy and red tape.”
Roy downplayed this concern about married women who change their names before the vote on the House floor, by listing the women who worked with him on the SAVE Act, including Rep. Mary Miller, R-Illinois.
Miller said the SAVE Act has “robust protections,” for married women who change their name and called Democratic messaging on this issue “scare tactics,” during a March Committee on House Administration hearing.
A similar effort to require proof of citizenship in elections is underway in the Texas state legislature that would put voter ID requirements in place to register to vote in local, state and presidential elections.
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