by Jason Hopkins
The Biden administration has fiercely opposed the bill, which aims to strengthen existing law that allows only American citizens to vote in federal elections.
The White House said it “strongly opposes” the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act in an official statement statement released Monday. A White House statement criticized the GOP-led bill for allegedly being based on “easily disproved falsehoods” and said laws already exist to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
“This bill would do nothing to secure our elections, but it would make it much more difficult for all eligible Americans to register to vote and increase the risk that eligible voters will be removed from the rolls,” the White House said. “The evidence clearly shows that current laws that prevent noncitizens from voting are working as intended — it is extremely rare for noncitizens to break the law by voting in federal elections.”
The White House instead encouraged GOP lawmakers to support John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and Freedom of Voting Act.
The Protecting Americans’ Voting Rights Act, authored by a Texas Republican. Chip Roy and co-sponsored by dozens of other House Republicans, would require states to obtain proof of citizenship in person when registering anyone to vote and would require states to purge noncitizens from existing voter registrations, According to to the press release.
“I am honored to be targeted by the White House — This administration clearly has no interest in protecting the right of the American people to vote,” Roy said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This is about political power.”
Nineteen foreign nationals have been charged and convicted in North Carolina for illegally voting in multiple state elections, According to to documented cases collected by Heritage Foundation staffer Hans von Spakovsky and recently presented to the House Administration Committee. In another example, an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 noncitizens were registered to vote by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation over the course of two decades, according to von Spakovsky.
– – –
Jason Hopkins is a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
