The U.S. House of Representatives this week approved the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE, which would enact sweeping changes to how Americans register to vote and cast their ballots. The measure is a priority for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has cited questionable reports of noncitizens on Ohio’s voter rolls white paper supporting the bill.
The proposal requires documented proof of citizenship to vote, and the list of acceptable documents is narrow. In Ohio, most voters would likely need to present a passport or birth certificate and a photo ID to register.
It is estimated that more than 21 million eligible voters do not have these documents with them. recent research conducted by the University of Maryland Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement.
Realistically, SAVE Act is likely dead in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate. President Biden has pledged to veto it if it reaches his desk. But critics warn that’s not the case. Instead, they say the bill could lay the groundwork for false claims of voter fraud after this fall’s election.
“This is the first act,” America’s Voice Senior Research Director Zachary Mueller said during a news conference ahead of the vote. The organization is working to promote immigration reform that would create a path to citizenship for undocumented people.
Already, Johnson and other Republicans are portraying the Democratic opposition as an attempt to give noncitizens the right to vote. And if Republicans lose the election in November, Mueller continued, the SAVE Act’s defeat sets a precedent for the GOP to argue that “the reason we didn’t win is because immigrants ransacked the ballot boxes and stole this election with the support of Democratic elites. And that lie is incredibly, incredibly dangerous.”
Connections in Ohio
To drum up support, Speaker Johnson’s office sent out a white paper insisting there was “indisputable evidence” of illegal registration and voting by noncitizens in U.S. elections. One example was Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s recent report of 137 suspected noncitizens on the Ohio voter rolls.
While it’s possible that some of those people committed fraud, LaRose hasn’t proven it. And in an interview with conservative radio host Bob Frantz, he admitted that the registrations could have been “the result of an honest mistake.”
Federal law requires the BMV and other state agencies to offer voter registration forms to people seeking services, part of the so-called Motor Voter law that has been in effect since the mid-1990s. In some cases, people who are not eligible fill out the forms, or even identify themselves as ineligible, but their registrations are still processed.
Another potential explanation for the 137 flagged registrations could be recent naturalizations. While a new citizen is eligible to vote as soon as they take the oath of office, they may still appear as a noncitizen on state documents until they visit the BMV.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose believes he found non-citizens on voter rolls
Of the more than 500 cases LaRose reported before the last edition, an investigation by the Ohio Capital Journal found that only one resulted in charges being filed.
Although Republican officials regularly cite the threat of noncitizen voting, they have yet to produce evidence of any widespread fraud. Brennan Center for Justice Voting Rights Director Sean Morales-Doyle argued that’s because the consequences are severe and there are no discernible benefits to the fraudulent voter.
“It’s a pretty unique crime,” he said, “where the way you commit the crime is by putting your details and evidence of the crime down on paper, in a government registry.”
He described it as an “extremely rare occurrence” for a foreigner to vote illegally.
“Honestly, in most cases it turns out to be an accident,” he said. “It’s someone who misunderstood or was misled a lot about their eligibility, because someone who goes into this fully informed just wouldn’t take that risk.”
Still no evidence, Speaker Johnson claimed,“it is highly likely that significantly more non-citizens remain registered to vote in Ohio.”
The speaker highlighted Ohio’s migrant list maintenance program and said it is an overly burdensome process when it comes to identifying and removing presumed aliens.
But Ohio’s process for removing vigorous voters mirrors the requirements set forth in the Motor Voter Act. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court He sustained the processWriting for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito described how Ohio’s system follows federal requirements “to the letter.”
The SAVE Act does not change these restrictions.
Acceptable documents
Under the SAVE Act, voters would have to prove they are who they say they are and that they are citizens of the country. This may sound plain, but it quickly gets complicated.
A driver’s license alone doesn’t work unless it shows citizenship. A few states offer this option, such as some along the Canadian border. But many states, such as Ohio, don’t.
A National Insurance number won’t lend a hand either. Johnson’s white paper claims that asylum seekers, parolees awaiting court hearings and visa overstayers could have been issued a card to access work permits or benefits. Interestingly, there are three different types of National Insurance card, and these groups are issued restricted versions. Rather than taking steps to isolate these National Insurance numbers from the electoral rolls—or to develop an alternative system for accessing work and benefits—the SAVE Act eliminates National Insurance numbers as a form of verification altogether.
As for individual documents, the bill allows for “a valid federal, state, or tribal government-issued photo ID showing that the applicant was born in the United States.” In practice, however, the only option in many states and situations would be a valid passport. That means most voters would have to present a photo ID and a document of their birth, adoption, or naturalization.
Morales-Doyle argued that introducing these restrictions would have “catastrophic” consequences for voting rights.
“Nine percent of adult American citizens do not carry proof of citizenship,” he said, referring to a University of Maryland study.
“When you think about it, whether you have a current and accurate passport with your current name or a birth certificate that you can bring when you register to vote, literally (21.3) million adult American citizens do not have that.”
Contingency plans
Even if a potential voter has or can obtain the necessary documents, they may face additional hurdles if their name doesn’t match — for example, because of marriage or divorce.
The law does not explicitly address how to account for these discrepancies. Instead, it directs the federal Election Assistance Commission and each state to develop guidelines for what additional documentation a citizen must provide.
For Americans who simply lack proof of citizenship, the bill offers a similar process. A voter would have to provide whatever evidence they have and sign an “acknowledgment under penalty of perjury” that they are a qualified citizen. An election official would also have to sign an affidavit approving their application and explaining why their documents were sufficient.
America’s Voice’s Mueller dismissed the provision as a “fig leaf,” and Morales-Doyle noted that the bill also threatens election workers with fines and jail time if they register a noncitizen.
Morales-Doyle added one state in particular I have already tried the same ideaFormer Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach led the movement for legislation requiring voters to show proof of citizenship to register. The law had its own “alternate path,” Morales Doyle explained, where voters could present other documents to prove their citizenship.
But in practice, it led to the suspension or cancellation of more than 30,000 voter registrations. A federal judge invalidated the law in 2018, and an appeals court upheld that ruling in 2020.The judges wrote that over the 19-year period, “a maximum of 67 non-nationals registered or attempted to register to vote.”
Morales-Doyle argued that if the initiative’s security is an oath and a signature, it risks creating confusion for election administrators across the country who would have to replicate the current system, in which voters confirm their citizenship on a voter registration form.
“If all it does is say, well, actually, if you don’t have a citizenship document, you can just swear you’re a citizen, that leaves us right where we are,” he said. “Which shows that’s not a solution.”
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