With the passage of the revised Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act in the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 11, it's now up to the U.S. Senate to overcome a threatened filibuster and pass a law that has been long needed to ensure that only American citizens are voting in our federal elections.
The uniform opposition of Democrats to the SAVE Act, combined with their ferocious resistance to enforcement of our immigration laws to find and remove the millions of illegal aliens deliberately flooded into the country by the Biden administration, tells you everything you need to know about why they oppose this bill.
They want to make it easier for aliens, whether they are here legally or illegally, to register and vote without detection or prosecution because they believe it will help them win elections.
Similarly, they make their states sanctuaries for illegal aliens because they know that since apportionment is based on total population, not citizen population, the more illegal aliens they can attract, the more seats they'll have in the House as well as more representation in the Electoral College.
What does the SAVE Act do?
First, it fixes a problem caused by a misinterpretation of federal law by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2013, the high court held in Arizona v. Inter-Tribal Council, 570 U.S. 1 (2013), that the National Voter Registration Act prevents states from requiring proof of citizenship when individuals register using the federal voter registration form.
The bill requires proof of citizenship for anyone voting in a federal election and has a long list of documents that can be used that include not just REAL ID driver's licenses and passports, but also other photo IDs that show the place of birth of the ID holder in the U.S.
Photo IDs without a place of birth can also be used along with birth certificates, adoption decrees, naturalization certificates, and the like.
There's even a catch-all provision for those who can’t meet any of these requirements: states must allow individuals to sign an affidavit that they are U.S. citizens and set up a process allowing them to explain any "discrepancy" in their documentation.
Local officials are given the authority to determine if the "applicant has sufficiently established" U.S. citizenship.
Finally, federal agencies from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to the Department of Homeland Security are directed to cooperate with states to verify citizenship – something that Democratic administrations have stoutly resisted.
Once again, that resistance is telling.
Second, there is a photo ID requirement for federal elections in the SAVE Act that like the very successful voter ID requirements that numerous states have imposed that have, contrary to the assertions of many liberals, not suppressed voters.
In fact, states with ID requirements like Georgia have seen increased voter registration and turnout, most likely because voters in those states have more confidence that their votes will not be negated by someone casting an illegal vote.
Some critics say this is outside federal purview, but they ignore that there is already a federal ID requirement in place, although a very weak one.
The Help America Vote Act in 2002 implemented an ID requirement for individuals who register by mail the first time they vote.
Under 52 U.S.C. § 21083, such registrants must provide either a photo ID or a copy of a "current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or government document that shows the name and address of the voter."
As was the case two decades ago when Georgia and Indiana passed the first voter ID laws, the same spurious claims about "voter suppression" are being raised once again by Democrats and progressives.
They're using the same tired talking points and deceptive "Jim Crow 2.0" propaganda that has been soundly refuted by 20 years of turnout data.
Election integrity measures like voter ID do not keep people from voting, including "rural people, low-income people, people of color, and especially women" as was claimed by, among others, the League of Women Voters.
One of its local chapter presidents went so far as to make the outrageous and utterly absurd claim that the SAVE Act will disenfranchise "69, 70 million people."
Critics keep saying that a voter ID requirement will prevent married women from being able to register, another preposterous claim that has proven untrue.
The SAVE Act will not prevent any married women from voting – just like other government programs that require you to prove your identity and citizenship do not prevent married women from obtaining benefits.
Unless, of course, they are not U.S. citizens.
Everyone reading this article had to prove your identity and that you are a U.S. citizen (or that you are a legal alien with a work permit) when you got hired in whatever job you have.
If you doubt that, check out the Federal I-9 Form employers have to complete for all new employees.
If the federal government can require you to prove your identify and citizenship to earn a living and support your family, is it really too much to require you to prove your identity and citizenship to take part in one of our most important duties – and privileges – as citizens, that is, choosing our representatives by voting in our elections?
Not only have aliens been prosecuted for illegally registering and voting in elections, but numerous states including Virginia and Texas have found aliens on their voter rolls.
But catching that has usually been by happenstance because we have an almost complete honor system when it comes to voter registration.
We have lots of close elections in this country, and we don't need – and don't want – aliens subverting those elections.
Pass the SAVE Act.
Hans von Spakovsky is a Senior Legal Fellow in the Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law at Advancing American Freedom and a former FEC Commissioner.