On Thursday, a House committee voted to advance a key election security bill that has the support of former President Donald Trump. Fox News reported that the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, was passed by the Committee on House Administration in a six-to-one vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also supports the measure.
The legislation would require states to obtain documentary proof of citizenship before allowing people to register to vote in federal elections. It would also mandate that states purge noncitizens from existing voter rolls, as reported by Fox. The bill would enable citizens to file civil lawsuits against election officials who they believe are not enforcing or upholding the citizenship requirement.
House Speaker Johnson first introduced the bill during a press conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, alongside the former president. He reiterated his support for it during another high-level media event at the U.S. Capitol just weeks later. Rep. Chip Roy and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, were also present, as well as former Trump administration officials Stephen Miller and Hogan Gidley.
Johnson argued that due to the wide open border that the Biden administration has refused to close, there are now so many non-citizens in the country that if only one out of 100 voted, they would cast hundreds of thousands of votes. The top Democrat on the House Administration panel, Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., argued that the bill placed excessive burdens on voters. Conservative groups like Honest Elections Project Action have rallied in support of the bill. Jason Snead, the executive director, stated that the bill would “promote election integrity.
In related news, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled earlier this month in a major voting case that will affect Pennsylvania’s procedures for processing absentee ballots, providing a resounding affirmation of election integrity. The court rejected an en banc review of a previous ruling by a resounding 9 to 4 vote, upholding the rejection of absentee ballots submitted after the deadline, which is a significant win for supporters of strict election laws. In the case, several voter advocacy organizations contested the rejection of absentee ballots that were not properly dated per state law. The appellants argued that the date requirement was an essential step in preserving the integrity and order of the voting process.
