An effort to change voting laws nationwide is picking up steam in the incoming Republican Congress, giving President-elect Donald Trump an opportunity to steer election rules in his favor.
The tweaks, driven by Trump’s decade-spanning false claims of voter fraud or widespread noncitizen voting, could make it harder to vote for millions of Americans.
Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., told The Associated Press that the party would prioritize two bills, the American Confidence in Elections Act and the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.
They include photo ID mandates and proof-of-citizenship requirements to vote, and would be a rare case of federal legislation on state election procedures. States are largely free to administer their own elections, with about 35 states requiring photo ID to vote.
“As we look to the new year with unified Republican government, we have a real opportunity to move these pieces of legislation not only out of committee, but across the House floor and into law,” Steil told the AP. “We need to improve Americans’ confidence in elections.”
Distrust in elections has plagued officials for years, much of it stemming from right-wing misinformation. Ahead of the November election, local election officials reassured voters that each valid ballot would be counted and that existing measures would stop illegal voting, as Trump waged war on election trust.
But now that he has won, claims of voter fraud have evaporated in favor of calls for consolidation of power, Democrats say. House Dems argue the two bills would do more to stop eligible Americans from voting than prevent fraud.
“[Republicans] have spent most of the time in the last two years and beyond really restricting the rights of people to get to ballots – and that’s at the state level and the federal level,” Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., told the AP. “The SAVE Act and the ACE Act both do that – make it harder for people to vote.”
But Republicans say requiring proof of citizenship at the federal level would prevent noncitizen voting. U.S. citizenship is already a requirement to vote in federal elections, but most states allow forms of identification like a Social Security number or an affidavit to fill in for the millions of nationwide voters without easy access to a birth certificate or other proof-of-citizenship documents.
A June analysis from the Brennan Center found that more than 9% of voting-age Americans didn't have readily available documents proving citizenship. Additionally, noncitizen voting remains extremely rare.
Advocates argue that the changes would disproportionately benefit Republicans and disenfranchise eligible voters without stopping any abuse. Marc Elias, a prominent Democratic election lawyer and founder of voting rights organization Democracy Docket, condemned the attempt.
“The GOP wants these ‘changes’ to spread disinformation, justify election denialism and gain partisan advantage,” Elias wrote in a post to Bluesky. “Democrats need to oppose this effort. If the GOP enacts new voter suppression laws, I can promise we will sue and win.”
The bills face an uphill battle, despite incoming GOP control over both legislative chambers and the White House.
During the first two years of the Biden administration, Democrats failed to pass their own voting legislation despite a trifecta in government when Republican Senators filibustered the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would have restored provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 protecting voters from undue disenfranchisement.
That same filibuster would stand in the way of any GOP-backed effort to change electoral laws, necessitating either the support of more than seven Democratic senators or a change to Senate rules.
