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The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has passed a measure that mandates proof of citizenship to register to vote - which is already a requirement.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would require a Real ID, passport or other government identification that shows a person’s place of birth was in the United States.
According to the bill, passed on Wednesday, government-issued ID for citizens who were not born in the US would not be enough proof. They also would have to show a birth certificate or similar document to register to vote.
Democratic officials and voting rights groups have warned that, if it were to become law, the bill would prevent eligible citizens from voting.
They’ve argued that the measure has merely been used as a vessel for spreading misinformation about election laws and immigration ahead of 2024 elections.
Elon Musk had even suggested that anyone who voted against the bill should be executed for treason.
“Those who oppose this are traitors. All Caps: TRAITORS,” he wrote on X. “What is the penalty for traitors again?”
On his Truth Social platform, Donald Trump called on Republicans to pass the measure “or go home and cry yourself to sleep.”
Noncitizens are already prohibited from voting in US elections, and making a false claim of citizenship or unlawfully voting in elections could result in removal from the country.
“Even though it’s already illegal, this is happening,” Speaker Mike Johnson said on the House floor on Wednesday.
Even the powerful right-wing legal group behind Project 2025’s plans for upending voting rights in a potential second Trump administration has admitted that voter fraud among noncitizens is exceedingly rare.
The Heritage Foundation found 24 cases involving noncitizens voting between 2003 and 2023 — when more than 600 million votes were cast in presidential elections.
According to the the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law, noncitizen voting “virtually never happens”:
“It’s illegal, and if a noncitizen intentionally registers or votes in one of those elections, they will face fines, prison and deportation.”
Yet Trump and House Republicans have accused people entering the country illegally of “replacing” American citizens in the voting booth, an echo of the far-right “replacement” conspiracy theory.
Trump’s false claims that elections are “rigged” against him has recently dovetailed with an anti-immigration platform based around the idea that Democratic officials are allowing millions of people to flood into the country illegally.
Standing next to Johnson at Mar a Lago in April, Trump claimed “we have an election problem” and demanded that the US-Mexico border be “closed.”
“Millions and millions are pouring in that no one’s reporting,” he said. “Some are terrorists … They come from jails and prisons, they come from mental institutions and insane asylums. They come from all over the world.”
For a noncitizen to fraudulently cast a ballot, “they would risk their immigration status, criminal prosecution, and the possibility of naturalization in the future,” according to the League of Women Voters, which opposed the legislation.
“The penalties for this crime are serious, and our laws already bar non-citizen voting and prevent significant illegal registration and voting,” the group said in a statement on Wednesday. “False claims about non-citizens voting in federal and state elections are a pretext for undermining our access to vote, and they spread disinformation about voting.”
The legislation is an “attempt to erode voter confidence” and “undermine election integrity based on lies about who is voting,” according to the group. “These claims are born out of an anti-immigrant agenda in direct opposition to this country’s values.”
