FIRST ON FOX: As the Senate reconvenes this week after a spring break, the Honest Elections Project is urging GOP leaders to move quickly to close a loophole they say is allowing noncitizens to vote in federal elections.
According to Honest Elections Project, an election integrity watchdog group, judicial interpretation of the National Voter Registration Act, often called the Motor Voter Act, effectively ties states’ hands, making it difficult to put commonsense voter ID requirements in place and opening the window for noncitizens to influence and tip the balance in elections.
The group said current federal law makes it so that voter registration essentially operates on an honor system in which all a noncitizen needs to do to be added to the voter rolls is check a box indicating he or she is a citizen. Doing so is punishable as perjury but is not sufficient as a deterrent, critics say.
To stop this, Honest Elections sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Rules Committee Chair Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Monday, urging them to immediately bring the SAVE Act to the Senate floor for a vote.
The SAVE Act, which passed the House this month, would require voters to show proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, passport, naturalization certificate or REAL ID that notes citizenship status. According to Congress.gov, the Senate received the legislation for consideration from the House on April 10.
When the House was considering the bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said, “This will be one of the most important votes that members of this chamber will ever take in their entire careers.”
Johnson urged House members to vote in favor of the bill, posing the question: “Should Americans and Americans alone determine the outcome of American elections? Or should we allow foreigners and illegal aliens to decide who sits in the White House and in the people’s House and in the Senate?”
Critics of the bill, largely Democrats, argue that it would make voter registration more difficult by adding new documentation requirements and red tape to register. Opponents have argued that people in rural areas, as well as elderly people who have trouble accessing ID offices, would find it difficult to register to vote, effectively disenfranchising them.
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Opponents have also said that recently married women who have had a name change would be disenfranchised because their identification would be outdated.
The House passed the measure in a 220-208 vote, with just four Democrats joining Republicans to vote in favor.
Honest Elections Executive Director Jason Snead argued in the letter that adding the proof of citizenship requirement to voter registration would make it “easy to vote, but hard to cheat.”
Snead slammed opponents of the SAVE Act, saying they “rely on a familiar litany of debunked and misleading arguments” that “have been made about voter ID laws for decades but were never borne out.”
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He explained that the SAVE Act has safeguards in place that would require states to establish a process to resolve identification discrepancies, such as a married woman’s new name, allowing them to show additional documentation, such as a marriage license.
Snead said that “by the same token, alternative evidence of citizenship could be offered by any American who may lack common records.”
On the other hand, Snead said “the evidence clearly shows that noncitizens are able to register and vote” under current law.
“In 2018, the Department of Justice charged 19 noncitizens with illegally registering and voting,” he said.
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Snead also cited Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson recently announcing that 15 noncitizens voted in 2024 and officials in Ohio, Texas and Virginia recently identifying “significant numbers of noncitizens on their voter rolls and reported that many appear to have voted in recent years.”
“Many races are decided by razor-thin margins – sometimes by a single vote. Each illegal vote cancels out the voice of a lawful citizen voter,” said Snead.
In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, Snead said proof of citizenship for voter registration is widely popular among most Americans. He cited a recent Gallup survey that found that 83% of Americans support having to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.
“As the Senate returns to session, I urge Leader Thune to take up the SAVE Act without delay,” Snead said. “We urge Leader Thune to take this opportunity to allow every Senator to go on the record supporting the fundamental principle that only citizens should vote in American elections.”
Fox News Digital has requested comment from the offices of both Thune and McConnell.