Donald Trump may have won the 2024 presidential contest, but the road to securing America’s elections remains a long one.
Despite the former and future president’s resounding victory over Kamala Harris, there are still gaps in federal election law ripe for abuse by bad actors seeking to disrupt the electoral process. With Trump set to return to the White House and Republicans poised to control both chambers of Congress, fixing these loopholes and shoring up integrity within the system is paramount to upholding Americans’ trust in free and fair elections.
1. The SAVE Act
With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ open border policies allowing millions of illegal aliens to flood across America’s southern border, many Americans have become increasingly worried about the potential for foreign nationals to unlawfully cast ballots in U.S. elections.
As The Federalist previously reported, numerous states have collectively removed thousands of noncitizens from their voter rolls within the past few months alone. Some have even charged foreign nationals for allegedly voting in races.
While illegal alien voting is prohibited by federal statute, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would close existing loopholes in the law that foreign nationals could exploit to register and cast ballots in U.S. elections.
Introduced by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, earlier this year, the bill “amends the National Voter Registration Act, setting requirements for states to verify U.S. citizenship” and “outlines acceptable documentation for proving citizenship and requires states to set up alternative verification processes for citizens without standard documents,” according to a press release by Lee’s office. The measure further “compels states to purge non-citizens from voter rolls and establishes federal penalties for intentionally registering non-citizens.”
[READ: The SAVE Act Could Hit Filibuster Wall In New Republican-Led Senate]
2. The ACE Act
Introduced by Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., last year, the American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act includes numerous provisions designed to close existing loopholes in America’s election system.
Among the bill’s notable proposals is a provision revoking President Joe Biden’s March 2021 executive order that instructed hundreds of federal agencies to interfere in the electoral process by using taxpayer money to boost voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities by collaborating with so-called “nonpartisan” third-party groups. Of course, many of the organizations identified as having worked with the administration are extremely left-wing.
The ACE Act would bar federal agencies from engaging in voter registration and mobilization activities. Departments would further be required to forfeit their “strategic plans” documenting how they complied with Biden’s order to Congress.
The legislation would also effectively ensure only U.S. governments — not private actors — are responsible for funding election administration. This provision would seemingly prevent a repeat of the 2020 election, in which left-wing nonprofits funded by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dumped hundreds of millions of “Zuckbucks” into local election offices to the benefit of Biden and Democrats.
The ACE Act includes other provisions increasing congressional oversight of Washington, D.C. elections by requiring voter ID and regular voter roll maintenance, prohibiting ballot harvesting and ranked-choice voting, and repealing a local law permitting noncitizens to vote in municipal elections. Proposals promoting voter ID, strengthening donor disclosure protections, and outlawing federal “disinformation governance boards” are also included in the bill.
3. The SHIELD Act
A separate bill introduced by Steil that Trump and an incoming GOP Congress should fast-track aims to enact safeguards within the realm of campaign finance laws.
Known as the Secure Handling of Internet Electronic Donations (SHIELD) Act, the legislation, according to a recent letter authored by the Wisconsin congressman, would “prohibit political committees from accepting online contributions from debit or credit cards without the disclosure of the card verification value (‘CVV’) and billing address associated with the card.” The bill would also prevent political committees from accepting contributions via prepaid gift cards and bar “individuals from knowingly aiding or abetting someone who makes a contribution in the name of another person.”
The legislation seeks to cut off alleged foreign election interference carried out on ActBlue, a Democrat-aligned fundraising platform. The Steil-led House Administration Committee has been conducting a months-long investigation into ActBlue over concerns foreign actors are laundering money into U.S. elections by using the company’s seemingly lax donor verification procedures.
4. HAVA
Approved by Congress in 2002, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) is one area of existing federal election statute that requires serious reforms.
As Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) Senior Legal Fellow Cleta Mitchell previously wrote in these pages, the law “requires states to confirm the identity and residency of any applicant seeking to register to vote in any state,” but does not mandate them to confirm an individual’s citizenship status.
“That was not included in the law passed by Congress in 2002 because no one could have imagined a day in the future when an administration would adopt a ‘whole of government’ policy that ignores the nation’s immigration laws and rewards those who come across the borders illegally,” Mitchell wrote. “The two methods prescribed by HAVA for verification of identity and residency are a driver’s license or a Social Security number, both of which are issued to noncitizens and neither of which confirm citizenship status.”
5. UOCAVA
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) was originally intended to assist military service members and their families in voting in U.S. elections while stationed overseas. Since its passage, however, several problems have emerged that a new Congress should address.
As Mitchell previously detailed, “UOCAVA has completely morphed from its original purpose of facilitating military voting,” with more than half (63 percent) of 2020 UOCAVA ballots coming “from civilians, not members of the military.” The CPI senior legal fellow noted the alarming lack of safeguards instituted by states such as North Carolina and Pennsylvania to ensure only eligible U.S. citizens are casting UOCAVA ballots.
6. End Post-Election Day Voting
While Election Day is established by federal law, many states have taken it upon themselves to allow ballots to be received and counted in the days following any given contest.
According to the Washington Examiner, “About 20 states, plus Washington, D.C., count mail-in ballots received post-Election Day, provided they are postmarked by Election Day.” In some cases, this has led states to take days (and sometimes weeks) to finish tabulating ballots and determine the results of highly contested races, causing Americans to lose trust in the system.
While a legal case making its way through federal court could ultimately rectify the matter, Trump and Republicans shouldn’t count on the judiciary to fix a problem they have the power to address.