There’s Only One Reason Democrats Oppose Requiring Proof Of Citizenship To Vote

The Federalist ^ | 07/10/2024 | M.D. Kittle

[SeekAndFind]

Democrats will be forced to explain why they oppose the SAVE Act, which requires documentary proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

As the Republican-controlled House is expected to take up a bill Wednesday aimed at making sure only U.S. citizens vote in federal elections, President Joe Biden is signaling he would kill the measure should it miraculously survive the Democrat-led Senate. Biden isn’t likely to need the veto pen.

Democrats will, however, be forced to explain why they oppose the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which requires documentary proof of citizenship to vote for president and members of Congress.

And while they have gotten plenty of cover from corporate media in asserting that foreign nationals — including illegal aliens — are rarely ever caught voting in federal elections, such explanations may not sit well with U.S. voters who overwhelmingly support prohibitions on noncitizens voting in federal elections. Most Americans, too, according to polls, are deeply concerned about the tsunami of illegal immigrants that has swamped U.S. communities on Biden’s watch. Exactly why the Biden administration has kept the border door wide open isn’t lost on anyone who has been paying attention for the past three and a half years.

“Democrats say it’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. That’s true. It’s also illegal for someone to illegally enter our country, but that hasn’t stopped millions and millions of people,” U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., told me Tuesday during an interview on the “The Vicki McKenna Show” in Milwaukee and Madison.

‘Petri Dish’ for Noncitizen Voting

Steil, the chairman of the House Committee on Administration, which passed H.R. 8281 in May, wants to remind anyone who will listen that Democrats already support foreign nationals voting in local elections, as they are allowed to do in Washington, D.C. Most House Democrats earlier this year voted against a measure that would have barred illegal immigrants and other noncitizens from voting in local elections in the nation’s capital. The bill is deemed dead on arrival in the Senate.

Not surprisingly, just 28 of the 500-plus foreign nationals voting in last month’s D.C. primary elections registered as Republicans, according to The Washington Post. 

In a first, noncitizens are voting in D.C. Here’s what it means to them.https://t.co/1IcyuKSRdy— Candice Frederick (@ReelTalker) June 5, 2024

Steil said Democrats want to use noncitizen voting in local elections, currently allowed in a handful of states, as a “Petri dish” to test on the American people.

“In a period of time that we know that millions of legal and illegal immigrants in the country are not eligible to vote in federal elections, it’s important to enforce the laws on the books,” the congressman said. 

Honor System

As it stands under the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, commonly known as the “motor voter law,” voters may simply check a box on the federal form affirming they are U.S. citizens and meet other eligibility requirements. Democrats prefer the honor system. In opposing the SAVE Act, they have noted the tough penalties for foreign nationals who lie about their citizenship status in registering to vote: a fine, up to five years in prison, or both, according to federal code.

But Democrats know it is difficult to track false claims of citizenship, a longtime problem. A 2014 story by WHYY, a Philadelphia public radio station, reported on a fact that remains a significant issue in the Biden presidency a decade later: “Illegal immigrants lie to get asylum status in U.S.”

But they certainly wouldn’t lie to vote in federal elections, Democrats insist. 

“We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But it’s not been something that is easily provable,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at the May 8 press conference in introducing the SAVE Act.

‘The Only Reason’

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has introduced a similar measure in the Senate. He cut to the chase in a post Tuesday on his X account.

“The SAVE Act would prevent non-Americans from illegally voting, protecting the votes of American citizens. The only reason to oppose it is because you want non-Americans illegally voting,” Lee wrote. 

Biden, meanwhile, is pushing Democrat legislation loosening voter integrity laws.  

“The President has been clear: he will continue fighting to protect Americans’ sacred right to vote in free, fair, and secure elections,” the White House said in its opposition statement to the SAVE Act. 

The SAVE Act would prevent non-Americans from illegally voting, protecting the votes of American citizens.

The only reason to oppose it is because you want non-Americans illegally voting. https://t.co/Ld4QqGPMu8— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) July 8, 2024

But how “free, fair, and secure” are U.S. elections without documented proof of citizenship? 

Biden and his fellow Democrats in D.C. appear to be backing a losing issue. A national poll conducted last year for Americans for Citizen Voting by RMG Research Inc. found that 75 percent of respondents opposed allowing foreign nationals to vote in their local elections. A recent poll found 68 percent of North Carolina voters supported a state constitutional amendment barring foreign nationals from voting in elections. North Carolina voters will vote on the citizens-only question on November’s general election ballot.

“This is a moment in time that we should all realize that we should maintain U.S. elections for U.S. citizens, and requiring documentary proof of that citizenship is how you actually enforce the law,” Steil said. 

Listen to the interview with Rep. Bryan Steil below.

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Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.

[goodnesswins]

I do not have a Real ID....

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

This is total proof that they’re planning to cheat again in the Presidential elections in November. This is absolutely, totally maddening.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Citizens are being DISENFRANCHIZED.

Deuteronomy Chapter 28, especially verse 43. The ONLY solution appears to be repentance and turning back to God. Good luck with that...

[Presbyterian Reporter]

I live in Florida and have had a REAL ID Driver’s License for at least 10 years.

What state do you live in?

[MD Expat in PA]

So, when I go to vote will I have to produce a certified copy of my birth certificate to prove I am a citizen? And I am supposed to have faith that the 80-year-old volunteer election worker knows how to determine if it is genuine or not?

[con-surf-ative]

“Democrats will, however, be forced to explain why they oppose the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act”

What a joke. Democrats are never forced to explain anything. They just project the fault on the republicans and gaslight.

[bray]

The Democrat Party has been stealing elections for 200 years.

[Bon of Babble]

Illegals are so brazen they are bragging about registering to vote:

Meanwhile, the s*** hole countries they come from have tamper-proof voter ID cards:

Blacks and other "minorities" should be highly insulted that they are "unable to get IDs in the U.S."

[RideForever]

You are correct in your assertions. The vulnerable point of elections is the voter roll used for the elections. Right now the back-ups for the voter rolls have the 'legitimate' voters. A new backup is made of current legal voters. These active rolls are receiving the bogus names of the invaders, up to end of the election. At the end of polling, the 'current' voter roll with the bogus 'voters' will be deleted, and the last backup, excluding the roll of bogus-enhanced voters, will be deleted and 'lost'.

So the place to look is the tape library for evidence of the bogus voter roll used in the election. THAT's where the fraud is. And audits should check this as part of the audit.

[rlmorel]

LOL, how RIGHT you are!

[Mogger]

The headline always says need to show proof of citizenship to vote.

This would be a pain in the rear to do each time you vote and the media = dems know it.

It is really show proof of citizenship ONCE to register to vote.

Not a big deal.

It should be explained that way every time it is discussed.

[MD Expat in PA]

Fair enough. But what if I move, within the same state but to a different district or to a different state?

I had to do that several times in the last 15 years.

Will I need to provide proof of my citizenship whenever I change my voter registration address or if I change parties or move to another state?

I absolutely get and totally agree that we need to ensure that all registered voters are legal US citizens, I really do, and it is important, but let me tell you two stories.

When I moved from MD to PA back in 2011, when I tried to get my PA license at PENDOT, they would not accept my non-expired MD license even though it had the same requirements as to proof of identity although I understood they need proof of my PA address.

But when I moved to PA, I was living with my niece. One of the things PA wanted was a copy of a utility bill on my name to prove my address but of course, living with my niece, I didn’t have one, didn’t have any utilities, gas, electric, cable, etc., in my own name at that address.

And they wouldn’t take a copy of my cell phone bill with my PA address and then asked for a copy of my bank statement. But I long ago opted out of getting paper statements and had download and printed a copy from my bank’s website, which at first, they wouldn’t accept.

Then they asked for a copy of my birth certificate, but all my stuff was in storage at the time and despite looking for it, for hours, pretty much unloading the storage unit, going through every box, I couldn’t find it, and never did – I guess it got lost in the move.

So, I had to order a certified copy on-line from the State of NY where I was born but of course with a fee I had to pay, and which took several weeks.

But then after my 2nd trip to PENDOT with my BC in hand, they wanted proof of my name change, either a marriage certificate or a divorce decree to show why my last name was different from than what was on my BC.

I was married in Baltimore, but it proved very difficult to get a copy of my marriage certificate, even asking my ex if he had it, but he didn’t. But I was able to get a copy of my divorce decree only after I went in person to the Baltimore County Court House, waiting in line for hours, and paying yet another fee and taking an unpaid day off work.

After nearly 2 moths, and 3 trips to PENDOT, all the fees, the unpaid day off work, they finally issued my PA driver’s license. Once I got my PA license, I was finally able to register to vote but not before.

I was able to afford to do this but can understand why this can be burdensome to others, even for valid US born citizens.

Some years later I was working in PR/HR for a manufacturing co. in Lancaster County PA.

We hired an older gent, in his late-60’s. He’d worked his entire life for the same company, starting just after he graduated from HS until he lost his job of +40 years, but only because the company shut down.

But when it came time on his first day of work and to complete the I-9, while he had a PA driver’s license he couldn’t provide his SS card, said he’d lost it years ago and never saw a need to replace it. He didn’t have a certified BC or a passport or any other document that proved he was eligible to work in the US.

He laughed when I asked him if he had a passport and told me the only time he ever left the country or even traveled outside of Lancaster County PA was “when I married my bride and we went to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls but back then you didn’t need a passport”. The guy told me he never traveled any more than 10-20 miles from his home.

Sweet guy and despite his age, a good and reliable worker, but a “country” guy who didn’t have a cell phone or a computer.

I helped him find the local SS office and gave him instructions on how to get a replacement SS card, directions to the office and how to order a copy of his BC which I did for him at my work computer.

We also advanced him a paid vacation day so he could go to the SS office the next day. When he came back the next day to work, he had a receipt from SS that said his replacement card was being processed and that was good enough to satisfy the I-9 requirements so he could start working.

I’m not sure if he was a registered voter but if he wasn’t, he’d have had a hard time until after I helped him get his documents to prove his citizenship.