The SAVE America Act May Stall. States Shouldn’t.

The SAVE America Act may be stalled in the Senate, but Congress is still debating it, and every American, regardless of political affiliation, should demand its passage. Requiring voter ID and proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections is overwhelmingly popular and long overdue. Yet even if the bill becomes law — and especially if it dies under Democrat obstruction — states should not be sitting idle. State legislatures should be passing strong measures to ensure that only citizens can vote in all American elections.

Evidence of the problem is not hard to find. Over four years, a single county in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. removed nearly 2,000 noncitizens from its voter rolls. States like Ohio, Texas, and Virginia have identified thousands more, many of whom had cast illegal ballots that canceled out the legal votes of Americans. The system is fundamentally broken, and far-left Democrats only seem interested in adamantly opposing commonsense reforms.

The lion’s share of the problem stems from the National Voter Registration Act and the National Mail Voter Registration Form it created. A 2013 Supreme Court ruling misinterpreted the law, forcing states to “accept and use” this federal form as-is. So long as someone checks a box claiming citizenship, officials must register him to vote and can’t require actual proof of citizenship. Only later can those officials attempt to verify that claim through less reliable means. Thanks to the federal form, a noncitizen is one lie away from voting.

States have repeatedly petitioned the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to modify the form to honor their own proof-of-citizenship laws, but the Democrat commissioners have frustrated those efforts, including ignoring an executive order from President Trump. The SAVE America Act would solve this by requiring up-front proof of citizenship, but Senate Democrats are stonewalling. That fight must continue, and it is time for states to step up.

First, every state should require proof of citizenship to register: a birth certificate, passport, naturalization certificate, or other documents already required to get REAL IDs. If the voter has already given this to the DMV, a simple driver’s license number will do. Officials verify citizenship and add the voter to the rolls. No proof, no registration.

The federal form will remain a problem unless it is fixed or the Supreme Court reverses its erroneous ruling. Until then, the focus should be on damage control, that is, limiting the risk of noncitizens using the federal form to register. The Constitution offers a solution. Congress may “make or alter” the rules of congressional elections, but states retain control over state and presidential elections.

Using this framework, states should create a category of “federal-only” voters. If states cannot verify the citizenship of a federal-form applicant, he only gets to vote in congressional elections. Arizona pioneered this system in 2021, and the radical Left sued, but the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the federal-only system to remain in effect. Utah adopted a similar model this year. More states should follow — and go further.

States should use every available state and federal database to vet new and existing registrations. The Trump administration transformed the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) database into a free and easy tool to scan voter rolls for potential noncitizens. Legislatures should make its use mandatory.

DMVs should be collecting citizenship data and automatically sharing it with election officials. States should tap state and federal jury records, too; anyone unable to serve on a jury due to non-citizenship should be flagged for election officials and referred for investigation if they registered or voted. Photo IDs issued to noncitizens should be made visually distinct, and state agencies should be barred from offering to register anyone who is not a citizen.

Critics howl that citizenship laws will disenfranchise millions. But that is the charge they level against every election safeguard, and it never comes true. Americans easily comply with proof-of-citizenship requirements in other contexts. The same Senate that is now deadlocked on the SAVE America Act voted unanimously in 2005 to require Americans to prove citizenship to get a REAL ID.

Federal law requires individuals to prove identity and citizenship to get a job or apply for most welfare benefits. These laws haven’t barred millions from roads, airports, or welfare offices. The same will be true for voting. Americans understand this, which is why more than 80% of the public wants everyone to prove citizenship to vote.

The SAVE America Act may yet pass, but the next election won’t wait. Republican-controlled state legislatures should be moving now — even convening in special sessions — to strengthen their laws before the midterms. Many states have made progress, but few have gone as far as they should to ensure that elections are reserved for American citizens. It’s time to change that.

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Jason Snead is Executive Director of the Honest Elections Project Action.

Hans von Spakovsky is a Senior Legal Fellow at Advancing American Freedom.