Illegal migrants are being provided with voter registration forms without requiring proof of citizenship, the NY Post reports.
The forms, available in every state except Arizona – which recently passed a law barring the practice on state (but not federal) forms, are used to obtain welfare benefits, driver’s licenses, and in many cases mail-in ballot voter registration forms.
There is currently no federal law requiring proof of citizenship on voter forms, though it is illegal to lie and claim citizenship in order to cast a ballot in a federal election.
So if an applicant says they are a US citizen, that’s enough to be able to register to vote.
But millions of migrants with humanitarian parole, refugee or asylum status are eligible for benefits that would bring them to the offices where voter registration takes place.
The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 ordered states to register voters at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and agencies where Americans apply for public benefits — and those offices are required by federal law to hand over the registration forms along with the application papers. -NY Post
“While Biden and radical progressive Democrats give ISIS and criminals an app to literally schedule their illegal entry, Republicans must fight any chance of illegal voter registration until we can mass deport,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who introduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act which was approved by the House Administration Committee last month.
Upon the approval of the SAVE Act, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said: “As President Biden has welcomed millions of illegal aliens through our borders, including sophisticated criminal syndicates and foreign adversaries, it is incumbent upon Congress to implement greater enforcement measures that secure the voter registration process and ensure only American citizens decide the outcome of American elections.”
Ryan Walker, executive vice president at the conservative Heritage Foundation’s sister group, Heritage Action, told The Post, “It is undeniable that the current structure makes it possible for illegal immigrants and non-citizens to vote — and the American people have no way of knowing how widespread the problem may be,” adding “The SAVE Act puts all of these issues to rest and gives Americans confidence that our elections are decided on a more even playing field.”
That said, the measure has yet to be scheduled for a floor vote, though one Hill source told The Post that it could come up before the August recess.
The left, of course, is livid over this election integrity effort.
The left-leaning Campaign Legal Center has opposed the SAVE Act as a “shameful” measure that will “undermine trust in the electoral process,” dismissing concerns over non-citizen voting and declaring it has not taken place “at any meaningful level.”
“It’s a fabrication being peddled, for personal and political gain, by leaders who should know better,” said Campaign Legal Center executive director Adav Noti in a statement as the House Administration Committee prepared to consider the SAVE Act.
Angry Democrats even sued Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger earlier this year for attempting to implement citizenship verification methods.
And while they may call it a fabrication, The Post further notes that federal prosecutions, state investigations and audits have shown in recent years that thousands of non-citizens are being registered.
Former Federal Electiion Commission (FEC) member and manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative at the Heritage Foundation, Hans von Spakovsky, presented multiple examples of non-Americans being caught illegally voting in races ranging from local to presidential.
“It’s a real problem, not an imaginary problem,” he told The Post.
According to Von Spakovsky, if the SAVE Act successfully amends the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), proof-of-citizenship laws would “get passed in a lot of states.”