Only one House Democrat voted in favor of legislation that would require voter ID to prove citizenship in elections. The U.S. House of Representatives was able to pass the election integrity bill, despite opposition from all but one Democrat — a stark reminder why maintaining a majority in Congress is crucial for Republicans in today’s polarized political climate.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX)’s SAVE America Act, which seeks to keep non-citizens from voting in U.S. federal elections, passed 218 to 213 by the House of Representatives on Wednesday, and could go into effect as early as this November, according to a report by Fox News.
The only House Democrat who did not vote against the election integrity initiative was Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX).
The bill is an updated version of the initial Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which was never taken up in the Senate after being passed by the House in April last year.
In addition to requiring photo ID to vote in federal elections, the new version of the legislation also aims to establish a federal proof of citizenship requirement in the voter registration process, as well as mandate that states maintain voter rolls purged of ineligible individuals.
The legislation would also require state election officials to share voter information with federal agencies to check citizenship on existing voter rolls, and if non-citizens are found registered to vote, the bill would allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pursue immigration cases against them.
“If we want to rebuild confidence again in American elections, we need to pass the SAVE Act,” Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-FL) told Fox News. “What better way to eliminate that distrust than to make sure that whoever votes in an American citizen who is truly eligible to vote?”
Democrats, meanwhile, have attacked the legislation, with House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), bizarrely accusing Republicans of trying to make it harder for women to vote.
“Republicans aren’t worried about non-citizens voting. They’re afraid of actual American citizens voting. Why? Because they’re losing among women,” Clark argued. “This is a minefield of red tape that you have put in front of women and American citizens and their right to vote.”
The Democrat congresswoman reportedly claimed that the election integrity bill would make it more difficult for married women to vote if their last name is different from their maiden name that appears on their birth certificate.
But House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Kevin Hern (R-OK) explained that the effort is actually about preventing illegal immigrants from voting in U.S. elections, and deemed Democrats’ opposition to the bill as “feeding the narrative” that the left wants illegals “from all over the world to come here to support them.”
Overall, House Republicans stressed that the legislation is necessary, given that the U.S. was inundated with millions of illegal immigrants during former President Joe Biden’s four-year term in office.
“The American people did not give Republicans a mandate to make excuses,” Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) told Fox News, referring to President Donald Trump’s landslide 2024 election victory.
“They gave us one to deliver wins, and the SAVE America Act is exactly that,” Pfluger continued. “Every single Democrat who voted no today proved they would rather let illegal aliens tip the scales in our national elections than protect your vote.”
In order to go into effect for the midterm elections this November, the bill would have to pass the Senate, where several Democrats are currently needed in order to overcome a filibuster.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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