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Non-citizen Voting: Opinions Mount, Throws US Politics Into Turmoil Ahead of 2024 Elections

Only U.S. citizens will be allowed to vote on U.S. national election day. (Photo:© Photovs|Dreamstime.com)

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By Akerele Christabel

September 16, 2024
3:32 pm
Los Angeles, CA

In a bid to counter what it deems to be an affront to electoral integrity, the US Republican Party has launched the SAVE act in a move to ban non-citizens from voting in US elections. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections. By insisting on proof of American citizenship for voter registration, this act aims to keep the cases of non-citizen voting “rare”. This stringent measure comes on the heels of statements by Republican Donald Trump, who claims that his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden resulted from widespread voter fraud and that the November election could be swayed by voting among migrants who have

This stringent measure comes on the heels of statements by Republican Donald Trump, who claims that his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden resulted from widespread voter fraud and that the November election could be swayed by voting among migrants who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. People must now confirm under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote.

On the 8th of May, 2024, Speaker Mike Johnson, Congressman Chip Roy (TX), and Senator Mike Lee (UT) held a press conference to announce the introduction of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, maintaining that Americans should decide American elections. Speaker Johnson lists four facts surrounding the creation of the Act;

“(1) It is true that there is no mechanism to ensure only those registering or voting are actually citizens… (2) It is true that Biden has welcomed millions and millions of illegal aliens, including sophisticated criminal syndicates and agents of adversarial governments, into our borders and even on humanitarian parole… (3) It is true that a growing number of localities are blurring the lines for noncitizens by allowing them to vote in municipal elections… (4) It is true that Democrats have expressed a desire to turn non-citizens into voters” Speaker Johnson noted.

Other speakers like Cleta Mitchell (FAIR Elections Fund and Election Integrity Network), Jenny Beth Martin (Tea Party Patriots Action), Stephen Miller (America First Legal), Ken Cuccinelli (Election Transparency Initiative), Rosemary Jenks (Immigration Accountability Project), Andy Roth (State Freedom Caucus Network), and Hogan Gidley (America First Policy Institute) were also there to make remarks on the issue at hand.

However, it should be noted that the legislation passed the Republican-led House in July largely along partisan lines but has not come to a vote in the Democratic-led Senate.

Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s secretary of state warned the U.S. Congress on Wednesday 11th September, 2024, that a Republican drive against noncitizen voting in the Nov. 5 election is aimed at a “fake problem” and could impose a hefty penalty on U.S. citizens. Fontes told the Republican-led House of Representatives Administration Committee that over 47,000 eligible voters in his state were denied the right to vote by a 2004 initiative that required proof of citizenship.

“We have denied eligible citizens the right to vote in far greater numbers than we would have prevented the vanishingly rare noncitizen voting that is alleged to be happening across the United States of America,” said Fontes, a Democrat who was one of the top election officials from six states who testified at a hearing.

On the other end of America’s political spectrum, Representative Buddy Carter is of the opinion that the introduction of the SAVE Act will work against Democrats and has told his Democratic counterparts in Congress so.

“I try to point out to them how ridiculous this one — one of the greatest freedoms we have in this country, one of the greatest responsibilities we have in this country is to elect our leaders,” he told “America Right Now.”

“And, you know, I can’t vote in Mexico. We can’t vote in Venezuela or anywhere else. Why would we allow them to vote in our elections?” Carter added.

At the moment, House Speaker Mike Johnson seeks to link an extension of federal government spending authority to a proposal that will require states to obtain proof of citizenship when registering people to vote. Congress needs to approve a stopgap spending bill before the Sept. 30 end of the budget year to avoid a government shutdown. Therefore, at the urging of some Republicans, Johnson is seeking to include a measure requiring proof of citizenship, such as birth certificate or passport, to register to vote, within a six-month extension of government spending.