Elections Watchdog Urges Senate Gop To Close Noncitizen Voting Loophole

FIRST ON FOX: As nan Senate reconvenes this week aft a outpouring break, nan Honest Elections Project is urging GOP leaders to move quickly to adjacent a loophole they opportunity is allowing noncitizens to ballot successful national elections.

According to Honest Elections Project, an predetermination integrity watchdog group, judicial mentation of nan National Voter Registration Act, often called nan Motor Voter Act, efficaciously ties states’ hands, making it difficult to put commonsense elector ID requirements successful spot and opening nan model for noncitizens to power and extremity nan equilibrium successful elections.

The group said existent national rule makes it truthful that elector registration fundamentally operates connected an grant strategy successful which each a noncitizen needs to do to beryllium added to nan elector rolls is cheque a container indicating he aliases she is simply a citizen. Doing truthful is punishable arsenic perjury but is not capable arsenic a deterrent, critics say.

To extremity this, Honest Elections sent a missive to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Rules Committee Chair Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., connected Monday, urging them to instantly bring nan SAVE Act to nan Senate level for a vote. 

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(The Honest Elections Project urged Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., left, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to enactment to protect national elections from ineligible noncitizen voters.)

The SAVE Act, which passed nan House this month, would require voters to show impervious of citizenship, specified arsenic a commencement certificate, passport, naturalization certificate aliases REAL ID that notes citizenship status. According to Congress.gov, nan Senate received nan authorities for information from nan House connected April 10.

When nan House was considering nan bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said, "This will beryllium 1 of nan astir important votes that members of this enclosure will ever return successful their full careers." 

Johnson urged House members to ballot successful favour of nan bill, posing nan question: "Should Americans and Americans unsocial find nan result of American elections? Or should we let foreigners and forbidden aliens to determine who sits successful nan White House and successful nan people’s House and successful nan Senate?"

Critics of nan bill, largely Democrats, reason that it would make elector registration much difficult by adding caller archiving requirements and reddish portion to register. Opponents person based on that group successful agrarian areas, arsenic good arsenic aged group who person problem accessing ID offices, would find it difficult to registry to vote, efficaciously disenfranchising them.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Opponents person besides said that precocious joined women who person had a sanction alteration would beryllium disenfranchised because their recognition would beryllium outdated.

The House passed nan measurement successful a 220-208 vote, pinch conscionable 4 Democrats joining Republicans to ballot successful favor.

Honest Elections Executive Director Jason Snead based on successful nan missive that adding nan impervious of citizenship request to elector registration would make it "easy to vote, but difficult to cheat."

Snead slammed opponents of nan SAVE Act, saying they "rely connected a acquainted litany of debunked and misleading arguments" that "have been made astir elector ID laws for decades but were ne'er borne out."

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U.S. Capitol (Fox News Digital)

He explained that nan SAVE Act has safeguards successful spot that would require states to found a process to resoluteness recognition discrepancies, specified arsenic a joined woman’s caller name, allowing them to show further documentation, specified arsenic a matrimony license.

Snead said that "by nan aforesaid token, replacement grounds of citizenship could beryllium offered by immoderate American who whitethorn deficiency communal records."

On nan different hand, Snead said "the grounds intelligibly shows that noncitizens are capable to registry and vote" nether existent law.

"In 2018, nan Department of Justice charged 19 noncitizens pinch illegally registering and voting," he said.

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(Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images/File)

Snead besides cited Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson precocious announcing that 15 noncitizens voted successful 2024 and officials successful Ohio, Texas and Virginia precocious identifying "significant numbers of noncitizens connected their elector rolls and reported that galore look to person voted successful caller years."

"Many races are decided by razor-thin margins – sometimes by a azygous vote. Each forbidden ballot cancels retired nan sound of a lawful national voter," said Snead.

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In a connection sent to Fox News Digital, Snead said impervious of citizenship for elector registration is wide celebrated among astir Americans. He cited a caller Gallup study that recovered that 83% of Americans support having to show impervious of citizenship erstwhile registering to ballot successful national elections.

"As nan Senate returns to session, I impulse Leader Thune to return up nan SAVE Act without delay," Snead said. "We impulse Leader Thune to return this opportunity to let each Senator to spell connected nan grounds supporting nan basal rule that only citizens should ballot successful American elections."

Fox News Digital has requested remark from nan offices of some Thune and McConnell.