Houston Daily

U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul from Texas cast his vote in favor of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act today. McCaul, who is the chairman emeritus of the House Committee on Homeland Security, has also co-sponsored this legislation in the 118th and 119th Congress.

"The SAVE Act will restore public confidence in our election system by closing loopholes that enable non-citizens to register to vote," stated McCaul. He expressed discontent that "not a single Democrat voted for this commonsense legislation," emphasizing its provision of multiple ways to verify citizenship.

The SAVE Act aims to bolster federal law by mandating proof of American citizenship during voter registration for federal elections. This amendment to the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) seeks to assure that only American citizens participate in federal elections by requiring states to verify citizenship.

Under current federal law, while the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 prohibits non-citizen voting in federal elections, the NVRA does not mandate states to verify citizenship upon voter registration. This has allowed instances of noncitizen voting in states like Massachusetts, Ohio, and Virginia.

Introduced by Representative Chip Roy of Texas, the SAVE Act proposes to rectify this by necessitating proof of citizenship upon registration and enabling states to access federal databases to remove noncitizens from voter rolls.