WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The House passed one of Republicans' for the year on Thursday, approving legislation to require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote for federal elections, one of President Donald Trump's top election-related priorities.
Nearly all Democrats lined up against the bill and warned that it risks disenfranchising millions of Americans who do not have ready access to the proper documents.
Trump has long signaled a desire to change how elections are run in the U.S. and last month issued that included a citizenship requirement among .
Republicans argued the legislation, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, is necessary to ensure only citizens vote in U.S. elections and would cement into law.
U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House committee that handles election legislation, said during Thursday's debate that the bill is meant to 鈥渞estore Americans鈥� confidence in our elections鈥� and prevent noncitizens from voting.
This marks Republicans鈥� at passing . It passed the House last year but failed in the Senate amid Democratic opposition.
It鈥檚 unlikely to fare any better this year. While Republicans won control of the Senate last fall, they have a narrow majority that falls short of the 60 votes they would need to overcome a filibuster.
Republicans during last year鈥檚 , even though voting by noncitizens , already is illegal and can and deportation.
would require all applicants using the federal voter registration form to provide documentary proof of citizenship in person at their local election office. Among the acceptable documents are a valid U.S. passport and a government-issued photo ID card presented alongside a certified birth certificate.
Democrats and voting rights groups warn the legislation could lead to widespread voter disenfranchisement if it were to become law. The Brennan Center for Justice and other groups estimated in a 2023 report that 9% of U.S. citizens of voting age, or 21.3 million people, do not have proof of their citizenship readily available. Almost half of Americans don鈥檛 have a U.S. passport.
In Kansas, a proof-of-citizenship requirement that passed in 2011 ended up of more than 31,000 U.S. citizens in the state who were otherwise eligible to vote. The law was later declared unconstitutional by a federal court and hasn鈥檛 been enforced since 2018.
鈥淛ust to exercise their inalienable right as citizens of this country, Republicans would force Americans into a paperwork nightmare,鈥� said Rep. Joe Morelle, a Democrat from New York. 鈥淭his bill is really about disenfranchising Americans 鈥� not noncitizens, Americans.鈥�
A further concern came up several times Thursday: Married women would need multiple documents to prove their citizenship if they have changed their name.
It was a complication that arose in held last month in New Hampshire, which was enforcing a new state law requiring proof of citizenship to register. One woman, since divorced, told a local elections clerk that her first marriage was decades ago in Florida and that she no longer had the marriage certificate showing her name change. She was unable to register and vote for her town election.
鈥淭his legislation would immediately disenfranchise the 69 million women who have changed their names after marriage or divorce,鈥� said Rep. Deborah Ross, a Democrat from North Carolina.
Rep. Laurel Lee, a Republican from Florida, said the bill 鈥渃ontemplates this exact situation鈥� of married women whose names have changed, saying it 鈥渆xplicitly directs states to establish a process for them to register to vote.鈥�
Morelle countered by saying, 鈥淲hy not write it in the bill? Why are we making the potential for 50 different standards to be set? ... How much paperwork do Republicans expect Americans to drown in?鈥�
Democrats also said the bill would disproportionately affect older people in assisted care facilities, military service members who wouldn鈥檛 be able to solely use their military IDs, people of color and working-class Americans who may not have the time or money to jump through bureaucratic hoops.
鈥淭he SAVE Act is everything our civil rights leaders fought against,鈥� said Rep. Nikema Williams, a Democrat from Georgia.
Republicans have defended the legislation as necessary to restore public confidence in elections and say it allows states to adopt procedures to help voters comply. They have disputed Democratic characterizations of the bill.
Four Democrats voted in favor of the legislation: Reps. Ed Case of Hawaii, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Perez of Washington.
鈥淭he truth is, those who were registered to vote would still be able to vote under their current registration,鈥� said Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican who sponsored the bill. 鈥淲e have mechanisms giving the state fairly significant deference to make determinations as to how to structure the situation where an individual does have a name change, which of course is often women.鈥�
On Thursday, Roy said , a key figure in Trump鈥檚 campaign to overturn the 2020 election results, 鈥渉ad a significant hand in what we鈥檙e doing here.鈥� Mitchell, a longtime GOP lawyer, has played a central role in coordinating the movement to tighten voting laws across the country.
Trump lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden but has repeatedly made that it was stolen from him. There is no evidence to support Trump鈥檚 claim: Elections officials and his own attorney general rejected the notion, and his arguments have been roundly dismissed by the courts, including judges he appointed.
Adrian Fontes, a Democrat who serves as Arizona鈥檚 top state election official, described the voting proposal as a solution in search of a problem, given how rare noncitizen voting is.
鈥淲hat it is doing is capitalizing on fear -- fear built on a lie,鈥� Fontes said. 鈥淎nd the lie is that a whole bunch of people who aren鈥檛 eligible are voting. That鈥檚 just not true.鈥�
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Cassidy reported from Atlanta, Fernando from Chicago.
Lisa Mascaro, Christina A. Cassidy And Christine Fernando, The Associated Press
