Experts say the SAVE Act could make voting harder for citizens. Passed in the U.S. House, it is unlikely to clear the U.S. Senate.

By Annie Pulley, THE BADGER PROJECT

A bill that U.S. House Republicans say would prevent noncitizens from voting, something that is already illegal and experts and research say almost never happens, passed with 216 GOP votes and four Democratic votes in early April, including from Wisconsin’s six congressional Republicans.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility or SAVE Act would require individuals to physically provide proof of U.S. citizenship when they register to vote in a federal election. It would also penalize election workers for failing to enforce those requirements. 

Such a requirement could be a problem for actual citizens. More than 21 million American citizens, or about 9% of eligible voters, cannot quickly find their U.S. birth certificate, passport, naturalization certificate or certificate of citizenship, according to a 2024 study published by the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement.

And “the number of noncitizens voting in federal elections is almost certainly very low,” said Aaron Weinschenk, a political science professor at UW-Green Bay.

He cited a 2015 study from a Harvard political scientist, which found “the likely percent of non-citizen voters in recent US elections is zero.”

“People should keep in mind that there are already processes in place to prevent noncitizen voting,” Weinschenk said, noting that the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 already criminalizes noncitizen voting in federal elections.

The state of Wisconsin, and all states, employ many checks to prevent and catch voter fraud.

Among the 216 GOP House members to vote for the SAVE Act were Wisconsin Reps. Scott Fitzegerald, Glenn Grothman, Bryan Steil, Thomas Tiffany, Derrick Van Orden and Tony Wied.

Grothman called the bill “commonsense” in a news report.

In a Facebook livestream recorded after the vote, Van Orden, who represents much of western Wisconsin, spoke about a phone conversation with a constituent who asked him to vote against the SAVE Act.

“Do you think that you should have to be an American citizen to vote?” he recalled asking her. “Well ma’am, that’s what this bill is. I voted for it. I’d do it again. So would 80% of Americans.” 

A Pew Research article published before the 2024 election found that the vast majority of voters, 89%, believe it is important to prevent unqualified people from voting.

But partisanship and confidence that noncitizens will be prevented from voting is correlated. 

Eighty-seven percent of Kamala Harris supporters were generally confident that people ineligible to vote would be prevented from doing so. Only 35% of Donald Trump supporters were equally confident.

Four Democrats voted with the GOP majority to pass the bill, while 208 Democrats voted against it. 

Wisconsin’s lone Democrats in the House, Rep. Mark Pocan of Madison and Rep. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee, opposed it. 

“I’ll be blunt. This is a modern-day Jim Crow bill that restricts access to the ballot box,”  Pocan said in a Facebook post.

Moore echoed his sentiment, writing in a press release that the SAVE Act would rule out online voter registration and have “harmful consequences for many Americans, including service members serving overseas, transgender Americans, rural voters, and married women who legally change their last names.”

Similar bills have also passed at the state level.

Last year, eight states amended their constitutions to change who can vote from “every citizen” to “only citizens,” according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In total, 15 states include explicit prohibitions on non-citizen voting.

Wisconsin voters approved a similar change to the state constitution in November.

Though the SAVE Act has cleared the U.S. House, passage in the U.S. Senate will be much tougher, as Republicans need 60 votes to overcome a likely filibuster by Democrats.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.