The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on April 10 that would require people to show documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act passed 220-208, mostly along party lines.
Only a handful of Democrats, including a Washington state representative, voted in favor of the bill.
The bill aligns with concerns President Donald Trump raised in a March executive order about noncitizens registering and voting in federal elections.
It’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in state, federal, and most local elections.
Four Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives split with their party and voted “yea” for the SAVE Act, according to the Office of the Clerk.
They were:
– Ed Case: Representing Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District
– Henry Cuellar: Representing Texas’ 28th Congressional District
– Jared Golden: Representing Maine’s 2nd Congressional District
– Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Representing Washington state’s 3rd Congressional District
Gluesenkamp Perez, who represents Southwest Washington, said her vote for the SAVE Act “reflects” her belief that voting in U.S. elections “is a sacred right belonging only to American citizens.”
“I also understand the SAVE Act stands no chance of passage in the Senate due to the filibuster, as well as several deeply flawed provisions,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement.
“Democracy depends on confidence in our elections, so I encourage House Leadership to instead consider bipartisan legislation that can pass both chambers of Congress – such as my Let America Vote Act, which reaffirms that decisions made for our country are made by citizens of our country, without placing bureaucratic hassles on U.S. citizens or hardworking election workers.”
Gluesenkamp Perez also said she is “deeply concerned” about a section in Trump’s executive order about not counting properly postmarked vote-by-mail ballots received after Election Day.
“This provision conflicts with our state’s longstanding, secure vote-by-mail system and could undermine the votes of more than 250,000 Washington citizens whose ballots were legally counted after Election Day in the last election,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
“I’m confident Washington state’s vote-by-mail system is safe, secure, and reliable and will remain so, thanks to the dedicated local public servants who administer our elections.”
Gluesenkamp Perez is a Democrat who was elected in a district that Trump won in 2024, according to the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
There were 16 such “crossover districts” in which people voted for one party for president and another for the House.
She represents a “rural, working-class district” and “has frequently broken with her party on major votes,” the New York Times reported.
No Republican U.S. House of Representatives members voted against the SAVE Act, according to the Office of the Clerk.
The bill would still need to be passed in the Senate to become law, where Republicans control chambers 53-47.
However, at least seven Democrats must join Republicans in approving the bill to overcome the chamber’s 60-vote threshold.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the SAVE Act “would require everyone registering to vote to provide a document verifying citizenship.”
It would then require states to enhance voter list maintenance programs to identify noncitizens who have inadvertently gotten on the rolls – if they don’t have such practices in place already.
The House passed a similar bill in 2024, but it “stalled in the Senate,” the NCSL said.
Contributing: Riley Beggin and Deborah Berry, USA TODAY.
image source from：https://www.yahoo.com/news/voted-save-act-washington-state-171513928.html
