Lake County Gazette

U.S. Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL) voted against the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act, which would require individuals to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and bar illegal aliens from voting. 

The SAVE Act, House Bill 8281, would “require proof of United States citizenship to register an individual to vote in elections for Federal office” using accepted documentation including real ID, a government issued photo ID with certain restrictions, a certified birth certificate, or a valid U.S. passport. 

The SAVE Act also prevents states from registering an individual to vote without this proof of citizenship and requires states to remove anyone without proof of citizenship from their voter registration rolls.

The U.S. House passed the SAVE Act with a vote of 221-198. 

“All but five Democrats voted against the bill making it extremely clear: Democrats want illegals voting in November,” political speaker Charlie Kirk posted on X.

President Joe Biden has promised to veto this bill, according to an article from the Hill, with the opposition claiming it is redundant to pass a measure prohibiting noncitizens from voting. 

Currently, voters are only required to certify their citizenship by signing a federal voter registration form created by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), which has registrants affirm they are a U.S. citizen and are eligible to vote “under penalty of perjury.” Individuals do not have to provide documentation of their citizenship to register. 

States are required to use this form for registration under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), and are not allowed to require additional information in order to register voters.

“Joe Biden is mass importing criminal migrants, giving them social security numbers, and handing out voter registration forms to migrants, and vigorously opposes any and every effort to verify the citizenship of voters before voting,” America First Legal President Stephen Miller said in a press release. “This is a clear, unambiguous, and direct effort to sabotage the 2024 election through potential mass illegal alien voting — aiding and abetting dramatic foreign interference and the subversion of our democracy.”

Fourteen U.S. Reps. from Illinois voted against the bill, all Democratic members. The three Republican members voted in favor of the legislation.

U.S. House members previously voted on House Bill 7109, named the Equal Representation Act, which would prevent illegal aliens residing in the country from being counted towards a state’s seats in Congress. The bill passed with a vote of 206-202 and is currently in the U.S. Senate. Schakowsky voted against the bill.