SAVE Act would create ‘chaos’ for election offices

VPC’s President and CEO, Tom Lopach, speaks with StateScoop’s Keely Quinlan about the negative effects the SAVE Act would have on election workers and the voters, and the harmful myth of “non-citizen voting”

(StateScoop)– Advancing legislation that would require Americans to show proof of citizenship to register to vote could create chaos for state and local election offices, a state election official and a voting expert told StateScoop.

The House of Representatives last Thursday passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE, Act, a bill that has received strong support from congressional Republicans who’ve deemed the measure necessary to ensure that only citizens vote in U.S. elections. The concern arrives amid mostly unfounded fears that large swaths of immigrants and undocumented individuals are participating in and influencing elections.

Introduced this year by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, following a failed attempt last year, the legislation would require state and local election offices to conduct additional audits of their voter databases to weed out noncitizens.

It would require states to create alternative processes for voters to demonstrate citizenship and create new penalties for state and local election officials who accept or process voter registrations without proof of citizenship. State and local election administrators would be subject to civil lawsuits and criminal penalties, including up to five years in prison.