House Panel Advances Election Integrity Bills

A Republican-led congressional panel advanced two election integrity bills on May 23, sending them to the House floor after several Democrat-proposed amendments failed.

The Committee on House Administration considered HR 8399, the Preventing Foreign Interference in American Elections Act, and HR 8281, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) in early May.

Chairman Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) said the bills will “stop foreign influence in our elections, prevent non-citizens voting, and strengthen our election administration.” Ranking Democrat Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) called the bills an effort to “undermine” voters’ faith in American elections.

Mr. Roy introduced the SAVE Act to prevent illegal immigrants from voting in federal elections. While Democrats contend that federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting, Mr. Steil cited previous legislation and Supreme Court decisions that have made it difficult for states to impose rules stopping noncitizens from registering to vote.

He also noted that despite federal law, both Ohio and the District of Columbia recently discovered noncitizens on their voter rolls.

As for HR 8399, Mr. Steil said it would close loopholes for foreign nationals making campaign donations, explaining that foreign money finds its way into elections despite federal law prohibiting these expenditures. Mr. Morelle proposed an amendment to disclose dark money donors in campaign contributions, but it failed in a 5–2 vote.

After considering other amendments from Mr. Morelle—all of which failed—a majority of panel members approved both bills, advancing them to the House.

SAVE Act

Mr. Roy’s bill, the SAVE Act, demands that a state “shall not accept and process an application to register to vote in an election for Federal office unless the applicant presents documentary proof of United States citizenship with the application.” That could include a birth certificate, passport, or any other form of identification that proves citizenship.

Mr. Steil said the committee hopes to guarantee U.S. elections are for American citizens only.

“This bill ensures non-citizens cannot vote in federal elections and provides states with the tools they need to maintain clean and accurate voter rolls,” he said.

The chairman noted that Ohio election officials recently found 137 noncitizens on the state voter rolls. While some have questioned the impact of these numbers, Mr. Steil explained how Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) recently won an election by just six votes.

Mr. Morelle expressed concern that the bill could be “unreasonably restrictive” in forcing voters to produce documents they might not have immediate access to.

He suggested that the document requirements could disproportionately impact married women with changed names, students on college campuses, the elderly, people of low income, and members of tribal nations. Under the SAVE Act, a driver’s license would be insufficient to prove citizenship.

“How many Americans are prepared to bring their birth certificates to the election office?” Mr. Morelle asked.

“This bill is a solution in search of a problem … [and] the latest step by House Republicans to preemptively cover Donald Trump’s lies, both past and future,” he said.

Republicans, however, contend the requirements are necessary to instill confidence in U.S. elections by preventing millions of illegal immigrants from lying on registration forms to vote illegally.

Foreign Money Interference

The Preventing Foreign Interference in American Elections Act would close available loopholes that let foreign nationals make campaign contributions, according to Mr. Steil.

He cited the “Zuckerbucks” scandal, in which Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg provided grants to local election offices around the country during the 2020 election.

Republicans argue the money was intended to disproportionately increase Democrat voter turnout in key cities. The conservative Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty questioned the grants’ impact while investigating Wisconsin’s 2020 election results. The institute said if there was increased turnout from the funds, it likely had little impact on the final election results.

Still, many Republicans have noted that partisan money should not influence nonpartisan election offices around the country and called for an end to these contributions, particularly if they hide funding from noncitizens.

Mr. Morelle disagreed with the bill as presented but said he would work to “find bipartisan consensus” to stop “money infiltrating our elections.” He proposed an amendment to disclose funding sources in dark money campaign contributions. Republicans on the panel blocked the amendment after citing potential privacy violations in how it would be deployed.

Joseph Lord contributed to this report.