House GOP pushes strict proof-of-citizenship requirement for voters ahead of midterm elections

[Dulcinea]

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans rushed to approve legislation on Wednesday that would impose strict new proof-of-citizenship requirements ahead of the midterm elections, a long shot Trump administration priority that faces sharp blowback in the Senate.

The bill, called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE America Act, would require Americans to prove they are citizens when they register to vote, mostly through a valid U.S. passport or birth certificate. It would also require a valid photo identification before voters can cast ballots, which some states already demand. It was approved on a mostly party-line vote, 218-213.

Republicans said the legislation is needed to prevent voter fraud, but Democrats warn it will disenfranchise millions of Americans by making it harder to vote. Federal law already requires that voters in national elections be U.S. citizens, but there’s no requirement to provide documentary proof. Experts said voter fraud is extremely rare, and very few noncitizens ever slip through the cracks. Fewer than one in 10 Americans don’t have paperwork proving they are citizens.

https://apnews.com/article/house-gop-save-act-midterm-election-voting-a9a4f256fef5b1c9899f74abc5fddafa

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. MaddowBlog-Targeting elections, House GOP advances the SAVE America Act, a solution in search of a problem

The original SAVE Act was an indefensible step backward, and the revised version is worse. It passed the Republican-led House anyway.

Targeting elections, House GOP advances the SAVE America Act, a solution in search of a problem www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Philly Joe (@joehick58.bsky.social) 2026-02-12T00:19:32.092Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/save-act-elections-house-republicans-trump-johnson-voter-id

A couple of years ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson made a pilgrimage of sorts to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Donald Trump’s ring and hold a joint news conference with the then-former president. It was not, however, a simple photo-op: The Republicans unveiled a proposal they appeared to be rather proud of.

The GOP duo pitched legislation that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. The absurdity of watching two notorious election deniers pretend to be deeply concerned with the integrity of elections was a detail the political world was apparently supposed to overlook.....

The original SAVE Act was an indefensible step backward, and the revised version is worse:

All Americans would be required to prove their U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.

Voters would be required under federal law to present identification when casting ballots in person or by mail, even in states that do not have voter ID laws.

Republicans are eyeing new restrictions on Americans who want to vote by mail.

The proposal is a classic example of a solution in search of a problem. Republicans have spent years desperately searching for evidence of systemic fraud in vote-by-mail systems, for example, and they’ve come up empty. The same is true about the supposed need for voter ID laws: In reality, there is simply no national scourge of people trying to cast ballots while pretending to be someone else.....

What’s more, as The Associated Press reported, state elections officials — from both parties — have expressed practical concerns about how these costly proposed procedures would be implemented and paid for. The same article added: “Voting rights groups have said married women who have changed their name could have trouble registering under the SAVE Act because their birth certificate lists their maiden name.”

Despite all of this, the bill passed the House anyway.

The proposal now heads to the Republican-led Senate, where it will need to overcome a 60-vote threshold, which seems exceedingly unlikely. That said, Politico reported this week that GOP leaders are so desperate to fundamentally alter how Americans vote that they’re exploring potential procedural changes that would make it possible to pass the regressive legislation, despite existing cloture rules.

There is no evidence of the type of voter fraud that the SAVE Act would prevent. It takes time and effort to get US citizens to go vote and so non-citizens are not going to risk arrest just to vote. The GOP and other groups have been looking for years for proof of non-citizens voting and have not found any such proof. The SAVE Act is a solution looking for a problem.

[Gum Logger]

2. Repukes are not going to set on their hands. They will come up with some sort of kabuki

The usual refrain is, a solution looking for a problem