Republicans ramp up efforts to strengthen Sen. Mike Lee's bill to ban noncitizens from voting

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders are ramping up efforts to ban noncitizens from voting in federal elections by reviving a bill from Utah Sen. Mike Lee to implement stricter identification requirements.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., hinted at plans to bolster the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE Act, by adding photo ID requirements in order to cast a ballot. The proposal builds on legislation Lee introduced in the Senate that would require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote, a key campaign promise President Donald Trump made during the 2024 election cycle.

"What we're looking at doing is passing an even better bill over to the Senate to give them even more incentive to go protect the sanctity of every American's vote, and that is the SAVE Act Plus," Scalise told Fox News over the weekend. "You can't even get on an airplane. You can't go to a bar tonight without showing a picture ID. Yet there are people in many states where the states actually have laws saying you can't show ID, which is a recipe for fraud."

Lee told the Deseret News he is already working with other lawmakers to draft a new "and even stronger" version of the bill, although a timeline is not yet clear.

"Americans are demanding the SAVE Act and Washington is finally listening," Lee said in a statement. "President Trump has urged Congress to pass this vital legislation I introduced in 2024 with Rep. Chip Roy (of Texas) to require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections."

The announcement from House GOP leaders comes after a monthslong campaign from Lee on social media, which has ramped up in recent weeks. The House passed the SAVE Act last year, but it has yet to be considered by the Senate, where it would need substantial support from Democrats to overcome filibuster rules.

What's in the SAVE Act?

As it's written now, the SAVE Act would specifically require voters to provide identification that is compliant with the most recent REAL ID guidelines, a passport, or some other citizenship document. For any identification card that does not include birthplace or citizenship status, the voter must also provide a birth certificate, a naturalization certificate, an adoption decree, or some document that proves he or she was born in the United States.

Republicans now want to push those requirements further to include photo ID. The SAVE Act has been endorsed by Trump.

It's already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections and it can lead to felony charges or deportation. Such instances of noncitizens voting are rare and often done by mistake, according to recent studies.

Still, Trump made election integrity a key priority for his second administration, even going so far as signing a sweeping executive order last year that included a citizenship requirement.

More than 9% of voters in the U.S. do not have citizenship documents on hand, amounting to about 21.3 million people, according to a report from the Brennan Center for Justice. That can especially affect married women who changed their last names, the study shows.

Lee and other Republicans have pushed back on that assertion, arguing the SAVE Act would provide "multiple ways" to prove one's citizenship.

"It shows how desperate Democrats are to keep elections vulnerable to fraudulent voting that they resort to such lies," Lee said in a post on X over the weekend.

The House version of the bill is being led by Roy, who first drafted his proposal in 2024 during the presidential election because he said he was "worried about what we needed to do." The House has since passed the bill twice, but it has not yet gotten a vote in the Senate.

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