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Chairman Steil's full floor remarks as prepared for delivery:
Mr. Speaker,
I rise in support of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act, introduced by my colleague Chip Roy of Texas.
As Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, I’ve been focused on improving election integrity and increasing confidence in our elections.
Let me be clear - non-citizen voting reduces confidence in our elections.
American elections are for American citizens, and we intend to keep it that way.
The SAVE Act will strengthen our elections administration and restore Americans’ confidence in our elections.
The SAVE Act contains critical reforms to update the National Voter Registration Act, which currently requires States to give voter registration forms to everyone who receives a driver’s license – regardless of citizenship.
The bill before us will help States prevent non-citizens from voting in federal elections by requiring States to obtain documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in-person when registering an individual to vote in federal elections.
You are sure to hear from my colleagues on the other side that non-citizen voting doesn’t exist, or that it rarely happens so we don’t need to do anything about it.
That couldn't be further from the truth.
Let's look back two months ago. The Secretaries of State that I had conversations with shared the difficulties they experienced in administering the recent election.
Two of their top concerns were the integrity of voter rolls and non-citizen voting.
In our most recent election, we just saw 13 individuals referred by the Michigan Secretary of State to the Attorney General for non-citizen voting in the state of Michigan.
In the House of Representatives we often see close elections.
We have one Member here who won her election by simply six votes.
It is clear that we must pass the SAVE Act to prevent non-citizen voting.
There have also been many examples of non-citizens being on states’ voter rolls.
Just a few years ago, Illinois removed almost 600 non-citizens from its voter rolls.
In Pennsylvania, almost 10,000 non-citizens were removed from their voter rolls.
In Georgia, an audit recently determined that more than 1,600 non-citizens had attempted to register to vote.
Every State needs access to the tools necessary to remove non-citizens from their voter rolls.
Right now, States do not have free access to the federal data that tracks citizenship status.
Another crucial element of the SAVE Act will provide States with cost-free access to existing federal and State databases so they can perform this important voter list maintenance.
In recent years, we have seen an increasing number of jurisdictions across the country allowing non-citizens to vote in their elections.
Right here in our nation’s capital, non-citizens are eligible to vote in those municipal elections.
In Washington, D.C., a non-citizen only has to reside in the district for 30 days in order to register to vote.
388 non-citizens cast ballots here in our nation's capital, in Washington, D.C., in the most recent election.
By passing the SAVE Act, we can ensure only eligible Americans are registering to vote.
Additionally, the SAVE Act is aligned with President Trump’s recent Executive Order, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” which will help restore trust in American elections, enhance election administration, and make our elections secure.
This legislation is just one step we can take to ensure President Trump’s Executive Order could not be undone.
Americans deserve to have confidence in their elections.
We must pass the SAVE Act to prevent non-citizen voting and secure our elections.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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