State legislators are calling on the U.S. Senate to pass the SAVE America Act and secure U.S. elections. In a February 23 letter shared with The Washington Stand, the State Freedom Caucus Network urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-N.D.) and Senate Republicans to approve the bill, which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month. The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote and photo ID when casting a ballot.

“Election integrity is not peripheral to our people. A Republic cannot endure when its citizens doubt the legitimacy of its ballots. This is where our voters are today; a growing constituency that no longer trusts election outcomes,” the state lawmakers wrote. “The substance of this bill reflects what many of us have advanced state by state: verify citizenship for voter registration, require photo identification and ensure accurate voter rolls. Federal inaction has too often hindered states from implementing meaningful citizenship verification,” the letter continued. “These are minimum safeguards. They are widely supported. They go to the core of public trust in our elections. Over 80% of the American people believe this bill should go to President Trump’s desk.”

The letter was signed by nearly 200 state legislators representing Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

In comments to TWS, FRC Action Director Matt Carpenter explained why state legislators have a vested interest in the SAVE America Act’s passage. “The states have an interest in establishing a nationwide minimum requirement for election integrity: proof of citizenship for voter registration and verifying identification before a vote can be cast,” he said. “All states should all accede to these basic — and necessary — reforms to improve election integrity. However, since many blue states do not, it is time for Congress to step up with nationwide election integrity reforms.”

“Our system cannot survive in the long run with the appearance of fraud, let alone actual fraud, in our elections. The American people overwhelmingly support these reforms and understand that other countries around the globe have these same policies,” Carpenter observed. “The SAVE America Act would provide this minimum standard nationwide, which states are free to build upon to further enhance as they see fit,” he added. “The republic can survive heated debate, it can survive deep division on significant issues — what it cannot survive is a cloud of doubt hovering over our elections. The Senate needs to pass the SAVE America Act if they want to save America from the disaster of fraudulent elections, and the suspicion of fraudulent elections.”

Thune agreed to bring the SAVE America Act to the Senate floor for a vote after nearly two weeks of stalling. “We’ll put Democrats on the record, and it’s a stark contrast: the Democrats … having to sit there and try to defend allowing non-citizens to vote in American elections, that is a losing proposition for them,” the Senate GOP leader said in an interview. “We will get that up on the floor, we will have a vote on it, we will make sure that the Democrats are on the record. It is a stark contrast between Republicans and Democrats about how they want to handle elections in this country,” he continued. Thune anticipated that voting against the bill will put Democrats “in a very difficult position,” given widespread support for photo ID when voting. The federal government is currently in the midst of a partial shutdown — the second in the past year — and Thune indicated that his priority is to re-open the government before bringing the SAVE America Act to the floor.

During his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, President Donald Trump called on Republican senators to pass the SAVE America Act and secure the integrity of American elections. He alleged that Democrats oppose the measure because it would make it difficult for Democrats to cheat in elections. “That cheating is rampant in our elections. It’s rampant. It’s very simple — all voters must show voter ID. All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote. And no more crooked mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military, or travel — none,” the president said. “This should be an easy one.”

On Wednesday night’s episode of “Washington Watch,” Rep. Brad Knott (R-N.C.) stressed how the SAVE America Act can safeguard American elections. “Illegal immigrants in the country right now, they vote,” he stated. “There’s no protest about showing an ID to do various activities, whether it’s boarding an airplane or buying certain things, but this is one that really strikes a nerve with the Democratic Party, and it really begs the question, ‘Why?’ And I think we know why that’s the case,” Knott continued. “Illegal immigration has really permeated every corner of the country, and if we continue to incentivize illegal immigration, it’s going to continue to happen,” he charged. “Sealing this problem, one basic step is requiring … proof of citizenship before you can register to vote, and then an I.D. to vote. It’s a basic, common-sense test that the American people support, and I hope that we can get this across the finish line.”

Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) also accused Democrats of weaponizing illegal immigration to cheat in American elections. “As President Trump stated in his State of the Union, it’s because Democrats want to cheat,” Johnson said in a Newsmax interview Thursday, referring to Democratic opposition to the SAVE America Act. “The Democrats, through their NGOs [non-governmental organizations], promoted millions of people to come to this country illegally. They send them off to sanctuary cities and states, they pump up the census, they get more members of Congress,” he said. “They push mail-in balloting, they push automatic registration. Again, Democrats want to make it easy to cheat.”