The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a federal measure to safeguard elections and ensure that only American citizens vote. On Thursday, all House Republicans present voted in favor of Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-Texas) Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.

The bill would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require that anyone attempting to vote in U.S. elections present proof of U.S. citizenship before being allowed to cast a ballot. The text of the bill stipulates that “a State may not register an individual to vote in elections for Federal office held in the State unless, at the time the individual applies to register to vote, the individual provides documentary proof of United States citizenship.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at the Heritage Foundation, explained, “As DOGE has exposed, noncitizens have been registering to vote and some are indeed voting — unlawfully. The SAVE Act is critical to restore election integrity by shutting down this pathway to ballot fraud because the bill would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, not just to vote.”

FRC Action Director Matt Carpenter also expressed support for the SAVE Act. “The passage of the SAVE Act in the House is a huge step in the right direction for securing American elections,” he told TWS. “The Biden years saw millions of illegal immigrants flood the country. As a result, Americans are rightly concerned about the potential for noncitizens to make their way onto state voter files. The SAVE Act will ensure the federal government is an ally to states in making sure only American citizens vote in American elections, something that has broad support from the public.”

Carpenter continued, “The next stop is the Senate, where Republicans will need at least seven Democrats to vote to overcome the filibuster for the bill to go for a vote. There is a slight chance a number of vulnerable Senate Democrats wanting to avoid campaign ads telling voters they opposed the SAVE Act next year will side with their Republican colleagues. Getting seven of them to do that will be a heavy lift.”

All told, 216 Republicans voted for the bill, with four absent. While 208 Democrats voted against the bill, four crossed the aisle and voted with the GOP: Reps. Ed Case (Hawaii), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Jared Golden (Maine), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.). In a social media post, Golden stated, “I voted for the SAVE Act for the simple reason that American elections are for Americans. Requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote is common sense.” Responding to “misleading claims” that the SAVE Act will “disenfranchise” female voters who change their names after getting married, the Democrat added, “The truth is the SAVE Act ensures name changes will not prevent anyone from registering to vote. The bill allows for several different ways to prove citizenship. But most importantly, it requires state leaders to establish protocols to allow citizens to register even if there are discrepancies in documents, such as name changes.”

In addition to requiring proof of citizenship in order to vote, the SAVE Act will also require each state to establish a program for identifying and removing noncitizens from voter registration rolls. The bill recommends that states rely on information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), state agencies responsible for verifying U.S. citizenship when issuing such documents as driver’s licenses, or the “Social Security Administration through the Social Security Number Verification Service.”

As TWS recently reported, nearly four million noncitizens were given Social Security numbers under the Biden administration, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) found that a substantial number of noncitizens were not only registered to vote but had already voted in U.S. elections.