Under the guise of safeguarding "election integrity," the SAVE Act promotes xenophobia and undermines democracy.
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Republicans will have you believe that the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which meets our “If a bill has a pretty acronym, then it’s probably some dumb stunt” standard, would SAVE the integrity of US elections. However, all it does is SAVE them time because it allows them to both undermine democracy and stoke xenophobia, which are two main staples of the GOP.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is currently pondering whether he wants to shut down the government over this useless piece of legislation. Well, “useless” when it comes to achieving anything other than voter suppression.
As we have pointed out several times in the past, the SAVE Act, which is opposed by voting rights groups, is one of the most obsolete bills ever introduced. On the one hand, it criminalizes something that is already criminalized (noncitizens voting), and on the other hand, it addresses a problem that doesn’t exist (noncitizens voting in anything resembling significant numbers).
On Thursday, in a string of posts that contained as many falsehoods as a Trump rally, Johnson took to the social media platform X to try to convince Americans that this is somehow needed.
Let’s take a look.
He started out by saying that the security of elections is vital. No argument there. That is why plenty of laws are on the books right now to ensure that this is happening — like the one that makes it a felony for noncitizens to vote.
Things start going south from there (in terms of truth).
“Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, Chuck Schumer, and 198 House Democrats, the millions of illegal aliens and noncitizens who have entered our country over the last 3.5 years could be allowed to VOTE in federal elections even though this is ILLEGAL,” Johnson said.
What is he talking about???
Nobody is “allowed” to do anything that is “illegal” (well, apart from Donald Trump, who got a get-out-of-jail card from his Supreme Court this year).
Sure, in theory, any non-eligible voter could cast a ballot and risk being locked up for five years (and then deported) because he hoped that his one vote would make a difference in a country with nearly 250 million voters.
However, any American could also decide to hold up a convenience store even though that is illegal. And, because the GOP has ensured that firearms are readily available, this isn’t even overly difficult.
This is simply a matter of choices and consequences.
Republicans will have you believe that the current laws do not serve as sufficient deterrents and provide noncitizens with incentives to commit the most illogical of all crimes (in terms of the risk-to-reward ratio).
Next, Johnson stated that noncitizens can claim that they are US citizens on voter registration forms. Again, it is true that people can commit this incredibly nonsensical crime if they want to risk the consequences of prison, fines, and deportation.
And because extremely few people do (and even fewer intentionally), this simply isn’t a problem, no matter how much Republicans want it to be one.
Johnson alludes to that.
“Though Democrats and the media claim ‘this isn’t a real problem,’ they are ignoring the proven facts,” wrote Johnson, and then posted a link to this story about an illegal immigrant who has pleaded guilty to stealing the identity of a US citizen and then voting.
That argument is patently ridiculous.
First of all, the SAVE Act does not address people stealing the identities of US citizens. In addition, this “proven fact” is about a single, isolated case. Finally, using the laws already on the books, the person was caught.
So let’s shut down the government over that case…
Johnson also points out that several states recently cleaned up their voter rolls and removed “tens of thousands of noncitizens.”
Yes, these audits have taken place (and they should if these purges are done responsibly), but many of those who were removed (as we pointed out in the case of Texas), were only suspected of being ineligible because they didn’t respond to a government inquiry.
Also, there is a huge difference between registering to vote (which can happen by erroneously checking a box) and actually voting.
Johnson argues that the Democrats’ refusal to support this bogus legislation allows only one conclusion: “DEMOCRATS WANT ILLEGALS & NONCITIZENS TO DECIDE OUR ELECTIONS!”
Yes, that is the only conclusion… if you disregard all facts and have no common sense.
Finally, Johnson states that one of the top concerns he has heard from Americans while traveling all across the country is “election integrity.”
No kidding. So, after gaslighting their voters into believing the Big Lie and undermining democracy at every turn, Republicans are now saying their constituents are worried about this made-up problem?
Who could have predicted that?
Along that logic, one of the top concerns of GOP voters will soon be Haitians eating cats.
But, sure, let’s shut down the government over this and SAVE the country from a GOP majority in the House next year.\
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often funny analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
