Waukesha Times

U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI-5) voted in favor of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act, which would require individuals to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and bar illegal aliens from voting. 

The SAVE Act, House Bill 8281, would “require proof of United States citizenship to register an individual to vote in elections for Federal office” using accepted documentation including real ID, a government issued photo ID with certain restrictions, a certified birth certificate, or a valid U.S. passport. 

The SAVE Act also prevents states from registering an individual to vote without this proof of citizenship and requires states to remove anyone without proof of citizenship from their voter registration rolls.

The U.S. House passed the SAVE Act with a vote of 221-198. 

“All but five Democrats voted against the bill making it extremely clear: Democrats want illegals voting in November,” political speaker Charlie Kirk posted on X.

Fitzgerald was joined by fellow Wisconsin Republican members Reps. Glenn Grothman (R-WI-6), Bryan Steil (R-WI-1), Thomas Tiffany (R-WI-7), and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI-3) in voting for the legislation. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI-2) voted against the bill, while Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI-4) abstained from voting. 

"I’d point you to a 1996 Congressional race in California where an investigation by this body revealed that 624 noncitizens voted in that congressional election," Rep. Steil said on the House floor. "I’d also point you to a race from less than four years ago where a colleague from Iowa won by six votes. Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a legal American citizen. Illegal voting risks saying elections."

President Joe Biden has promised to veto this bill, according to an article from the Hill, with the opposition claiming it is redundant to pass a measure prohibiting noncitizens from voting. 

Currently, voters are only required to certify their citizenship by signing a federal voter registration form created by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), which has registrants affirm they are a U.S. citizen and are eligible to vote “under penalty of perjury.” Individuals do not have to provide documentation of their citizenship to register. 

States are required to use this form for registration under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), and are not allowed to require additional information in order to register voters.

“Joe Biden is mass importing criminal migrants, giving them social security numbers, and handing out voter registration forms to migrants, and vigorously opposes any and every effort to verify the citizenship of voters before voting,” America First Legal President Stephen Miller said in a press release. “This is a clear, unambiguous, and direct effort to sabotage the 2024 election through potential mass illegal alien voting — aiding and abetting dramatic foreign interference and the subversion of our democracy.”

In Wisconsin, every registered voter in the state can request an absentee ballot without having to provide a reason. Voters can vote absentee by mail or absentee in person, and can request a ballot online at myvote.wi.gov. Wisconsin law also allows for an absentee vote to be sent to voters automatically without ID verification that are "indefinitely" confined due to age, disability, illness or infirmity by a signed statement as to why they are confined.

U.S. House members previously voted on House Bill 7109, named the Equal Representation Act, which would prevent illegal aliens residing in the country from being counted towards a state’s seats in Congress. The bill passed with a vote of 206-202 and is currently in the U.S. Senate. Fitzgerald voted in favor of the bill, along with Reps. Grothman, Steil, Tiffany, and Van Orden while Reps. Pocan and Moore voted against the bill. 

“According to a 2022 Census Bureau estimate, there are over 22 million noncitizens in the United States, but those individuals are still counted the same as legal citizens toward the apportionment of congressional districts,” Fitzgerald said about the Equal Representation Act. “It’s absurd that noncitizens can serve as a deciding factor when determining electoral representation or federal resources. I was proud to vote in support of commonsense legislation today, the Equal Representation Act, which ensures only U.S. citizens are counted when determining representation in the Census.”