Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. LEE of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the SAVE Act.

The SAVE Act is an important step forward that will ensure elections are more secure and accurate across the United States.

The vast majority of Americans agree that only U.S. citizens should have the right to vote in our elections. Just last month, President Trump took a strong stance reaffirming his commitment to the integrity of our elections. The President's executive order will help equip election officials with better data and more resources to administer elections.

Today, Congress has the opportunity to build on this momentum and ensure that these protections are part of our laws, that every State can follow these practices, and that voters across the Nation can feel confident in the integrity and security of their elections.

Congress must commit to supporting election officials and voters by making voting accessible and secure.

While States are the primary authority on how elections are conducted on election day, it is our role here in Congress to ensure that we support them, provide resources to them, and promote uniformity and best practices across the country.

One way that we will be able to help provide those resources to States is by passing the SAVE Act. The SAVE Act will help protect our elections and ensure that only American citizens are casting ballots in American elections.

The bill will support State and local election officials by providing them with data and tools to help verify the accuracy and completeness of their voter rolls.

As Florida's former secretary of state and chief election official, I got to work with State and local elections workers across the country and saw their commitment to ensuring strong elections.

Now, as the chair of the House Administration Subcommittee on Elections, I am proud to work alongside Chairman Steil to advance policies that lead to stronger elections across our country.

These tools will help the States ensure their rolls are accurate and help prevent any unintended errors.

We know that some States have continued to discover noncitizens on their voter rolls, and there is evidence that some of them have voted in recent elections. We must take steps to ensure this doesn't continue.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I would like to address the claim that the SAVE Act will somehow negatively affect married women or others who might have changed their name because their legal documentation or identification may reflect two different names. This legislation clearly contemplates exactly this situation and, indeed, directly addresses it. Page 14, line 19 directs the States to create a process for addressing this exact issue.

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Ms. LEE of Florida. Mr. Speaker, ever since the 19th Amendment passed over 100 years ago, married women have been registering to vote and successfully voting. Indeed, I am among them.

This bill will accommodate women who change their name and have not yet updated their documentation to reflect a name change because the SAVE Act explicitly directs States to establish a process for them to register to vote, irrespective of those discrepancies.

Like other areas of the law, citizens will be able to use combinations of existing identification documents in order to register to vote. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

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