Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LATIMER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Morelle for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, the American people in my district and in my State have spoken clearly. This bill is voter suppression, pure and simple.

It is brought to us under the guise of stopping illegal voting. When we analyze voting in Westchester County, where I was the county executive for a million people, we found no appreciable illegal voting.

This is an opportunity for this majority to try to impose their will on the States that they don't already control.

They want to end mail voter registration in my home State to satisfy other States' regressive laws.

They want to require people who have voted legally for years to prove their citizenship if they not only change their name but if they move. A simple move requires them to drive to a county board of elections and prove that they are an American citizen when they have proven that over the course of 20 years or more of voting.

This bill subjects local officials to hefty criminal fines if they register someone outside of these rules. This is an expensive unfunded mandate in Westchester, New York City, and all the States involved.

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