ATLANTA — Republicans plan to move quickly in their effort to overhaul the nation’s voting procedures, seeing an opportunity with control of the White House and both chambers of Congress to pass long-sought changes, including voting requirements. voter identification and proof of citizenship.
They say the measures are necessary to restore public confidence in elections, an erosion of trust that Democrats say was fueled by false claims by President-elect Donald Trump and his allies that widespread fraud in of the 2020 elections. In the new year, Republicans will be under pressure to respond to Trump’s desires to change the way elections are conducted in the United States, something he continues to promote despite his victory in November.
The main laws Republicans expect to promote will be versions of the American Confidence in Elections Act and the American Voter Eligibility Act, said Republican Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, chairman of the Election Administration Committee. Chamber, which manages legislation relating to elections. The proposals are known as the ACE and SAVE laws, respectively.
“As we look toward the new year with a unified Republican government, we have a real opportunity to move these pieces of legislation not only out of committee, but through the House and into law,” Steil said in an interview. “We need to improve Americans’ confidence in elections.”
Republicans will likely face opposition from Democrats and have little room to maneuver due to their narrow majorities in the House and Senate. Steil said he expects the original proposals to be “some reforms and tweaks” and hopes Democrats will work with Republicans to refine and ultimately support them.
Democrats want to make voting easier, not harder
New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, said there was an opportunity to reach bipartisan agreement on some issues, but said the House’s two previous bills GOP went too far.
“Our point of view and that of the Republicans are very different on this point,” Morelle said. “Over the last two years and beyond, they’ve spent most of the time actually restricting citizens’ rights to vote – and that’s at the state and federal level. And both the SAVE Act and the ACE Act do that: make it harder for people to vote.
Morelle said he wants to see both parties support dedicated federal funding for election offices. He sees other bipartisan opportunities in limiting foreign money in U.S. elections and possibly imposing a voter ID requirement if certain safeguards are in place to protect voters.
Democrats say some state laws are too restrictive by limiting the types of IDs acceptable for voting, making it harder for students or those who don’t have a permanent address.
Morelle said he was disappointed by the Republican Party’s claims during this year’s campaigns about widespread non-citizen voting, which is extremely rare, and noted how those claims all but evaporated once Trump won. Non-citizen voting is already illegal and can result in criminal charges and deportation.
“You haven’t heard a word about this since Election Day,” Morelle said. “It’s a miracle on Election Day that suddenly what they had spent an inordinate amount of time describing as a widespread problem, an epidemic problem, no longer exists at all.”
GOP: Current voter registration relies on ‘honor system’
Before the November election, House Republicans pushed the SAVE Act, which passed the House in July but remained stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate. It requires proof of citizenship when registering to vote and provides potential penalties for election officials who fail to confirm their eligibility.
Republicans say the current process relies on what they call an honor system with loopholes that allowed noncitizens to register and vote in previous elections. Although non-citizen voting did occur, research and reviews of state cases showed that it was a rare phenomenon and was usually an error rather than a intentional effort to influence an election.
Under the current system, those wishing to register are asked to provide either a state driver’s license number or the last four digits of a social security number. A few states require a full social security number.
Republicans say the voter registration process is not strict enough because in many states people can be added to voter rolls even if they don’t provide that information and some noncitizens can be given voter registration numbers. social security and driving licenses. They believe the current requirement that anyone filling out a voter registration form sign under oath that they are a U.S. citizen is not enough.
They want to force states to reject any voter registration application for which proof of citizenship is not provided. Republicans say this could include a driver’s license that matches a REAL ID, passport or birth certificate.
State flags non-citizens with regular audits
In Georgia, a perennial theater of presidential battles, election officials said they encountered no problems verifying the citizenship status of its nearly 7.3 million registered voters. They conducted an audit in 2022 that identified 1,634 people who had attempted to register but could not be verified as U.S. citizens by a federal database.
A second audit this year used local court records to identify people who said they could not serve as jurors because they were not U.S. citizens. Of the 20 people identified, six were investigated for illegal voting, but one of those cases was closed because the person had since died.
“Through these audits, we have given voters confidence that no non-citizen is voting here in Georgia,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “And when society is very polarized, you have to try to build trust. Trust is the benchmark.
Raffensperger, a Republican who supports both voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements, credits the state’s early adoption of REAL ID and use of automatic voter registration for ensuring the accuracy of electoral lists. He hopes more Republicans will consider the latter option, because it allowed Georgia election officials to use the auto agency process to verify citizenship and track people moving in and around the state.
“You have to get it right because you’re talking about people’s invaluable right to vote,” Raffensperger said.
Think of states as laboratories for electoral reforms
If Congress passes changes, it will be up to election officials across the country to implement them.
Raffensperger and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, have said it would be a mistake to move the country to a single day of voting, which Trump has said he would like to see happen because it would eliminate early voting and would limit access to early voting. postal ballots. Both methods are extremely popular with voters. In Georgia in November, 71% of voters cast ballots in person before Election Day.
Both said they hope lawmakers will look at what works in their states and build on those successes.
“We have proven time and time again in our states that our elections are secure and accurate,” Benson said.
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