A conservative group is launching a summer push behind an animating cause for President Trump and the right: noncitizen voting.
Tea Party Patriots Action, a major conservative grassroots organization, intends to press lawmakers during the August recess to attach the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, to must-pass legislation such as a budget resolution or the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Jenny Beth Martin, who co-founded the group, told The Hill in an exclusive interview that Tea Party Patriots Action will be launching a petition drive online and in person to generate support for the effort.
“So much focus, up until last week, was on the reconciliation bill. And everyone has their priority … and they forget about other things that maybe aren’t as important to them. So we’re just trying to help remind them this is important to your constituents,” Martin told The Hill.
“But they’ve been receptive,” she added. “The members who I’ve spoken to on both the House side and the Senate side have been receptive to what we’re doing.”
The group and its grassroots members will be speaking with people at fairs and other community events in the next eight weeks and urging people to host and attend ice cream socials in August so they can discuss the idea in a less formal setting. The organization’s leadership is urging supporters to make Aug. 23 in particular a day of action, with members waving signs at busy intersections or holding small local rallies on the topic.
Tea Party Patriots Action also intends to hold events in congressional districts across the country to thank lawmakers who backed the SAVE Act in the House or to urge members to do so in the Senate. That tour will culminate in the delivery of petitions to lawmakers on Capitol Hill in September.
The strategy harkens back to Tea Party Patriot Action’s grassroots efforts to oppose the Affordable Care Act. Though unlike during the Obama administration, the group is not expected to advocate for a shutdown if its demands are not met this time.
The idea is almost certain to gain traction with conservative members of Congress, and Trump has for years called for stricter voter identification laws and made exaggerated claims about migrants voting in U.S. elections.
The House in April passed the SAVE Act, formally titled the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, in a 220-208 vote. Four Democrats — Reps. Ed Case (Hawaii), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Jared Golden (Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.) — voted with all Republicans in favor.
But the Senate has yet to take up the bill.
It’s already illegal for those who are not U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections, and critics argue there are exceedingly few cases of noncitizens casting ballots. But proponents of the bill have argued it is necessary to prevent migrants from voting in elections.
Democrats and opponents of the legislation have argued that in addition to it being unnecessary, it would disenfranchise many Americans who may not have proof of citizenship handy to be able to cast a ballot.
Tea Party Patriots Action is not exclusively committed to passing the SAVE Act; the organization would support the passage of legislation that accomplished the same thing.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) last week announced she was crafting a bill that would only count American citizens in the census. The legislation, titled the Making American Election Great Again Act, appeared to intrigue Trump.
“I know all about it. We want to bring our elections back,” Trump told reporters while in Florida, repeating his unfounded claims that the 2020 election was “rigged.”
Trump earlier this year signed an executive order that directs states to require proof of citizenship when individuals register to vote. But the order drew skepticism from legal experts and would likely be undone by the next Democratic president.
The president’s fixation on the issue may make it toxic for some Democrats to back something like the SAVE Act in the Senate.
But Martin argued it should be a popular move across partisan lines to officially outlaw noncitizen voting, and she expressed cautious optimism that lawmakers would not view it as a poison pill if attached to a budget resolution or the NDAA.
“I understand the political environment we’re dealing with, so they may not want to vote for it in the Senate as a stand-alone bill, but I think that if they voted for it in another piece of legislation, people are not going to look at it and go, ‘Oh, you evil person. How could you have possibly voted for that in must-pass legislation?’” Martin said.
“President Trump is making some changes through executive orders, but executive orders can be fleeting when you have a new president,” she continued. “It’s the right thing to do for our country. So we want to focus on it and see it through.”
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