Proof Of Citizenship, Voter ID And Purging Illegals From Voter Rolls Are Wildly Popular As Democrats Oppose The SAVE America Act

By Manzanita Miller  

As the Senate debates the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act as part of the ongoing debates to reach a deal to end the partial government shutdown, President Donald Trump is calling on Congress to pass the bill aimed at eliminating illegal voting. The House already passed the bill on Feb. 11 in a 218-213 vote, sending the bill to the Senate. 

President Trump has urged Congressional Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act as part of the reconciliation process earlier this week, telling Republicans at a roundtable session on Monday to demand voter reform in the budget negotiations this week.

Now, the future of the voter reform legislation remains in the balance, with President Trump and House Republicans demanding some form of the legislation move forward while Senate Republicans continue to struggle with the bill.  

In the meantime, Congressional Democrats appear dedicated to obstructing removing illegal aliens from the country and ensuring voter ID laws are enforced at every juncture. While the GOP is attempting to fund Border Patrol and strengthen voter ID laws, Democrats are using the partial government shutdown negotiations to do their best to strip Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of funding. Democrats made a calculated move to separate Department of Homeland Security funding from the rest of the government, a move that would drain funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was going to ICE and Border Patrol, drastically reducing their funding and ability to operate. It is clear Democrats prioritize keeping illegal immigrants in the country and show no interest in barring them from voting. 

The SAVE America Act passed by the House in February directly challenges illegal aliens’ ability to vote in elections by making three key changes to the voter process that would protect election integrity. First, the act amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to insist Americans provide proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Second, the act demands individuals present a government-issued photo ID when casting a ballot in federal elections. Last, the act calls for states to establish regular purges of non-citizens on voter registration lists.

The methods are a simple three-step process to ensure anyone registering to vote is a U.S. citizen, anyone voting in an election is who they say they are, and states are purging illegals from voter rolls so ballots are not sent to those who are ineligible.

Alarmingly, Democrats are fighting heavily to prevent these three simple actions to ensure election integrity from becoming law, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stating Democrats “are fighting this tooth and nail” against the bill. While the future of the legislation hangs in the balance politically, the commonsense reforms in the act are widely supported by most Americans. 

A Quantus Insights survey of likely voters from March 17–18 finds over two-thirds of Americans — 65.7 percent — support the requirement to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering in federal elections. The survey shows a full 58.5 percent strongly support the requirement.

While Republicans have nearly unanimous support for the proof of citizenship requirement, 58.5 percent of independents and 41.3 percent of Democrats support the requirement as well.  

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll from March 2 found 71 percent of voters support the SAVE Act, including 91 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of independents, and 50 percent of Democrats.

The survey found broad support for all three pillars of the SAVE Act, with a full 81 percent of Americans support the voter ID requirement, 80 percent supporting states removing non-citizens from voter rolls, and 75 percent supporting requiring ID to vote in federal elections.

The poll also found voters are aware of the risks of illegal voting, with 58 percent of voters saying they believe there is at least some voter fraud in U.S. elections. The survey also found widespread support for banning illegal aliens from voting, with 85 percent of voters stating non-citizens should not be allowed to vote.  

Surveys conducted over the past few years have shown similarly strong support for a voter ID requirement. 

A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found a full 83 percent of Americans support voter ID requirements, including over three-quarters of Black, White, Hispanic and Asian Americans.

A 2024 Gallup survey found 84 percent of voters support a voter ID requirement, including 98 percent of Republicans, 84 percent of independents, and 67 percent of Democrats. The survey also shows 83 percent support the proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration.   

Election integrity is one of the most important modern political issues, because whoever is allowed to vote is ultimately determining the direction of the country on every other policy issue. The three core tenets of the SAVE America Act — proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, proof of ID to vote, and requiring states to purge illegals from voter rolls — are rational, commonsense protections that should have been put into place years ago. Now they are being vehemently debated, with one party standing in the way of these pro-American reforms even though the majority of the people support them.

If Democrats refuse to pass voter reform legislation, it will be abundantly clear where their priorities are and conservatives should use every opportunity to make the public aware of who Democrats are putting last — citizens.

Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.