Republicans are moving forward with plans to vote on Sen. Mike Lee’s updated election security bill aimed toward banning noncitizens from voting in federal elections and implementing stricter guardrails in order to cast one’s ballot.
The House will vote next week on Lee’s SAVE America Act that he introduced alongside Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, just last week. The bill would implement proof-of-citizenship measures such as photo identification requirements and documents that are compliant with REAL ID guidelines.
The vote comes after a weekslong pressure campaign from Lee and other congressional Republicans to prioritize the legislation, especially ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“Only Democrats in Congress could oppose these basic requirements that prevent voter fraud, and that’s because they want illegal aliens to vote in our elections,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told Fox News. “Why else would they support open borders, oppose deporting illegal aliens, and oppose election security like picture ID?”
The SAVE America Act builds on Lee’s original Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE, Act that the Utah senator introduced in the Senate last year. That version already passed the House in a bipartisan vote, but it has yet to be considered in the Senate where it would need Democratic support in order to overcome a filibuster.
At least 48 Republicans in the Senate have signed on as co-sponsors of the original bill, according to congressional records, 18 of whom joined in January alone. Utah Sen. John Curtis is a co-sponsor.
Lee has been in discussions with Senate Republican leadership to get a vote, but the Utah senator told the Deseret News this week nothing has been set in stone. One proposal from Lee is to revive old Senate rules to enforce a talking filibuster that would instead require opposing Democrats to be present on the floor and actively talking in order to stall a vote.
However, doing that could take weeks, if not months, to complete — and it would interfere with other agenda items.
What would the SAVE America Act do?
The SAVE America Act would implement proof-of-citizenship requirements in order to vote in federal elections, requiring voters to provide identification that is compliant with the most recent REAL ID guidelines, a passport, or some other citizenship document. For any identification card that does not include birthplace or citizenship status, the voter must also provide a birth certificate, a naturalization certificate, an adoption decree, or some document that proves he or she was born in the United States.
The most recent iteration would add language requiring voters to “present an eligible photo identification document before voting,” a measure that was raised by House Republican leaders earlier this month.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has indicated support for the SAVE Act, telling reporters he will schedule a vote “at some point.”
Pressure for the bill came to a boiling point this week when a handful of House Republicans threatened to stall action in the lower chamber until a vote was scheduled.
Lee said he is aware of those efforts on the House side, but told the Deseret News he doesn’t “entirely understand the procedural arrangement they’ve got” to be successful.
The bill has already been endorsed by President Donald Trump, who has posted several times on social media pushing for a vote.
It’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections and can lead to felony charges or deportation. Instances of noncitizens voting are rare and often done by mistake, according to recent studies.
Still, Trump made election integrity a key priority for his second administration, even going so far as signing a sweeping executive order last year that included a citizenship requirement.
More than 9% of voters in the U.S. do not have citizenship documents on hand, amounting to about 21.3 million people, according to a report from the Brennan Center for Justice. That can especially affect married women who changed their last names, the study shows.
Lee and other Republicans have pushed back on that assertion, arguing the SAVE America Act would provide “multiple ways” to prove one’s citizenship.