Lowcountry reacts to proposed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — The Lowcountry is reacting to a proposed bill that would require individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote and that remains stalled in the Senate.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, also known as the SAVE America Act, would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering, a strict photo ID when casting a ballot, overall voter roll purges, and place a legal liability on election officials.

The bill would also get rid of mail-in ballots except for cases of illness, disability, military deployment, or travel.

Supporters of the bill, including President Donald Trump, argue the bill ensures election security and prevents fraud. Opponents of the bill argue that the bill would create voter disenfranchisement and registration barriers.

“Right now, all our voters, they attest to a legal document saying they are a U.S. citizen, and I know the State Election Commission checks that data through their process and identifies voters who may not be citizens,” Isaac Cramer, Charleston County Board of Elections executive director, says. “And they’re doing that on a periodic basis, but this bill ultimately will change the way voters are registering.”

Representative Nancy Mace says the SAVE America Act is simple and protects the vote.

“Democrats are fighting it tooth and nail because they know exactly what clean elections mean for them: they lose,” Rep. Mace says. “The House has passed this bill three times. Three times. It’s past time the Senate does their job, passes it, and sends it to the President’s desk. Americans are watching.”

The bill prohibits states from accepting and processing an application to register to vote in a federal election unless the applicant presents physical documentary proof of U.S. citizenship.

The bill specifies what documents are considered acceptable proof of citizenship, such as identification that complies with the REAL ID Act of 2005, like a birth certificate or a passport.

Cramer says that citizenship is already a requirement to vote and instances of noncitizen voting throughout Charleston County are rare and almost nonexistent.

“I want to make it very clear that non-citizen voting is minuscule and something that is illegal already, and those cases get investigated by the authorities,” Cramer says. “So here in South Carolina, we have SLED, and also these things don’t just get swept under the rug. They’re investigated properly, and then those things are prosecuted if necessary.”

Jeri Cabot, League of Women Voters Charleston Area co-president, says elections are already secure and the bill is unnecessary.

“I think the United States has to be very proud, and South Carolina in particular, about how secure our elections are and how much effort all our voting officials take to make sure people get registered,” Cabot says. “I think it was almost an insult to the thousands of election officials that work day in and day out to make sure our elections are secure. It’s meant to cause confusion, not clarity, because there’s not an issue here.”

Cramer agrees and says it would disenfranchise all types of people, including those who update their voter registration by mail and residents in rural parts of the Lowcountry.

“In essence, those people will now need to come to our office, which during election time, Charleston County, we get thousands of voter registration applications, which would really slow down the process for voters here when they come in and also maybe make it difficult for people who lack transportation to come to our office to register,” Cramer says. “And just to be clear, this is not just a certain demographic of voters. This would impact everyone.”

He also believes putting the responsibility of verifying citizenship on voters and local election officials is troublesome, especially since it’s an unfunded mandate with no money directly attached to implementing the bill if it becomes law.

“There’s no funding attached to the bill as it currently is, and that would make it very difficult to implement, especially before the November elections that are just right around the corner,” Cramer says.

Cramer believes what the bill says is another way to ensure the integrity of the election is to instead strengthen the behind-the-scenes database.

Opponents are also concerned about the potential criminal penalties on election officials and administration.

“Don’t let this issue just roll on and not have it scrutinized, so people know that it puts penalties on election officials,” Cabot says. “They jeopardize their job. It causes anxiety amongst everyday voters, and it causes distraction from preparing to vote.”

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has cosponsored the bill and says he believes, given the history of recent elections, it is imperative that eligible people are allowed to vote in abundance, and that cheating should be harshly dealt with.

“Common sense requirements to prove your eligibility to vote in federal elections are not ‘Jim Crow 2.0,” Graham said in a statement. “Every time we try to bring rationality to the debate around illegal immigration, the Democrats let the radical, left-wing nut jobs take over for them – but they won’t for us. I look forward to voting on the SAVE America Act.”

The House passed the legislation three times already, but it hasn’t made any movement yet in the Senate.

Speaker Mike Johnson is continuing to push for its passage by attaching it to a must-pass budget package; however, it still faces some opposition in the Senate.

Learn more about the legislation here.