Reports Claim 21 Million Can't Prove They're Citizens, So Are They Even Citizens? | WLT Report Skip to main content
We may receive compensation from affiliate partners for some links on this site. Read our full Disclosure here.

Reports Claim 21 Million Can’t Prove They’re Citizens, So Are They Even Citizens?


President Trump just signed an executive order requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Passports, military IDs, or REAL IDs will do. Simple, basic stuff.

Enter the liberals.

The Brennan Center says over 20 million people can’t “easily” access those docs, and nearly 4 million don’t have them at all.

ADVERTISEMENT

The left calls the policy unfair. (Because it targets their massive illegal voter base?)

Trump calls it election integrity. It’s just common sense.

And it’s what most countries require.

The Federalist reports:

The left-wing Brennan Center for Justice claimed that more than 20 million Americans “lack ready access” to proof of citizenship documents. What’s more, the group asserted that survey data shows nearly 4 million Americans “don’t have these documents at all.”

The Brennan Center apparently relied on the honor system when performing its survey, so it’s not clear that the respondents are even American citizens — as is often the case with the current voter registration system. But even if they are citizens, failing to require proof of citizenship still poses a threat to the integrity of U.S. elections. Yet the left and the propaganda press oppose the SAVE Act because they claim Americans are essentially too lazy to get their citizenship documents in order.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to promote election integrity. Among the provisions is a mandate that prospective voters provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. Some examples of acceptable proof of citizenship include a United States passport, a REAL ID that indicates citizenship, a military identification card, and a valid state or federal government-issued identification.

In line with the lawfare that has plagued Trump’s second term already, the left-wing group “ActionLink” said that while Trump’s executive order is “going to be challenged in court,” the SAVE Act “does much of the same thing” and therefore must be opposed.

The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would require in-person voter registration and documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. While it’s already technically illegal for noncitizens to register to vote — and vote — current law is largely toothless. The only thing standing between a noncitizen and voting is a small square box on the federal voter registration form that requires an applicant to attest that he is telling the truth about his citizenship status under penalty of perjury. In other words, the only thing preventing a noncitizen from registering to vote is the honor system.

ADVERTISEMENT

The left likes to pretend that it supports prohibitions on noncitizen voting. Michigan’s Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said as much in a video denouncing the SAVE Act: “They are trying to take something that we all agree on — that only U.S. citizens should vote in U.S. elections — and use that to make it harder for millions of eligible citizens to cast their vote.”

Trump’s executive order and the SAVE Act simply add teeth to current prohibitions on noncitizens voting. If Benson and the rest of the left agree that only U.S. citizens should vote, why all the opposition? Wouldn’t they want to know whether, for example, 21.3 million voting-age people in America are actually citizens and eligible to vote?

From the Brennan Center’s site:

Last year, the Brennan Center partnered with VoteRiders, the Center for Civic Democracy and Engagement (CDCE) at the University of Maryland, and Public Wise to survey Americans about what identification they possess and what they know about voter ID laws in their state. We also asked respondents whether they had documents that prove their citizenship — a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers — readily available. Our research indicates that more than 9 percent of American citizens of voting age, or 21.3 million people, don’t have proof of citizenship readily available. There are myriad reasons for this — the documents might be in the home of another family member or in a safety deposit box. And at least 3.8 million don’t have these documents at all, often because they were lost, destroyed, or stolen.

And this comes on the heels of President Trump’s executive order to include citizenship questions on ballots:



 

Join the conversation!

Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!

Leave a comment
Thanks for sharing!