Illinois tries to expand automatic voter registration as SAVE Act passes U.S. House

(The Center Square) – Illinois voter integrity groups warn non-citizens that registering to vote in federal elections is a felony. The warning comes after U.S. House Republicans passed the SAVE Act to increase protections. President Joe Biden has vowed to veto the measure if it passes the Senate and reaches his desk.

House Republicans passed the SAVE act, which seeks to require proof of citizenship when a voter casts a ballot in a federal election. Currently it is illegal for a non-citizen to vote in federal elections.

Voter integrity groups are urging the advancement of a measure but also drawing attention to a legal strategy that they say Illinois county clerks can use when executing elections. Carol Davis, chairman of the Illinois Conservative Union, said America First legal sent a letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections Executive Director Bernadette Matthews.

“They can use two key existing federal laws to obtain information from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about an individual’s citizenship or immigration status for any lawful purpose. Since it is a felony to register to vote or vote in federal elections, if they find that that registration was not legal then those people can be removed from the rolls immediately,” said Davis. “They can use these laws to remove them [non citizens] from the rolls.”

The Illinois Election Integrity Program (IEIP) was founded in 2012 as a project of Illinois Conservative Union (ICU). The IEIP worked with Congress to pass the SAVE Act, largely along party lines; five House Democrats voted with Repubicans to pass the measure.

U.S. Sen. Mike Lee is spearheading the measure in the Senate.

In the letter , America First legal said Congress has imposed upon DHS a mandatory obligation to respond to lawful inquiries about an individual’s citizenship or immigration status. Should DHS refuse or fail to provide this information, election authorities can initiate legal action to obtain it.

“States and localities should submit requests to DHS to verify the citizenship or immigration status of registered voters on voter rolls where there are any reliable indicators that a voter may not be a U.S. citizen,” said America First Legal.

Davis pointed out the recently signed House Bill 3882, which restricts the state elections board and local election authorities access to DMV information like an individual’s immigration status.

"It [the Illinois law enacted July 1] has a specific list of entities that can obtain the information from the DMV, which specifically excluded the Illinois State Board of elections and local election authorities [from the list,]” said Davis.

Since 2017, Illinois has required the state’s citizens to be automatically registered to vote upon applying for or renewing a driver’s license or ID card. In 2020, what the Illinois Secretary of State called a "technical error," resulted in more than 500 non-U.S. citizens being registered to vote in Illinois.

The Secretary of State office quickly notified the Illinois State Board of Elections along with the 574 people impacted and in a statement at the time then Secretary of State Jesse White said, “it was fixed and won’t happen again.”

"We should have posters and billboards going up in every ethnic neighborhood warning these people in their own language… ‘You are committing a felony if you’re registered to vote or if a ballot is being cast in your name,’” said Davis. “Many of the people don’t realize they’re being registered to vote. The goal [of these shady non-government non profits] is to get them on the voter rolls.”

The SAVE Act, if passed by the Senate and signed by the president, would require states to obtain documentary proof of U.S. citizenship and identity, in person, when registering an individual to vote in a federal election. This requirement would extend to Illinois’ current automatic voter registration process. Davis said non-citizens are registering by mistake and could lose access to citizenship.

"Vote-by-mail ballots are going to be cast in the names of these people who have been illegally registered. They’ve fixed the laws so there’s very little we can do to stop it,” said Davis.

Recently state Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-CHicago, introduced a bill that would allow a backend opt out voter registration process as opposed to a frontend process, making it harder for those who apply for driver’s license to opt out of the automatic voter registration process. Senate Bill 496 didn’t pass both chambers in the spring session.