By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – U.S. President Joe Biden, who is struggling in the polls, has vowed to veto a bill that seeks to expand voting requirements to include proof of citizenship.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives this week by a 221-198 vote, with five Democrats joining Republican members.
However, the law is unlikely to advance through the Democratic-led Senate.
Still, the U.S. Senate vote would give Republicans an opportunity to bring attention to two of their central issues this year: border and election security.
It also provides an opportunity to fuel former President Donald J. Trump’s claims that he lost the 2020 elections because of fraud, charges most legislators have denied.
Trump says Democrats have encouraged the surge of migrants so they can register them to vote, which would be illegal. Noncitizens are not allowed to vote in federal elections, nor are they permitted to vote in any statewide polls.
However, backers of the SAVE Act say research and audits in several states show that noncitizens have successfully registered to vote and cast ballots.
CRITICS CONCERNED
Yet those criticizing the legislation argue it happens rarely and is typically by mistake and say U.S. states have mechanisms to check for it.
However, the states don’t follow one standard voting protocol, an issue the new legislation would address.
Yet Biden promised to overturn the bill if it passes the Senate, which is unlikely.
Biden stressed that the SAVE Act does little to uphold existing penalties for non-citizen voting and complicates the legal voting process.
However, influential critics, such as Elon Musk, the owner of social platform X, questioned the president’s planned veto.
“There is a tiny chance this will pass the Senate if a few Dems cross party lines, but Biden said he would veto the bill even if it did,” Musk wrote in a post to his nearly 190 million X followers. “I wonder why?”
“It’s simple,” said Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. “He’s trying to win an election.”
DEMOCRACY THREATENED?
“Why would the majority of Democrats vote against the SAVE Act?” Maryland state Republican legislator Mark Fisher asked.
“Allowing noncitizens to vote is a threat to democracy,” he added.
Musk agrees. He also aimed at Vice President Kamala Harris this month for “lying” about former President Donald J. Trump.
“When will politicians, or at least the intern who runs their account, learn that lying on this platform doesn’t work anymore?”
Musk wondered in response to Harris’s claim that former President Trump would “ban abortion” if reelected in 2024.
The vice president asserted she and President Biden will “do everything in our power to stop [Trump] and restore women’s reproductive freedom.”
Critics now wonder how far they will go to remain in power and prevent Trump’s imminent reelection to the White House.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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