House Republicans for a second time passed a stand-alone bill that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and impose voter roll purge requirements on states.

The legislation formally titled the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act passed in a 220-208 vote.

Four Democrats Reps. Ed Case (Hawaii), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Jared Golden (Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.) voted with all Republicans in favor.

It’s already illegal for those who are not U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections, and has been since 1996. But proponents of the bill have argued it is necessary to prevent migrants from voting in elections a claim contradicted by data showing only a handful of documented cases.

“There is nothing more sacred under the Constitution than ensuring that the people are able to have the voice in the election of the people that represent them in Washington, and throughout the country,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of the sponsors of the bill, said, thanking Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who helped President Trump challenge his 2020 election loss, for her work on the bill.

“Once that is undermined, then people lose faith in the very institutions upon which this is built. This legislation is designed to restore that faith, to save our elections, to save election integrity.”

Democrats argue the bill is a misguided effort to ban an already illegal practice and will just make it tougher for Americans to vote, including scores of people who don’t readily have proof of citizenship.

Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.) noted that senior citizens are especially unlikely to have needed documents and that even a military ID would not qualify as acceptable documentation under the act.

“Republicans would force Americans into a paperwork nightmare, burying voter registration under a mountain of bureaucracy and red tape,” he said.

“Under the SAVE Act, most Americans would be unable to register to vote using their Real ID. Further, under the SAVE Act, almost 70 million American women will be unable to register to vote using their birth certificate simply because they changed their name upon marriage,” he added.

“And the SAVE Act will also have a steep financial cost to American citizens, because, yes, the SAVE Act does allow Americans to use their passports to register to vote. But half of all Americans do not have a passport, and a passport costs $130.”

When Republicans first introduced the legislation last year, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said while it’s tough to prove migrants are voting in U.S. elections, it’s something the party “intuitively” knows is happening.

“We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But it’s not been something that is easily provable. We don’t have that number. This legislation will allow us to do exactly that it will prevent that from happening. And if someone tries to do it, it will now be unlawful within the states,” Johnson said last May.

But that intuition clashes with the data. 

One study by the Brennan Center for Justice found 30 suspected not confirmed cases of noncitizen voting out of 23.5 million votes cast, or roughly 0.0001 percent of the votes reviewed.

It’s a conclusion that’s also been reached by the libertarian Cato Institute, with one of its experts calling the claims one of the “most frequent and less serious criticisms” relating to migration.

Because voting illegally is a crime, migrants would also face stiff penalties for doing so, including deportation.

States that have passed proof of citizenship laws to vote in state and local elections have had difficulties in implementing them.

A Kansas law on the books for three years resulted in more than 22,000 people suspended from voter rolls after failure to submit proof of citizenship. 

And Arizona has had its own issues in updating its voter rolls with proof of citizenship, with some 200,000 residents caught in limbo due to state error tracking their citizenship.

Last year the bill was ignored by the Democratic-led Senate. This year, however, the bill could be received more favorably under a GOP majority and has been championed by President Trump, though it would likely need to overcome a Democratic filibuster.