SAFEGUARD AMERICAN VOTER ELIGIBILITY ACT--Resumed
Congressional Record Vol. 172, No. 50
(Senate - March 19, 2026) PDF
Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the
SAVE America Act.
The principle at the heart of this legislation could not be simpler.
It is not confusing, and it could not be more important. American
elections are for American citizens. The fact that we are even here
debating this tells you everything you need to know about how far some
in this great country have drifted from common sense.
I have been fighting for the integrity of our elections for a long
time. As a senator in the Mississippi State Legislature, I voted
multiple times on the record to establish voter ID requirements--
something Mississippi voters eventually approved as part of a citizen-
led initiative.
Photo IDs have been required at the polls in Mississippi since 2014.
And let me tell you something, the Civil Rights Division of the Obama
Department of Justice reviewed Mississippi's voter ID law, deemed it
lawful, and never took a single legal action against it--because it is
lawful, it is fair, and it works.
Despite naysayers' argument that a photo ID requirement would place
undue burdens on the elderly, the poor, and the minorities, it
continues to work with voters able to show or acquire a legally
recognized photo ID. Did voting rights in Mississippi collapse? No. Did
democracy in my State end? No.
Mississippians vote, and our elections are decided by American
citizens who have greater public confidence in the integrity of our
electoral system. That is the issue before the U.S. Senate today.
For years now, we have heard Members of this body, pundits, and
politicians lecture the American people about the very real threat
posed by foreign interference in our elections, and they were right to
be concerned. Foreign interference in American elections is a serious
matter.
So let's talk about foreign interference. Foreign interference in our
elections is more than misleading or false posts and news stories
planted online or in the media by foreign adversaries. Foreign
interference has another form. If you are a citizen of another country
and you participate in an American election, you are interfering in
that election on behalf of a foreign nation. It is as simple as that.
Right now, today, noncitizens are taking advantage of loopholes to
register and vote in American elections without ever proving they are a
legal citizen of this country--no documentation, no verification.
And it is happening all over this country: in Oregon, in
Pennsylvania, Montana, Arkansas, Virginia, New Jersey, the District of
Columbia--the list goes on. Illegal aliens can obtain a driver's
license in 19 different States. And in many of those same States, that
driver's license can be used to register to vote--no proof of
citizenship required.
The American people are not naive. They see what is happening, and
they have been asking us--demanding of us--that we do something about
it, and they are right. It is happening, and it is past time to do
something about it.
The SAVE America Act does something about it. It requires proof of
citizenship to register and vote in Federal elections.
That is not radical. That is not voter suppression. That is a basic,
commonsense safeguard that a big majority of Americans support because
we all know that we all have to show a legal photo ID to do most
anything in this country.
The bottom line is that every single vote cast by noncitizens dilutes
the vote of a real law-abiding American citizen. That is not rhetoric;
it is math.
We can debate a lot of things in this Chamber, but we should not be
debating whether American elections should be decided by Americans. The
answer is yes.
For a dozen years, Mississippi voters have produced photo IDs before
they vote, and they do so with the knowledge that this simple act helps
to ensure the integrity of their vote.
This is the same goal at the heart of the SAVE America Act. I urge my
colleagues to support this legislation. Let's defend the ballot box and
restore confidence in our elections.
The right to vote in this great Nation belongs to the citizens of
this great Nation.
I yield the floor.