House chairman says Democrats see DC election laws as roadmap to get foreigners to vote nationwide

House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., is warning that Democrats want to use the voting laws in Washington, D.C., as a roadmap to get foreigners to vote in all 50 states.

"Other municipalities around the country not only allow non-citizens to vote in municipal elections.....[they] are actually using taxpayer dollars to encourage non-citizens to participate in our elections," Steil said on a Just the News, No Noise television special sponsored by the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC).

The District of Columbia has a law that allows individuals 18 and up — foreign or American — who have lawfully resided in the city for over 30 days to vote in local elections, according to Democracy Docket.

The Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022 was challenged in court in 2023, but a judge dismissed the lawsuit. 

"So someone working at the Russian embassy who's a Russian citizen....if they've resided in Washington, D.C. for 30 days, they can walk down to the polling station this November and vote in the municipal elections," Steil said. "So they want to use Washington, D.C., as a petri dish and roll this out nationally."

Steil, whose committee oversees election integrity issues, said that while it is illegal on paper for illegal migrants to vote in U.S. elections, it does happen.

"This is about enforcement [and] about preventing individuals from taking illegal action......it's why we moved the SAVE Act through my committee to make sure that we're requiring individuals who are registering to vote simply prove that they're a United States citizen," he said. 

The SAVE Act requires proof of citizenship to vote in elections. The House passed the SAVE Act in July with five Democrats voting in support of it. 

"This is a common sense bill that has no reason that the United States Senate hasn't taken it up," Steil said. "The United States Senate should take it up immediately and we need to work together to make sure that U.S. elections are for U.S. citizens only."

Election integrity has made headlines over the past few years as Americans have brought attention to concerns about elections not being secure. 

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that his state has made some changes to better secure elections going forward. 

"In Georgia, security has been my top priority," Raffensperger said in the special report. "We're going to make sure we have free, fair and fast elections."

He explained that Georgia recently implemented a law that states absentee ballots have to be reported no later than 8 p.m. on election night.

"We're expecting probably about five [or] maybe six percent of all voters in Georgia to choose to vote absentee," he said. But about 60 to 65% will actually vote early. So all those vote totals will be reported by 8 p.m. We think that's a good thing."

Some Republican leaders have speculated that the reason Democrats don't want to do much regarding election integrity is because they want illegal migrants to vote to swing elections. 

"I think it's pretty clear that one of the plays in the Democrats' playbook for 2024 has been to convert all of these illegals coming across the border into voters," chairwoman of the Election Integrity Network, Cleta Mitchell, said during the special. 

Mitchell referenced the "Help America Vote Act" which was passed in 2002 and made reforms to the way Americans voted.

"In the Help America Vote Act, it's required that before someone can be added to the voter rolls, you have to verify their identity and their residency," she said. "Guess what's missing from that list? Citizenship."

She referenced that the SAVE Act is important and should be passed by the Senate as it has already been passed by the House back in July. 

"This is a really big threat and the more we can keep it on the front burner, hopefully the more awareness there is," Mitchell said. "People need to be watching their DMV's and watching their local election offices and finding out, 'What's going on in your community to keep noncitizens from voting?'”