Conservative activists are taking a core election-integrity initiative on the road in a rallying attempt to save the SAVE Act. 

On Monday, Tea Party Patriots Action will roll out its inaugural Only Citizens Vote Bus Tour, a trek covering more than a dozen states — from California to Maryland — to champion the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. The bill amends the flawed National Voter Registration Act to require individuals registering to vote to provide documentary proof of citizenship before casting ballots in federal elections. 

Proponents say the SAVE Act is an additional layer of election security that does not currently exist in current law. Opponents, including the vast majority of Democrats in Congress, insist there are already protections in federal law that make falsely claiming U.S. citizenship on voter registration forms a felony. 

But as Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and honorary chairwoman of Tea Party Patriots Action, put it, the attestation process is nothing more than an “honor system.” Voters over the past 30 years have been asked to put a lot of faith in a system that has proved less than honorable. 

Yes, Noncitizens Are Voting 

In one of the more recent high-profile cases of voter fraud, a Chinese foreign national was charged with voting in the 2024 presidential election. The University of Michigan student just days before the election allegedly used his student ID to register and vote in the election, according to federal prosecutors. The noncitizen, whose vote counted in the election “because there is no way for election officials to retrieve it once it’s been put through a tabulator,” has since fled the U.S.

An audit conducted by the Michigan Secretary of State’s office in the wake of the vote fraud charges identified 15 people “who appear to be non-U.S. citizens and cast a ballot in the 2024 General Election.” Democrats shrug off the incidents, arguing they are a fraction of the total vote. 

While a single ineligible ballot is an assault on free and fair elections, election-integrity watchdogs say the problem runs wider and deeper than liberal voting activists like to admit. Thousands of noncitizens have popped up on the nation’s voter rolls, according to registration reviews. 

“Having laws on the books does not guarantee their compliance. Take a state speed limit. Posting a sign saying it’s 65 mph does not guarantee drivers will adhere to that speed. In fact, most of them won’t,” wrote the Heritage Foundation’s Matthew Tragesser in a 2024 column in support of the SAVE Act. “We see the same type of situation when it comes to people residing in the United States who are not citizens but continue to vote in American elections.”

‘Poor List Hygiene’

With dirty voter rolls from Alaska to Maine, ineligible voters remain in the system for years. 

“Poor list hygiene is a reliable warning signal for future list maintenance problems,” J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation told a House committee last month. He added that the foundation has discovered nearly a quarter of New York’s statewide voter roll was missing Social Security numbers. 

“Left unchecked, this means millions of records cannot be matched to the Social Security Death Index for reliable verification,” Adams said, admonishing Congress that election integrity is at risk in the midterm elections ahead. 

The SAVE Act would require stronger voter roll maintenance processes. 

‘Sending a Clear Message’

Tea Party Patriots Action asserts that the SAVE Act would go a long way in securing integrity and confidence in elections. The measure passed in the House, but with 208 Democrats voting against it. Democrats won’t even allow the bill to move to the floor for a vote. 

“It’s crazy because over 80 percent of Americans want to ensure that only citizens are voting in our elections,” Martin said. “That is a supermajority of Democrats and independents, as well as Republicans. So, if the Democrats were truly doing what their base wanted, doing what their constituency want and what Americans want, they would be making sure they are voting for this bill and help us pass it into the law.” 

That’s as likely as a tickle fight between President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. 

Martin said the Only Citizens Vote Bus Tour is designed to drive more attention to the issue and urge the Republican-controlled Congress to get really serious about passing the bill. To do that, Martin said, leadership will need to attach the SAVE Act to “must-pass legislation,” such as a bill to avoid a government shutdown or funding for the Defense Authorization Act.  

“The most important thing that I care about at the end of the day is that the people who are voted into office are truly the voters’ choice, and you can’t have that if you don’t have clean voter rolls,” the conservative activist said. 

The bus tour will culminate on Sept. 10 in Washington, D.C., with a rally at Upper Senate Park.  Organizers say “patriots from across the country” will deliver petition signatures to members of congress, “sending a clear message that only American citizens should vote in American elections.”