The claim: Biden opposing SAVE Act is 'cheating'; Walz is allowing 'illegals' to vote in Minnesota
An Aug. 6 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) pairs a picture of President Joe Biden with a warning about the fairness of the presidential election.
“The fix is already in. The GOP passed the SAFE ACT. Joe Biden is going to veto it,” the post reads in part, apparently referring to a citizenship verification bill actually called the SAVE Act. “Millions of Illegals will be voting in this years (sic) election. Kamala Harris little weasel running mate has already passed a law allowing illegals to vote in their state elections.”
The post was liked more than 12,000 times in a week.
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Our rating: False
The post misrepresents two legislative actions. Noncitizens aren't allowed to vote, and vetoing the SAVE bill would not change that or violate any laws to constitute "cheating." Minnesota's automatic voter registration bill, signed by Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, does not allow noncitizens of any status to vote in state or federal elections.
Non-citizens cannot vote
Claims about the impact of a possible veto by President Joe Biden or Minnesota's registration bill are undermined by a simple fact: noncitizen voting in federal elections is illegal. Neither action would change that.
The social media user presumably meant to refer to the SAVE Act, which would require all voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote, instead of the SAFE Act, which focuses on the collection of electronic communications by American citizens.
The Republican-led House passed the SAVE Act in July, but it likely has no chance of being passed by the Democrat-controlled Senate. Even if it reached Biden’s desk, his administration has announced it officially “strongly opposes” the bill, contending that it only adds a burden to citizens wanting to register to vote.
The post offers no evidence for how keeping things status quo would suddenly lead to millions of votes being cast by noncitizens of any legal status. According to research by the Brennan Center for Justice, just 30 suspected cases of noncitizen voting were referred for investigation in a sample of 42 jurisdictions with 23.5 million votes counted in the 2016 presidential election. Similarly low levels of noncitizen voting have been reported in other studies and analyses around the country.
One analysis by the center notes noncitizens would take a huge risk by even registering to vote. Penalties for registering and voting illegally include up to five years in prison, deportation and an end to naturalization processes. Voter rolls are routinely reviewed to remove inactive and ineligible voters.
Fact check: No, Minnesota ballot envelopes don't list voter's political party
The post does not identify what law Walz signed that supposedly would allow noncitizens to vote. The claim could stem from laws passed in Minnesota in 2023 that allow immigrants without legal status to get driver’s licenses and create a system for automatically registering voters when getting or renewing a driver’s license or state ID.
However, the state explicitly prohibits noncitizens from voting in any elections – even local elections – according to the Secretary of State’s Office. The concerns expressed about automatic voter registration ignore the fact that proof of citizenship must be provided to be registered to vote. An explainer by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune noted passports and birth certificates are reviewed by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to verify citizenship, along with other documents people submit to get an enhanced driver’s license or Real ID, before they can be added to voter rolls.
Virgil Wiebe, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, has researched voting by noncitizens in the state and found it to be exceedingly rare as well. He told USA TODAY that immigrant rights advocates actually wanted to make sure there were safeguards to keep noncitizens from registering to vote in Minnesota when the two laws went into effect "because the immigration and criminal consequences of illegal voting are serious." He said most cases of noncitizens registering to vote were accidental and often a result of confusion over eligibility.
Wiebe produced a report earlier this year showing noncitizen voting and registration is exceedingly rare. His analysis of legal databases, press accounts, thinktank reports and other sources found a total of three state convictions – and no federal convictions – for voting when not a citizen over a period of time when 13.4 million votes were cast in Minnesota, from 2015 to 2024. The paper also pointed to an August 2017 state audit of Minnesota's voter registration database that led to 31 registrations being challenged on citizenship grounds out of more than 5.4 million registrations in the system.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
- Virgil Wiebe, Aug. 12, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Minneapolis Star-Tribune, June 18, Minnesota’s new automatic voter registration system is up and running. How does it work?
- Minnesota Secretary of State, accessed Aug. 12, Who can vote?
- University of St. Thomas, revised June 19, Needles in Haystacks: Noncitizen Voting Violations in Minnesota
- Cornell University Law Information Institute, accessed Aug. 12, 18 U.S. Code § 611 - Voting by aliens
- Cato Institute, Nov. 25, 2020, Noncitizens Don’t Illegally Vote in Detectable Numbers
- Brennan Center for Justice, April 12, Noncitizens Are Not Voting in Federal or State Elections — Here’s Why
- Brennan Center for Justice, May 25, 2017, Noncitizen Voting: The Missing Millions
- Brennan Center for Justice, Jan. 25, 2017, Analysis: Noncitizen Voting is Vanishingly Rare
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