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On March 26, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, also known as the SAVE America Act, stalled on the Senate floor. This bill, which would require government-issued identification proving citizenship in order to register to vote, would upend voting as we know it.

But, the system it aims to replace already works.

Proponents of the SAVE America Act insist it’s a necessary safeguard against noncitizen voting, but the data tells a different story. Utah recently completed one of the most exhaustive voter citizenship reviews in the country, conducting a multistep audit of more than 2 million registered voters over nearly a year.

The result: one noncitizen registered to vote but never voted.

This isn’t a crisis, nor is it a rounding error. Utah follows the same registration method as the majority of the nation, providing options to register in person, online or by mail. A study of this magnitude proves that the bill won’t provide additional security to our already secure voting methods; it just doesn’t make sense.

In fact, data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services highlights that only 0.04% of registered voters have been flagged as potential noncitizens. To implement additional verification in response to such a small number is both unnecessary and irrational.

The........

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