Graham and Blackburn introduced the Election Security Partnership Act that would incentivize states to take action to prevent illegal aliens from voting in federal elections. Under this legislation, states that submit their voter registration lists to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would receive supplemental federal funding.
Support legislation to incentivize states to submit voter registration lists to DHS for SAVE checks by providing supplemental federal funding, in order to prevent noncitizens and other ineligible individuals from voting in federal elections.
Occurrences
Evidence
Congress.gov lists S.128 sponsor Sen. Mike Lee and 49 current cosponsors. Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-SC] is marked as an original cosponsor dated 01/16/2025.
The bill requires states to take ongoing steps to ensure only U.S. citizens are registered and says a state may use information from DHS through SAVE or otherwise. The text contains no supplemental federal funding mechanism.
Latest Action: Senate - 01/16/2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration. Congress.gov shows the bill status as Introduced, not passed or enacted.
Executive Order 14399 directs DHS, USCIS, and SSA to compile and transmit State Citizenship Lists derived from federal citizenship records, SSA records, SAVE data, and other federal databases. It also discusses withholding federal funds from noncompliant states where authorized by law.
The Guardian reported that a federal judge blocked Trump's election executive order and noted Congress was considering a similar Save America Act requirement that had not received approval in both chambers.
The Guardian reported that a federal judge in Boston blocked implementation of Trump's March 31 order directing the administration to compile a national voter file and restrict mail-in ballots ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Assessments
Graham took a concrete same-term legislative step by originally cosponsoring S.128, the Senate SAVE Act, which addresses citizenship verification and potential use of DHS/SAVE information. However, the bill had not been enacted and, based on the provided text summary, did not include the promised supplemental federal funding incentive for states to submit voter registration lists for SAVE checks. A later executive order pursued related voter-citizenship verification and funding-pressure concepts, but it was not Graham-backed legislation, did not create the promised supplemental funding structure, and was reportedly blocked in court. Because the promised legislative funding incentive was not delivered despite a serious related legislative attempt, this is best scored as not fulfilled with effort credit.