A reform of election laws intended to keep non-citizens from voting in U.S. elections is stalled in the Senate currently, leading one Florida Republican to call for his colleagues to keep talking until Democrats cave and allow a floor vote.
“However we do this, all right? Whether it’s part of the spending bill this week, whether it’s a separate bill, whether we have to stay there, you know, and do a standing filibuster, whatever it’s gonna take. We got to get this passed. We’ve got to secure elections. (There) cannot be another election, and we’re worried about whether there’s gonna be fraud in the election,” Rick Scott said Saturday.
While Scott is confident he can count on his 53 Republican colleagues to back the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which has already passed the House of Representatives on party lines, the Senate’s 60-vote cloture rule means the measure may not see a floor vote unless Republicans are willing to wear down opposition.
“Let’s make everybody stay there and talk and have the standing filibuster. I know it’s going to be a lot of work, but that’s what we ought to start with, and see if the Democrats want to do this,” Scott said Saturday morning on Fox News.
The SAVE Act requires aspirant voters to provide documentary proof of being American citizens, and for states to purge non-citizens from voter rolls.
Scott, like many in his party, believes this is key to national security.
“We’ve got to secure our elections, we’ve got to secure ourselves from all the fraud. We got to secure our border. There’s a lot of things we have to secure in this country, but it starts with having a secure election,” he said.
The Naples Republican, currently in his second term, says that in Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, non-citizens can’t vote, and believes this standard should be applied federally.
“We don’t get to vote in another country. Why are people from another country getting to vote in our country? It’s common sense,” Scott said.
