Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem held a press conference at the Maricopa County election center in Phoenix on Friday to discuss election wrongdoing in the state. She emphasized the importance of preventing illegal immigrants from voting in elections, and said the federal SAVE America Act, which has passed the House of Representatives, is needed to fix the problem.
“I hope that you do recognize that in the past, your state has been an absolute disaster on elections, that your leaders have failed you dramatically by not having systems that work, by disenfranchising Americans who wanted to vote that had to stand in lines for hours because machines failed or software failed,” Noem said. “There’s no state that could use more improvement than Arizona, and you should be asking all of your leaders what they’re doing to fix the system. What are they doing to make sure that individuals in this state can trust that their vote is going to be taken, that it’s going to be counted and that it’s going to matter to make sure the right people are in charge.”
She explained that DHS is intervening in Arizona because its responsibilities include protecting “critical infrastructure.” Noem said, “I would say that many people believe that it may be one of the most important things that we need to make sure we trust is reliable, and that when it gets to Election Day, that we’ve been proactive to make sure that we have the right people voting electing the right leaders to lead this country through the days that we have, knowing that people can trust it.”
Much of Noem’s speech discussed the problem of illegal immigrants voting in elections. She said the reason Democrats oppose the SAVE America Act is because they want illegal immigrants voting in elections. The SAVE America Act mandates that individuals provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a valid U.S. passport, birth certificate, or REAL ID-compliant driver’s license when registering to vote. The bill also requires photo identification to cast a ballot, and establishes processes for verifying identity in cases of name changes, and directs states to remove non-citizens from voter rolls.
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