President Donald Trump is correct when he asserts that election integrity represents a national security concern. On Monday, speaking during a roundtable in Memphis, Tennessee, the president called on the Senate to weld the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act directly into the legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security through September. His message was unambiguous: the two priorities are not separate but intertwined.
Trump made the case plainly. “We want voter ID, we want proof of citizenship as part of our funding,” he said. He continued, “I’m suggesting very strongly that the Republicans, in going for the SAVE America Act, that you weld it into exactly this because voter ID is part of Homeland Security. Think of it. We’re talking about two separate items, but they’re really the same. Voter ID is part of Homeland Security. Proof of citizenship is part of homeland security. So I think it should be welded in. I think it should be together.”