A newly released Rasmussen Poll shows voters overwhelmingly support preventing noncitizens from participating in U.S. elections. The key word there is “prevent,” because the law already says only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections. But in numerous cases noncitizens have fraudulently cast ballots, throwing our results off and destabilizing trust in the election system.

Just this month, Logan Washburn, an elections correspondent at The Federalist, reported on 15 likely noncitizens who voted in Michigan. That may seem a small number, but this is one case among many, and it is enough to sway a close election.

The easy fix is to require everyone registering to vote to provide proof of United States citizenship. This is the simple goal of the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” (SAVE) Act, which was recently passed in the House and must now clear the Senate.

The SAVE Act, sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, requires in-person voter registration and documentation proving U.S. citizenship by showing a REAL ID, U.S. passport, military identification, birth certificate, or other forms of identification.

In a national telephone and online survey of 1,048 likely voters, Rasmussen asked, “How important is it to prevent illegal immigrants from voting in U.S. elections?” An overwhelming majority, 75 percent, said it is important.

Rasmussen asked a second question: “Should Congress enact a law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in national elections?” The results were similar, with 64 percent saying yes and 11 percent not sure.

It’s hard to understand why anyone would be against this basic step toward election integrity, but the Left is working overtime to prevent the passage of the SAVE Act, spreading lies like married women who change their name won’t be able to vote.  

Federalist Elections Correspondent Brianna Lyman noted 208 House Democrats voted against the SAVE Act. The total House vote was 220 for and 208 against SAVE. It means 49 percent of the House voted against the SAVE Act, while 75 percent of the public supports it.

Put another way, just four Democrats voted for the act — less than two percent of House Democrats voted for something 75 percent of Americans want.

Failure to support the SAVE Act is more pathetic proof that Democrats are not interested in serving their constituents. Perhaps Senate Democrats will come closer to matching the public’s wishes on this issue.