Pence’s SAVE Act Opposition Is Dishonest, Constitutionally Illiterate

Former Vice President Mike Pence really wants you to think he is a principled man. He really goes on and on about how he, seemingly alone, stands for those bedrock conservative values that made this country great. His foundation, Advancing American Freedom, even boasts “The Conservative Movement Lives Here.”

He’s a constitutional conservative to his core. Until he isn’t.

Let’s take election reform. The SAVE Act, the main provision of which is so overwhelmingly popular with normal Americans that it’s only natural that the denizens of the Washington swamp oppose it with near-religious fervor, has stalled in the Senate. The bill would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in U.S. elections. 

Pence, ever worried about Norms™, felt the need to slither out of political obscurity to finger wag at people who actually want to safeguard elections against noncitizen voters and their leftist beneficiaries. He posted a statement Wednesday on X to that effect.

“Election reform is a national imperative, but under our Constitution, election reform must be undertaken at the state level. Our Founders limited Congress’ role in conducting our elections for good reason: They wanted elections to be administered closest to the people, free from undue influence of the national government.”

For those with your pocket Constitution handy, go ahead and whip that bad boy out and flip to Article I, Section 4 and give it a read. If you happen to have forgotten it today (for shame), here’s what it says:

“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.”

I added the emphasis there in case Pence misplaced his reading glasses.

As Sen. Mike Lee pointed out in a rebuke to Pence’s statement, “The NVRA—which SCOTUS has (wrongly) interpreted to prohibit states from seeking proof of citizenship when registering voters under the NVRA (even when it believes noncitizens are registering)—makes the SAVE America Act necessary[.] It’s a solution to a distinctively federal problem created by existing federal law—not an infringement on state authority.”

Pence didn’t specifically single out the SAVE Act, probably because he didn’t have the guts, but that’s been the only serious effort to codify election integrity at the federal level under Trump 2.0. If he’s not talking about the SAVE Act, then he’s just babbling about a threat that doesn’t exist.

While he casts himself as the honorable constitutional conservative standing against the tyrannical federalization of elections, Pence’s record tells a different story.

While serving in the House of Representatives, Pence voted for the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in December 2001. HAVA, according to the Election Assistance Commission, made “sweeping reforms to the nation’s voting process” and established “new mandatory minimum standards for states to follow in several key areas of election administration.” That sure does sound like federal influence over elections to me.

He also voted for the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 2006. As part of the act’s efforts to crack down on racial discrimination in voting, it required “certain areas of the country” where racial discrimination has been identified as more prevalent to get authorization from the federal government (either the attorney general or a U.S. district court judge) before making “any change affecting voting.” Regardless of the act’s good intentions, it still represents a massive interference by the federal government in elections, which Pence claims to oppose.

The enforcement mechanism for that provision in the VRA was ruled as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2013, more than six years after Pence voted to reauthorize it.

Maybe Pence’s record is why Americans Advancing Freedom tried to walk back Pence’s position with a baffling post on X:

“Federalizing elections is a bad idea. The federal government must be a willing partner when states seek to secure their own elections. This is why AAF is a proud supporter of the SAVE Act and the need for individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections.”

The non sequitur in this blatant attempt to cover for Pence’s constitutional illiteracy is baffling, even by political doublespeak standards. “Federal influence in elections is a bad idea. That’s why we support more federal influence in elections!”

So, Pence is for federal intervention in elections when it’s politically safe to do so, but is suddenly a dogmatic small government conservative again once it will get him kudos from the left and give him the opportunity to bash one of Trump’s primary initiatives. But then, apparently, he’ll almost immediately fold at the slightest hint of political blowback. So much for “principles.”

Pence has become like so many other Never-Trump neocons. It’s no longer about really having “principles;” it’s about being perceived by all the right people (read: the left) as having them. Earlier in the piece I made a reference hinting at Pence’s resemblance to a scaly, legless reptile. But even snakes have backbones. Pence undeniably belongs to the invertebrates.

He desires so badly to be seen as “one of the good ones” and on “the right side of history” that he’s willing to oppose one of the most commonsense efforts to secure our elections against voter fraud. Truly only the most corrupt or the most delusional would argue against a bill proposing that voters should have to show proof of citizenship before registering to vote.

Hayden Daniel is a staff editor at The Federalist. He previously worked as an editor at The Daily Wire and as deputy editor/opinion editor at The Daily Caller. He received his B.A. in European History from Washington and Lee University with minors in Philosophy and Classics. Follow him on Twitter at @HaydenWDaniel