House Administration chair urges stricter voter-roll maintenance, introduces MEGA Act

The chair of the House Committee on House Administration opened a hearing on state voter-roll maintenance on the committee’s oversight of federal elections, saying the panel will examine how states identify and remove ineligible registrants and how they use the SAVE database.

The chair said he sent letters to 10 state secretaries of state in January asking about voter-list maintenance, voter eligibility including citizenship, and registration practices. He identified two secretaries present at the hearing: Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, and thanked them for appearing.

The chair cited recent examples he said illustrate problems with current processes: he said 62 noncitizens were found on Ohio’s voter rolls with the help of the SAVE database, that an Iowa school superintendent was registered and mailed a ballot in Maryland, and that a Kansas noncitizen was identified through SAVE and charged with illegal voting in three elections and later was revealed to have been a mayor. He also referenced a Minnesota noncitizen charged for voting in the 2024 election. "These are real stories," the chair said, arguing that "current federal law is part of the problem."

The chair criticized aspects of existing federal statutes, naming the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act as baseline standards enacted in 1993 and 2002 respectively, and argued they contain flaws that weaken election integrity. He asserted that under the NVRA a state must include a voter-registration application with every driver's-license application and said that creates a problem "when states are allowing illegal aliens to receive driver's licenses," adding, "That's absolutely nuts." He said, "Only eligible voters should be casting ballots in our elections. One illegal vote is too many."

He warned that insufficient list maintenance is especially risky in states with universal vote-by-mail policies because a live ballot is automatically mailed to every person on the voter rolls. He said poor maintenance can result in ballots mailed to people who have moved or are deceased and raised the possibility that a current resident could return a ballot that is not theirs.

To address those concerns, the chair introduced the Make Elections Great Again (MEGA) Act, which he described as updating and strengthening voter-list maintenance standards and including a new requirement that states conduct general maintenance at least every 30 days. He said the measure would create a baseline to ensure states keep their voter lists accurate and up to date.

No formal motion or vote on the proposed legislation was recorded during this opening statement. The chair closed by saying Congress has the authority to strengthen federal election standards and urged action to boost voter confidence and participation. He thanked the secretaries for being present and said he looked forward to the conversation that would follow.