WATCH: Sen. Lee asks Blanche about the Justice Department's efforts to access state voter rolls

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, blamed Democrat-led states and federal courts for leaving the Department of Justice without the ability to enforce the law that makes it illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections.

Noncitizen voting is extremely rare, and “there is no evidence that noncitizen voting has ever been significant enough to impact an election’s outcome,” according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

States are required to maintain their voter lists by adding, removing and updating them to ensure they’re accurate. For example, states audit whether noncitizens are registered to vote or have voted. A 2022 investigation in Georgia found there were 1,634 times noncitizens may have tried to register to vote and all those people were blocked from registering until they provided proof of citizenship.

However, Lee claimed that the Justice Department has no ability to ensure states are maintaining their voter rolls. He pointed to President Donald Trump's lawsuits against 30 states and the District of Columbia to release detailed voter information, including dates of birth, driver’s licenses and partial Social Security numbers. At least 13 of these efforts have been rejected, according to the Brennan Center.

“The department is thus left without a reliable, viable enforcement tool, even where noncompliance might be staring us in the face, as it is in some jurisdictions,” Lee said.

Lee then asked Blanche whether he believed the Trump-endorsed election legislation known as the SAVE America Act would “give the Department of Justice clear authority in its efforts to protect the sanctity and security of those elections.”

Blanche said it would be, adding that it is “a very important issue.”

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