Making American Elections Great Again? Not So Fast.
MTG’s latest stunt would slash representation, hurt red states, and collapse in court.
Marjorie Taylor Greene unveiled her latest legislative stunt this month, the “Making American Elections Great Again” Act. With a name that echoes Trump’s infamous (borrowed from Reagan) slogan, the bill promises to protect American elections by counting only U.S. citizens in the Census, requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, and redrawing congressional districts and the Electoral College accordingly.
Greene claims the bill is about restoring “election integrity” and stopping “millions of illegals” from stealing votes and skewing representation. The reality is very different. The bill addresses a nonexistent problem, openly violates the Constitution, and would actually hurt many Republican‑leaning states, all while doing nothing to strengthen democracy.
Instead, it’s the latest example of performative politics, legislation written for headlines rather than for law.
Here’s what we know and why this bill is already dead on arrival.
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What is the MAEGA Act?
The Making American Elections Great Again Act is Marjorie Taylor Greene’s latest attempt to recast the rules of U.S. democracy in the name of “election integrity.” While it hasn’t yet been formally introduced in Congress, Greene has described its key provisions in interviews and statements:
Census Changes:
It would change how the Census counts people, excluding all non‑citizens — including undocumented immigrants, green card holders, and others — from the count used to determine congressional seats and Electoral College votes.
Voter Proof of Citizenship:
It would require all voters in federal elections to provide documented proof of U.S. citizenship (like a birth certificate or passport) to register and cast a ballot.
Redistricting & Electoral College:
By reducing the counted population in states with large immigrant communities, the bill would shift political power away from urban, diverse areas toward whiter, more rural states.
What do we know so far?
At this point, the MAEGA Act remains in its early, performative stage, more akin to a press release than a policy. The bill has not yet been formally introduced in Congress, and no bill number or full text appears in the Congressional Record. No other members of Congress have publicly signed on as co‑sponsors. Even among Republicans, support may be tepid, particularly from representatives in states like Texas and Florida that stand to lose political power under such a measure.
Greene has said she spoke with Trump about the bill, and he publicly praised her proposal, calling it “necessary to save our elections.” She unveiled the plan in early July 2025 in interviews and social media posts, framing it as a response to what she claims is widespread non‑citizen voting and an unfair distribution of congressional seats to “sanctuary states.”
So far, the proposal exists more as a talking point than actionable legislation, a familiar pattern in Greene’s tenure.
How is it an extension of the SAVE Act?
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s MAEGA Act builds directly on the earlier Republican‑backed SAVE Act. The SAVE Act (H.R. 22), introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R‑TX) in January 2025, passed the House on April 10 by a narrow 220–208 vote but stalled in the Senate. That bill would have required documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, to register to vote in federal elections, a policy critics called a “solution in search of a problem,” given that non‑citizen voting is already illegal and rare.
Want to know more about the SAVE Act and why it is a problem? See our reporting from this spring here:
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In March 2025, President Trump signed an executive order mandating stricter identity requirements and documentary proof of citizenship for federal voter registration. That order was swiftly blocked by multiple federal courts, which ruled it exceeded presidential authority and threatened to disenfranchise eligible voters.
The MAEGA Act builds upon the SAVE Act and the executive order, embracing proof-of-citizenship mandates while dramatically expanding them. Rather than targeting only voter registration, Greene’s bill goes further, seeking to exclude non‑citizens from Census counts used to determine House seats, Electoral College votes, and federal funding.
In short, what began as a proposal to add documentation to voter registration has escalated into a sweeping attempt to rewrite who “counts” in America, reshaping power along the assembly line of democracy itself.
Why is it a constitutional issue?
At its core, the Making American Elections Great Again Act conflicts directly with the U.S. Constitution’s explicit language about representation and the Census.
The Constitution, as amended by the 14th Amendment in 1868, requires that seats in the House of Representatives be divided among the states based on the “whole number of persons in each State”. The framers of the 14th Amendment chose this language deliberately to replace the infamous three‑fifths compromise and to ensure that everyone residing in the U.S., regardless of citizenship or legal status, would count toward their state’s political representation.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly reaffirmed this principle, striking down prior efforts to exclude certain populations from the count. In 2020, the Trump administration attempted to exclude undocumented immigrants from the Census, and courts either blocked it outright or allowed it to expire unresolved after Biden rescinded it.
Counting only citizens, as Greene’s bill proposes, would almost certainly conflict with the Constitution as written and interpreted, and would likely require a constitutional amendment to withstand legal challenge.
Beyond the Census, requiring additional documentary proof of citizenship to register or vote in federal elections has also faced constitutional challenges under the National Voter Registration Act and the 14th and 15th Amendments, which protect against undue burdens on the right to vote.
Greene’s bill doesn’t just stretch the law. It runs headlong into the Constitution, threatening to undo protections hard‑won over a century and a half of American history.
How does it impact representation?
One of the most far‑reaching, and perhaps least understood, effects of Greene’s Making American Elections Great Again Act is how it would reshape political power across the country by changing who gets counted toward representation in Congress.
Under the current system, all people residing in the United States — citizens and non‑citizens alike — are counted in the decennial Census. Those numbers are then used to divide up the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, assign each state’s Electoral College votes, and determine how much federal funding states and cities receive for various purposes, including schools, hospitals, and disaster relief.
But the Census isn’t just for government. Nonprofits, advocacy groups, and other organizations rely on accurate Census data to identify need, shape programs and services, and apply for grants. If millions of people are excluded from the count, those communities risk being overlooked not just by policymakers but also by the very organizations meant to serve them.
By excluding all non‑citizens from the count, Greene’s proposal would reduce the official population of immigrant‑heavy states, disproportionately hurting urban and diverse areas while benefiting whiter, more rural states. States like California, New York, Illinois, and New Jersey would lose seats in the House and clout in the Electoral College.
The result would be a nationwide gerrymander baked into the very foundation of representation, tilting power away from more populous and diverse communities and toward smaller, more homogeneous states and districts. It would not just reduce funding and services for millions of people living in undercounted areas, but also shrink their voice in the political process.
The MAEGA Act isn’t just about who votes; it’s about who counts at all.
How does it impact even red states?
While Greene frames her bill as a way to punish “sanctuary states” and liberal strongholds, the reality is that the Making American Elections Great Again Act would also hurt Republican‑leaning states, including some of the GOP’s most important power bases.
States like Texas, Florida, and Arizona have large immigrant populations, both documented and undocumented, who would no longer count toward their state’s representation and funding under Greene’s plan. Texas alone has more than 4.5 million foreign-born residents; Florida has over 4 million. Subtracting those people from the Census would likely cost Texas and Florida seats in the House of Representatives and reduce their clout in the Electoral College.
It’s not just a political hit either. These states would lose billions in federal funding for infrastructure, healthcare, and education that is allocated based on population. Cities like Houston, Miami, Dallas, and Phoenix, all with growing immigrant communities, would bear the brunt of those cuts.
Even in solidly red areas, the loss of population count would ripple through the economy, weakening their ability to attract federal resources and business investment.
Unintentionally, Greene’s bill would shift political power not just away from Democratic strongholds but also from key Republican‑leaning states, undermining the very coalition her party depends on to win national elections.
How it seeks to fix a nonexistent problem
Greene justifies her Making American Elections Great Again Act by claiming that millions of undocumented immigrants are voting illegally and stealing elections, but the facts don’t support that claim.
Non‑citizen voting in federal elections is already illegal, and research consistently shows it is vanishingly rare. Even the conservative Heritage Foundation, which maintains a database of proven voter fraud cases, found just 24 cases of non‑citizen voting over the past 20 years, out of billions of ballots cast nationwide. That works out to an average of about 2–5 cases per federal election cycle, a rate so microscopic it is statistically irrelevant.
Similarly, a Government Accountability Office study found a fraud rate between 0.0003% and 0.0025%, and even Trump’s own voter fraud commission (disbanded in 2018) failed to uncover significant evidence of non‑citizen voting.
In short, Greene’s bill attempts to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, while creating entirely new problems for democracy, representation, and governance.
Why it is doomed to fail, but that’s the point
On its face, the Making American Elections Great Again Act has almost no chance of becoming law.
It conflicts directly with the Constitution’s requirement to count the “whole number of persons” for representation, a principle enshrined since the 14th Amendment in 1868. Changing that would almost certainly require a constitutional amendment, which demands the approval of two-thirds of Congress and three-quarters of the states. That’s a political impossibility given today’s polarization.
Even within the Republican Party, support is far from guaranteed. States like Texas, Florida, and Arizona — all heavily reliant on immigrant populations for representation and federal funding — would stand to lose seats and money if this were enacted. GOP lawmakers from those states have little incentive to back a measure that would diminish their own power.
If, by chance, the legislation were to pass the House, the equal representation in the Senate would almost certainly block it. Even states that would stand to gain electoral votes or House representation would recognize the economic impacts.
The courts, too, are likely to block the proposal. Similar attempts, like Trump’s 2020 order to exclude undocumented immigrants from the Census, were struck down or abandoned after adverse rulings.
However, Greene likely knows all of this. The goal isn’t to pass workable legislation. The goal is to generate headlines, reinforce the narrative that Democrats are “stealing elections,” and energize her base by framing herself as the one brave enough to “do something.”
In the end, the Making American Elections Great Again Act isn’t about strengthening democracy. It is classic performative politics— a solution in search of a problem, designed not to govern, but to provoke.
Closing
In trying to redraw the map of who counts in America, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bill reveals more about her priorities than about any real threat to our elections. It disregards the Constitution, undermines her own party’s strongholds, and targets communities whose political leanings are more complex than her rhetoric allows. But perhaps the most telling part is that the people she’s so eager to erase from the count are already here, working, paying taxes, and building communities, and many statistically lean toward the very party seeking to silence them.
In the end, the Making American Elections Great Again Act isn’t about counting voters. It’s about feeding fear.
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Bibliography:
Brennan Center for Justice. The Myth of Voter Fraud. New York University School of Law, 2007.
Government Accountability Office. Elections: Issues Related to State Voter Identification Laws. GAO-14-634, September 2014.
Heritage Foundation. Voter Fraud Database. Accessed July 11, 2025.
National Archives. 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights (1868). Accessed July 11, 2025.
United States Census Bureau. Census 2020 Apportionment Results. April 26, 2021.
United States Congress. Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, H.R. 22, 119th Congress. Introduced January 9, 2025.
Bowens, Janae, and Emma Withrow. “Fact Check Team: Republican Push for Citizen‑Only Census Count Sparks Debate.” WCTI12, July 8, 2025.
Walker, Jackson. “Marjorie Taylor Greene Proposes Bill to Only Count Citizens in Census: ‘Must Pass It.’” The National News Desk (WJLA), July 3, 2025.
Nitzberg, Alex. “Rep. MTG to Introduce Bill Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote, New Census That Only Counts Citizens.” Fox News Digital, July 3, 2025.
“Rep. MTG to Introduce Bill Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote, New Census That Only Counts U.S. Citizens.” AOL News, July 3, 2025.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene Rants At Biden Over ‘Crooked Census ...’” Yahoo News, July 3, 2025.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene Proposing Census Bill to Exclude ‘Illegal ...’” Yahoo News, July 1, 2025.
thank you
These people who support Trump like Marjorie Green she needs to go how the people of her stay and support her is beyond me true Americans don’t put up with this crap Trump and all of his cronies need to be thrown in jail with him. God save America.