On Feb. 11, the House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act with a largely partisan vote of 220 to 208. The bill’s purported purpose is to protect the integrity of elections by amending the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. While the act is framed as a safeguard from non-citizen registration and voting, in reality, the bill is unnecessary and dangerously restricts women, low-income citizens, and minority groups from voting.
Since 2016, President Trump and his supporters have repeatedly claimed that non-citizen voter fraud has been rampant. Without offering verified evidence, Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller claimed that 14% of registered voters were non-citizens in 2017.
The non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice found that the amount of votes cast by non-citizens in the last 15 years account for 0.0003 to 0.001 percent of all votes. In fact, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, voter fraud involving deceased individuals is higher than fraud caused by non-citizens. The SAVE Act is attempting to solve a problem that doesn’t exist and prevent eligible groups from voting. There’s no reason to have protection against non-citizen voter fraud when there is virtually none. The act only makes it harder for already marginalized eligible voters to participate in elections. Not only is the SAVE Act a sham, it is also a threat to our Democracy, a threat to one of our country’s founding principles.
The SAVE Act is dangerous to America. The bill requires proof of citizenship through a birth certificate, passport, certificate of citizenship, or naturalization certificate. According to the Center of Democracy and Civil Engagement, around 9% of registered voters do not have access to a document that proves their citizenship. This is due to the high cost of acquiring such a document or lost or damaged proof of citizenship. These restrictions could possibly be addressed with future solutions, like lowering costs. If passed however, the SAVE Act will bar more than 21 million eligible voters from being able to vote.
Furthermore, while some people have access to their birth certificate, the name may not match with their current legal name, as many people change their names after getting married. Pew Research Center found that this would require over 69 million women to take extra steps to change their name in order to vote, a time-consuming and expensive process. According to the US State Department, the cost of a new passport can be up to $165, not including the cost to acquire the necessary birth certificate, bringing the total up to over $200. This completely violates the 24th Amendment by adding a tax to vote in elections. The act turns what is a fundamental right for American citizens into something that can be impossible to execute.
Since the bill requires that proof of citizenship must be shown in person, it could eliminate automatic voter registration. According to the United States Election Assistance Commission, it was one of the most used methods for voting registration during the 2024 presidential election. Automatic voter registration actually increases voter participation among young people and low-income people, according to a Data for Progress report. Since the bill would require Americans to register in person, it places the burden on Americans to register themselves, which places an especially weighty burden on struggling working families who would have to take time off from their jobs to register. In a very un-democratic way, this would reduce voter registration and turnout.
Passing the SAVE Act would shift the overall electorate makeup. Citizens who don’t have proof of citizenship are usually in marginalized groups, such as Latinos or African Americans, according to the study, “Who Do Voter ID Laws Keep from Voting?” If the SAVE Act passes, these groups will not have access to vote, despite their eligibility. These voter ID laws can also discourage voting from certain under-represented groups. According to the Michigan State University study “Voter Identification Laws and the Suppression of Minority Votes,” bills and laws similar to the SAVE Act can directly discourage minority groups from voting altogether, leading to a major turnout suppression. The SAVE Act fundamentally changes the composition of the electorate, removing the vote from millions of Americans who need representation in government.
Although the SAVE Act has already passed the House, the bill still has a ways to go. The act is currently being debated in the Senate, but is unlikely to pass due to the 60 vote requirement currently not being met. It also previously failed to become law late last year. However, Republican leaders say they are determined to find a way to pass this—and other, even more restrictive—voting legislation.
There’s no justification for restricting a fundamental democratic right to solve an issue that doesn’t exist, and in so doing, disenfranchise millions of Americans. A democracy depends on representation, not exclusion.
