SAVE America Act Passes US House, Moves to Senate
- Lynn Meshke
- Feb 15
- 3 min read
On February 11, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the SAVE America Act with a 218-213 vote along strict party lines. Introduced by Republican legislators, the bill requires proof of citizenship for voter registration and voter ID for all federal elections.
The League of Women Voters - along with dozens of other nonpartisan organizations - oppose this legislation for several reasons.
First, it is unnecessary. Countless studies done by reputable organizations across the political and ideological spectrum have all come to the same conclusion: noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare. In fact, a person is more likely to be struck by lightning than to be an illegal voter. Furthermore, illegal voting of any sort is already a crime punishable by significant jail time and, if you are not a US citizen, deportation.
Second, this legislation would make it harder to vote. Not only would it require people to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote, it would limit the acceptable proof to only three documents - a birth certificate, a passport or, in some very limited cases, a REAL ID. It is estimated that under the SAVE Act, 20 million Americans would not have ready access to the documentation they would need to register to vote, and 4 million would not have the documentation at all.
It further complicates the process that this bill would require that the name on the citizenship document presented when registering to vote must match one’s current legal name. That means that anyone whose birth certificate name does not match their current legal name would be unable to use their birth certificate to register unless they could also provide additional documentation regarding the name change. This can be a very complicated, expensive process and impacts as many as 60 million women who changed their names when they married. It could also affect people who were adopted as well as transgender individuals.
In the case of a REAL ID, there are only five states whose ID explicitly identifies US citizenship. If you live in one of the other 45 states, a REAL ID would not meet the requirements outlined in the SAVE Act. The same holds true for tribal and military IDs.
If your birth certificate and REAL ID do not meet the SAVE Act criteria, you could also present a passport when registering to vote. However, it costs more than $150 to obtain a passport and only 50 percent of Americans have one.
Finally, this legislation would disproportionately impact women, seniors, young voters, and poor, Black and brown people - all of whom are statistically less likely to have complying documentation or the funds and time to secure them. Furthermore, the SAVE Act would effectively end online or mail-in voting as well as GOTV registration events and automatic voter registration.
Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy which is why it is protected by five separate constitutional amendments and the Supreme Court has repeatedly referred to it as a “fundamental right.” In the absence of any proof of widespread noncitizen voter fraud, the League supports focusing on ways to make it easier for people to exercise their right to vote, not harder. We believe our democracy is strengthened when we engage more people in the democratic process, not less.
It is the League of Women Voters’ position that this legislation is unnecessary. It proposes to make US voters jump through unnecessary, complicated, expensive, and possibly insurmountable hoops to address a problem that does not exist.
While it is uncertain if the SAVE Act will make it to the floor of the Senate for a vote, we encourage members to contact their US Senators now to express their views on the legislation. If you live in Wisconsin, we have provided their contact information below.
SENATOR RON JOHNSON'S CONTACT INFORMATION
Washington, DC office: 328 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224.5323
Fax: (202) 228.6965
Wisconsin Offices:
Milwaukee Office: 517 East Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 408, Milwaukee, WI 53202
Phone: (414) 276-7282
Fax: (414) 276-7284
Madison Office: 5315 Wall Street, Suite 110, Madison, WI 53718
Phone: (608) 240-9629
Fax: (608) 240-9646
Oshkosh Office: 219 Washington Avenue, Suite 100, Oshkosh, WI 54901
Phone: (920) 230-7250
Fax: (920) 230-7262
SENATOR TAMMY BALDWIN'S CONTACT INFORMATION
Washington, DC office: 141 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5653
Wisconsin Offices:
Madison Office: 30 West Mifflin Street, Suite 700, Madison, WI 53703
Phone: (608) 264-5338
Milwaukee Office: 633 West Wisconsin Ave, Suite 1300, Milwaukee, WI 53203
Phone: (414) 297-4451
La Crosse Office: 210 7th Street South, Suite 203, La Crosse, WI 54601
(608) 796-0045
Ladysmith Office: P.O. Box 401, Ladysmith, WI 54848
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