What is the SAVE Act?
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act) was introduced into Congress in 2024 by Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) opens a new window. If passed, the bill would require all voters to provide a document such as a passport or a birth certificate to register or update their voter registration. Government-issued driver’s licenses—including REAL IDs opens a new window as they exist now—as well as military or tribal IDs alone would no longer satisfy voter registration requirements opens a new window. Proof of citizenship would be required every time a voter registers to vote, including when they change their name, address or party affiliation.
The bill claims to ensure only citizens vote; however, the Act, if passed, will prevent millions of citizens from voting.
How would the SAVE Act impact voter access?
While most Americans have a birth certificate, 9% of voting-age citizens (21.3 million opens a new window) cannot readily access documents to prove their citizenship. At this moment, do you know where your birth certificate is?
Among citizens who do have a birth certificate, a significant number – 20% of the population – will have a difficult time using their birth certificates under the SAVE Act as their certificate will not match their current last name. Approximately 84% of married women change their last name as well as some men. Consequently, 69 million women and 4 million men opens a new window do not have a birth certificate that matches their name. Transgender people who have legally changed their names would also have issues or be unable to use a birth certificate.
Supporters of the SAVE Act argue that voters can use a passport as documentation if they cannot access their birth certificate; however, approximately 146 million American citizens opens a new window do not have a valid U.S. Passport. For reference, that is over half of all citizens eligible to vote.
Passport ownership is also highly correlated with income, education level, and race. Only 1 in 5 Americans opens a new window with a household income below $50,000, and only 1 in 4 Americans opens a new window with a high school degree or less have valid passports. Two-thirds of Black Americans lack a valid passport opens a new window.
Young people, people of color, married women and people from low or no income backgrounds would disproportionately be suppressed by the SAVE Act.
How would the SAVE Act affect mail, online, and other types of voter registration?
Forty-two states plus DC offer online voter registration opens a new window to give voters a flexible, modernized way to register to vote or update their voter registration. Even more states allow for registration by mail.
Under the SAVE Act, voters would be required to visit their local election office, in person, with the necessary documentation to register to vote or to update their registration. In other words, mail and online voter registration services that are currently available in almost every state would be functionally eliminated by the SAVE Act opens a new window.
But, mail and online voter registration methods would not be the only types of registration affected: voter registration drives would also become virtually ineffective.
Voter registration drives often rely on reaching eligible citizens at an event such as a sporting event or concert, or at a location where people frequent such as a grocery store or train station. To register, citizens would need to have proof of citizenship on hand at the time of the voter registration drive and be willing to hand these copies over to the individuals registering voters. Both are unlikely to occur and would essentially halt voter registration drives.
How would the SAVE Act impact young voters specifically?
Young voters are less likely to have easy access to the documentation required under the SAVE Act. Students attending college or trade school away from home are unlikely to have a certified copy of their birth certificate with them at school. Young people are also less likely to have passports, especially those from lower income backgrounds.
Under the SAVE Act, without the ability to utilize online or mail-in voter registration services, students would be forced to travel home from school to complete their registration if they wish to vote using their home address. For students wishing to use their school address, students would need to have the appropriate documents with them at school, and find transportation to their local election office, which may be difficult for students who do not have access to transportation while away at school.
What if I’m already registered to vote? Would the SAVE Act impact my voter registration status?
The SAVE Act doesn’t just require voters to prove citizenship, it would also demand states actively conduct ongoing purges to the voter rolls opens a new window.
While supporters of the SAVE Act claim that the goal of these purges is only to remove noncitizens from voter rolls, recent irresponsible purges have cancelled millions of registrations of eligible American citizens, including members of the military temporarily stationed away from home.
Much of the data that would be used to conduct these purges is known to be inaccurate. According to the Campaign Legal Center, in a recent voter purge in Alabama that used data from the state’s Department of Labor, nearly 94% of the people removed from the state voter rolls were U.S. citizens opens a new window. Another recent analysis of federal databases, conducted by the North Carolina State Board of Elections, found that approximately 98% of individuals identified by the DMV as noncitizens were actually U.S. citizens opens a new window.
The SAVE Act would not require officials to notify registered voters before their removal from the voter rolls, so citizens who are improperly purged might not learn about their registration status until they show up to their polling place on Election Day. These purges could result in thousands of eligible voters being wrongfully removed from the voter rolls under the SAVE Act.
While cleaning voter rolls is important opens a new window, it must be done with great care, quality data, and best practices to ensure the registrations of eligible voters are not inadvertently cancelled. The SAVE Act’s approach takes no such precautions. In fact, the SAVE Act encourages practices that have resulted in the mass cancellation of registrations of eligible voters.
What about preventing noncitizens from voting? Wouldn’t the SAVE Act help prevent that?
It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. There are already strong safeguards to protect against it and catch the extremely rare cases opens a new window in which it does happen, which are usually accidental.
In the United States, every eligible voter, both natural-born citizens and those who have immigrated here, is already required to verify their citizenship status when they register to vote. Additionally, election officials already use state and federal data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security opens a new window and the Social Security Administration opens a new window to verify an individual’s citizenship and eligibility to cast a ballot.
Instances of noncitizen registration and voting are extremely rare opens a new window. In fact, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, an analysis of The Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Cases database opens a new window found only 77 instances of noncitizens casting a ballot between 1999 and 2023. In other words, on average, over a 24 year timespan, only 3 votes per year were cast by a noncitizen. Illegal voting activity, by citizens and noncitizens alike, is routinely investigated and prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice opens a new window as well as state and local authorities. There is no evidence that noncitizen voting has ever been an issue significant enough to impact an election’s outcome.
The SAVE Act would likely have a more significant impact on American citizens than noncitizens by placing new burdens on them that will make it harder for eligible voters to register and cast their ballots.
Has the SAVE Act been passed by Congress?
In order for a bill to be enacted into law, it must be passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The SAVE Act was first introduced in the House of Representatives in May 2024 as H.R. 8281 opens a new window. It passed in July 2024 with a recorded vote of 221 – 198, but it was never passed by the Senate.
In January 2025, as a new legislative session started, the bill was reintroduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 22 opens a new window. The SAVE Act is currently pending review by the House of Representatives.
Tell your Representatives to oppose the SAVE Act.
Rock the Vote and many other voting rights advocacy organizations opens a new window strongly oppose the SAVE Act.
Let your representatives know that you oppose this legislation, as well as all forms of voter suppression. To take action, you can call, email, or write letters to your representatives. You can find your elected officials’ contact information here opens a new window.
Check your registration status
Whether the SAVE Act passes or not, it is always important to check your voter registration status opens a new window before your state’s registration deadline to ensure it is active and up-to-date with your current address – and that you have not been purged from the voter rolls.
Published February 21, 2025