To kick off the year, House Republicans reintroduced the SAVE Act, which would require every American to provide documentary proof of citizenship to register or re-register to vote. The bill passed the House last year but failed to advance in the Senate. Now that the GOP has a governing trifecta in Washington for the next two years, Republican members have fast-tracked the bill in the House and pledged to make it a top priority. Premised on conspiracy theories that have repeatedly been refuted, the SAVE Act could disenfranchise millions of eligible Americans, undermine election administration, and harm election officials.
Disenfranchising eligible American citizens
The SAVE Act has been proposed even though federal and state law already state that only American citizens can vote in federal and state elections — and these laws carry harsh penalties. Additionally, the National Voter Registration Act already requires Americans trying to register to vote to confirm their U.S. citizenship status, and state law in the few states that are exempt from the National Voter Registration Act requires the same. In practice, the SAVE Act would require voters to prove their citizenship every time they register to vote, meaning that the millions of Americans who move each year — whether from state to state or to the next town over — could not register again without producing citizenship documents.
