The US House approved a bill on Thursday that would require people to prove they are citizens when they register to vote, which opponents claim could disenfranchise millions of Americans.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the Save Act, which was approved on a 220-208 vote, is aimed at eliminating rare instances of noncitizens voting in US elections based on the false belief that large numbers of noncitizens are voting.
The bill, sponsored by the Texas Republican Chip Roy, calls for people who register to vote or update their registration to show documentary proof of citizenship, which could be a passport or birth certificate. While the bill says Real IDs, which have enhanced security standards, could be used if they indicate whether the applicant is a US citizen, these IDs ordinarily do not include that information, and lawful residents who are not citizens and ineligible to vote can still get Real IDs.
The Save Act comes after the US president signed an executive order on 25 March calling for a documentary proof of citizenship requirement to be added to federal voter registration forms in what his office called “the farthest-reaching executive action taken”.
An earlier version of the bill passed the House last year, but it did not get anywhere in the Senate. It is unclear whether it would face a similar fate in the Senate this time.
Republicans who supported the bill on Thursday said on the House floor that it would codify elements of the executive order and ensure it couldn’t be erased by subsequent administrations. They offered examples of localities that found noncitizens registered to vote and jurisdictions where noncitizens are allowed to vote in local elections, saying these instances undermine confidence in elections.
“This past week and today, all we hear are the Democrats sharing their concerns that rural Americans, women and people of color are not capable of getting an ID,” the Republican representative Mary Miller of Illinois said. “This is insulting, condescending and an untrue argument. You need an ID for most everything else in daily life.”
About half of US citizens do not have a passport, eliminating one of the main ways to show their ability to vote under the bill. Passport fees are currently $165. Joe Morelle, a Democrat from New York, responded to Republicans who spoke in support of the bill with estimates of how much money constituents would have to pay if they all had to get passports.
“Y’all, that’s a poll tax, plain and simple, and it’s blatant voter suppression,” said Nikema Williams, a Democrat from Georgia.
Some potential voters no longer have their birth certificates, or their birth certificates do not match their current names if they changed their names in marriage or for other reasons, Democrats have pointed out. The bill directs states to come up with a process to address those who have changed their names, though Democrats contend this could be handled differently state by state, creating confusion, and it is not clear how long it would take for rules to be put in place.
Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Colorado, claimed Democrats were “using married women as a gotcha” against the bill. “Since we’re using women as bait here, maybe in the next round of debates, they could explain to us exactly what a woman is,” she said.
Research from the Brennan Center for Justice, VoteRiders and other groups in 2024 found that more than 9% of voting-age citizens, about 21 million people, don’t have readily available proof of citizenship. These requirements have disproportionate impacts on people of color, young voters, rural residents, tribal citizens, people who are unhoused, people born in US territories and people who have experienced natural disasters.
“The House has just passed one of the worst pieces of voting legislation in American history,” said Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center. “The Senate must stop it. The Save Act would put voting out of reach for millions of American citizens. It should not become law.”
Other elements of the bill have raised alarms among voting rights advocates and elections officials. It would upend online and mail registration, a particular burden on people in rural areas. States would be required to purge their voter rolls based on incomplete data and potentially start the deportation process for people who unlawfully registered to vote. It also installs criminal penalties for election officials who register people without the required documentation, even if the person turns out to be a citizen eligible to vote.
