In Victory for Voters, the SAVE America Act Fails in the Senate

WASHINGTON — This week, the U.S. Senate stopped debate on the SAVE America Act (S. 1383), a dangerous bill that would have dramatically restricted how Americans register to vote and cast their ballots. This development means the legislation has effectively stalled out and failed in the Senate, amidst opposition from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

This is a major victory for American voters and our democracy. At its core, the SAVE America Act aimed to impose extreme and unnecessary documentation requirements on the voting process, creating barriers that could silence millions of Americans by making it harder to participate in our elections. It also would have overhauled or eliminated some of the most popular and accessible methods of voter registration; forced states to hand over voters’ sensitive information to the federal government; and threatened election workers with severe criminal penalties.

Campaign Legal Center and our allies strongly opposed the SAVE America Act, vocally explaining the many ways it would threaten Americans’ freedom to vote and urging every lawmaker to vote against it. In the face of this pressure, the legislation ultimately stalled out in the Senate, a fate also met by a prior version of the SAVE America Act last year. 

In response to these developments, Bruce V. Spiva, senior vice president of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, issued the following statement: 

"The SAVE America Act is a dangerous component of a broader effort by the Trump administration to curtail the freedom to vote. The American people have repeatedly rejected this voter suppression scheme, and judges appointed by presidents of both parties have struck down the president’s unconstitutional attempts to impose the same restrictions by executive fiat. Within this context, it is worth celebrating that this deeply flawed legislation has once again failed to become law.

“Campaign Legal Center and our partners will not give up our fight to ensure the voices of all voters are heard. We will oppose all efforts to revive the ideas within the SAVE America Act, no matter what name or form they take. We will continue to protect Americans’ freedom to vote in Congress and the courts. Today, we are urging all lawmakers to move forward and focus on real solutions to improve access to voting and strengthen our democracy.”

Learn more about Campaign Legal Center’s analysis of the SAVE America Act through our advocacy resource page, and read more about CLC’s successful efforts to defeat these same threats the Trump administration attempted to impose through an executive order.