Our democracy works best when everybody can participate. But a new bill in Congress, the SAVE America Act — similar to its predecessor the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act — could silence millions of voters by creating new barriers to voter registration that make it harder for Americans to make their voices heard.
Despite their different names, these bills are fundamentally the same — they would silence millions of Americans by creating new barriers to voter registration.
Below are some of the many ways the SAVE America Act and the SAVE Act could prevent Americans from participating in the democratic process.
Documentation Barriers
When registering to vote, Americans are already required to verify their eligibility. But these 2 bills impose unnecessary barriers to the registration process, requiring voters to provide documentation that many don’t have.
More than 21 million Americans are unable to access the additional documents that would be required to register to vote under these bills. People of color, married people who have changed their names, as well as young and elderly people are more likely to have difficulty in accessing these documents.
Under these bills, most voters wouldn’t be able to register to vote with their driver's license alone, because licenses generally do not indicate citizenship. Instead, they would need another less common form of documentation, like a U.S. passport or birth certificate.
The SAVE America Act and the SAVE Act could affect registered voters too. Any time somebody updates their registration, if they change their address or political party, they would need to provide these documents.
The SAVE America Act would also implement a national voter ID requirement that is more burdensome than almost every single state voter ID law currently in effect.
These additional requirements would force voters to jump through unnecessary hurdles to exercise a fundamental freedom in our democracy.
Eliminating Mail Registration and Disrupting Online Registration
In 2022, more than seven million Americans registered to vote by mail, and almost 11 million Americans registered to vote online.
These bills would severely threaten mail registration and require online registration systems to be overhauled to fit the bill’s requirements. Millions of Americans rely on these options to make their voices heard.
Promoting Voter Purges
The SAVE America Act and the SAVE Act would mandate that states conduct frequent voter purges, a practice that removes registered voters from the rolls based on faulty data. Voter purges ultimately take away Americans’ freedom to vote.
We already have laws in place to ensure only citizens are voting, which include strict penalties such as deportation.
Enforcing these proposals would inevitably remove American citizens from the voter rolls, just as voter purges across the country have done in the past. Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has been at the forefront of fighting back against these unfair voter purges.
Imprisoning Election Workers
Election officials are everyday Americans who work hard to ensure a functioning democracy. However, under these bills, election workers could go to prison for up to five years if they help to register somebody without the correct documents, even if the registered voter is a citizen.
Election officials are vital to our democracy. They shouldn’t have to fear criminal penalties just for doing their jobs.
Strong Arming States into Sharing Sensitive Voter Data
Under the SAVE America Act, every single state would be required to submit its voter registration list to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comparison to the agency's error-ridden database.
This is a plain attempt to bully states into sharing voters’ sensitive personal information with the federal government that federal officials might be unable to otherwise access.
Making matters worse, the SAVE America Act places no restrictions on what the federal government can do with the sensitive data once DHS receives it and no safeguards against using the data to force voter purges or unduly question election results.
Protecting the Freedom to Vote
We should be working to make our elections more inclusive and accessible, and the SAVE Act and SAVE America Act do the opposite. They try to silence the voices of Americans by imposing unnecessary barriers, forcing voters to jump through hoops.
We already have strict laws in place to protect the security of our elections. The right to vote is a basic American freedom, and our elected officials should be working to protect that right, not restrict it.
With your support, CLC will continue to fight for every American’s freedom to vote and participate meaningfully in the democratic process.