Every American citizen has a constitutional right to vote. However, a new bill introduced by Congress, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, could impact millions, as it requires certain documentation that many do not have. This move could make it even harder for voters to have their voices heard at the ballot box.
The SAVE Act could prevent millions from registering to vote
According to Campaign Legal Center, the legislation mandates all Americans to have proper documentation to prove their citizenship status through passports, birth certificates or updated voter registration information.
The bill could also affect certain groups, including those who do not have passports (140 million) and married women (69 million) who do not have a birth certificate that matches their legal last name, according to the Center for American Progress.
In recent years, there were additional options to ensure every American had a chance to vote in federal elections. Those alternatives included voting by mail and voter registration drives nationwide, as well as online voter registration, a process more than 42 states rely on, per CAP.
Under the SAVE Act, millions of Americans will not be able to vote if these options are eliminated. Driver’s licenses (including REAL IDs) as well as military IDs and tribal IDs will not be acceptable documentation to register to vote.
What are Enhanced Driver’s Licenses?
The SAVE Act would get rid of driver’s licenses for voter registration and, instead, use Enhanced Driver’s Licenses, which are “state-issued enhanced drivers licenses that provide proof of identity and U.S. citizenship when crossing the U.S. border in a vehicle,” according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Campaign Legal Center.
Only five states currently have EDL’s: Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington.
More than 21 million Americans do not have the required documentation to register to vote, per CLC. In addition to married people who changed their names, young and older adults will also have a difficult time accessing these documents.
Voting purges could affect registered voters
Another stipulation of the SAVE Act would be voter purges, which removes registered voters from rolls based on faulty data. As Blavity reported, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Republicans in October 2024, allowing Virginia officials to purge more than 1,600 registered voters in the state just days before the presidential election.
If election voters help register those without proper documentation under the SAVE Act, they could serve up to five years in prison if convicted, according to the CLC.
