The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act has been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation would require all Americans to prove their citizenship status by presenting documentation—in person—when registering to vote or updating their voter registration information. Specifically, the legislation would require the vast majority of Americans to rely on a passport or birth certificate to prove their citizenship. While this may sound easy for many Americans, the reality is that more than 140 million American citizens do not possess a passport and as many as 69 million women who have taken their spouse’s name do not have a birth certificate matching their legal name.
Because documentation would need to be presented in person, the legislation would, in practice, prevent Americans from being able to register to vote by mail; end voter registration drives nationwide; and eliminate online voter registration overnight—a service 42 states rely on. Americans would need to appear in person, with original documentation, to even simply update their voter registration information for a change of address or change in party affiliation. These impacts alone would set voter registration sophistication and technology back by decades and would be unworkable for millions of Americans, including more than 60 million people who live in rural areas. Additionally, driver’s licenses—including REAL IDs—as well as military or tribal IDs would not be sufficient forms of documentation to prove citizenship under the legislation.
In short, the SAVE Act is disastrous legislation that would drastically alter the way every American citizen registers to vote. The legislation completely disregards the resources available to most Americans as well as the reality of American women’s lives. Despite these overwhelming facts and the real possibility that millions of Americans—Republicans, Democrats, and independents—could be disenfranchised, leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives has declared that passing the legislation is one of their top priorities for the 119th Congress.
Existing election integrity measures
Federal law already clearly states that it is illegal for non-U.S. citizens to register to vote or cast a ballot in federal elections. It’s an existing crime that is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Election officials also already use state and federal data—including citizenship data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration—to verify an individual’s eligibility to cast a ballot. What the SAVE Act would do is invert the responsibility to verify a person’s eligibility and citizenship status from election officials and the government onto American citizens.
It’s also critical to note that there are already documentation requirements to be able to register to vote. As required by federal law, Americans must provide either the last four digits of their Social Security number or their driver’s license number on a voter registration application in order to provide election officials with the necessary information to verify their identity and voting eligibility. The SAVE Act seeks to upend this process and turn a relatively well-oiled system—where officials are tasked with the work of verification—and, instead, make every single American citizen put in the work, time, and resources to exercise their constitutional right to vote and convince the government that they’re eligible.
Half of American citizens do not have a valid passport
In addition to setting voter registration back to the pre-internet era, the SAVE Act threatens the constitutional rights of American citizens, as tens of millions of citizens do not possess the documentation required under the bill.
According to statements and data released by the U.S. Department of State, approximately only half of American citizens possess a passport. This means that half of all American citizens would not be able to provide one of the primary acceptable forms of documentation that would be required to register to vote under the SAVE Act.
Nationwide, approximately 146 million American citizens do not possess a passport. To put that number into perspective, 153 million Americans cast a ballot in the 2024 presidential general election.
In seven states, less than one-third of citizens have a valid passport: West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. And only in four states do more than two-thirds of the citizens have a valid passport: New York, Massachusetts, California, and New Jersey. In West Virginia, the state with the lowest rate of citizen passport possession, only about 1 in 5 citizens—or 20.7 percent—possess this documentation. Conversely, New Jersey has the highest rate of citizen passport possession, with 4 in 5 citizens—or 80 percent—possessing a valid passport.
Overall, data shows that high rates of passport ownership are predominantly concentrated in blue states, while low rates of passport ownership are overwhelmingly concentrated in red states. This means that, under the SAVE Act, it would be disproportionately more difficult for American citizens in red states to present one of the primary forms of documentation required to register to vote—and they would be disproportionately disenfranchised if the bill became law.
Additionally, Americans who have completed less education as well as Americans with lower incomes are far less likely to have a passport than Americans with higher levels of education or higher income levels. Among Americans whose highest level of education is a high school degree or less, approximately 1 in 4 have a valid passport. Among Americans with a household income below $50,000, only 1 in 5 have a valid passport. The policies in the SAVE Act are a serious socioeconomic issue that would disproportionately impact the voting rights of working-class and lower-income Americans.
The vast majority of married women cannot present a valid birth certificate
While the vast majority of Americans have a birth certificate, tens of millions of married women could not present their birth certificate as proof of citizenship under the SAVE Act, as it does not display their current legal name.
A survey from the Pew Research Center found that 79 percent of American women married to men have taken their spouse’s name. When women who have hyphenated their surname are also accounted for, 84 percent of American women have changed their surname.
Nationwide, approximately 69 million women could not use their birth certificate to prove their identity or citizenship status under the SAVE Act. Additionally, 5 percent of married men have also changed their surname, accounting for approximately 4 million men nationwide who could also not present an acceptable birth certificate under the SAVE Act. The legislation does not mention the potential option for these Americans to present change-of-name documentation or a marriage certificate in combination with a birth certificate to prove their citizenship. This shows yet another area in which the legislation makes no attempts to ensure that citizens’ voting rights are protected. Seemingly, the SAVE Act would rather err on the side of disenfranchisement.
The same Pew survey found that the two groups of women most likely to take their spouse’s name were conservative Republican women and Republican/Republican-leaning women, while the two least-likely groups were liberal Democratic women and Democratic/Democratic-leaning women. In fact, Democratic and Democratic-leaning women are twice as likely as Republican and Republican-leaning women to have kept their maiden name, with only 7 percent of conservative Republican women reporting that they kept their last name. So while the legislation would unfairly disenfranchise women as a whole, the requirement to present a birth certificate would disproportionately disenfranchise conservative and Republican women.
While the SAVE Act does not directly aim to deny millions of American women the right to vote, it certainly does not treat their right vote as sacred and remains ignorant to the fact that requirements of the legislation threaten to infringe on the voting rights of millions of Republican, Democratic, and independent women across the country. As with numerous pieces of federal legislation and policy, the impacts on women are an afterthought, and their rights are viewed as inconsequential.
Conclusion
Congress has a pivotal constitutional responsibility in ensuring that all citizens can exercise their right to vote in a secure and accessible manner. Many Americans have continued to voice concerns regarding election integrity, and elected representatives should be responsive to these concerns in a manner that ensures the ballot box remains accessible for the citizens they represent. As written, the SAVE Act is irresponsible and dangerous legislation that threatens to disenfranchise millions of American citizens—Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike.
The only Americans who stand to benefit from the SAVE Act are out-of-touch politicians willing to trample on the rights of millions of citizens, including their own constituents, in order to score a few political points with the media and the administration.
About the authors: Greta Bedekovics is the associate director of democracy policy at the Center for American Progress. Sydney Bryant is the research associate for structural reform and governance at the Center for American Progress.
This article was published by the Center for American Progress.
No comments:
Post a Comment