Leaders of several civil rights organizations gathered in Washington DC March 31 to state their opposition to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.
The SAVE Act — HR 22 — introduced by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is currently awaiting approval in the House Rules committee. It was expected to head for a vote on the House floor later this week. In a statement introducing the measure, Roy alleged that “millions of illegal aliens have been given the opportunity to register to vote in federal elections.”
”We in Congress have a duty to our fellow citizens to provide that confidence and put concrete enforcement in place to ensure that our elections and our sovereignty cannot be hijacked and influenced by foreign nationals who have no business voting in this country,” stated Roy.
The SAVE Act would require folks registering to vote to present proof of citizenship — passport, US birth certificate or naturalization papers in person at an election office. The Act would end voter registration drives, mail-in and online registration.
Trump Executive Order
Concurrently, a Trump Administration executive order issued March 25 — “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections” — mandates similar proof of citizenship requirements. In a statement announcing the executive order, President Donald Trump echoed Roy, stating that foreign nationals are able to game existing laws to register themselves to vote. Countries are using loopholes in existing laws to interfere with American elections, he alleged.
John C. Yang, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC, said the President has made such claims without providing a shred of evidence to support them.
The Brookings Institute surveyed voting data collected by the conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, which analyzed data for the past 30 years. The Brookings Institute concluded there were minuscule instances of voter fraud over the past 30 years, and none had interfered with election outcomes. In Pennsylvania, for example, only 39 cases of voter fraud were found over the past 30 years.
Voter Suppression
”This is voter suppression, plain and simple,” said Rep. Joe Morelle, D-New York, at the March 31 press conference opposing the SAVE Act. More than 150 million Americans lack passports, he said, noting that 70 million married women — including his wife — do not have birth certificates that match their current names.
Overall, 21 million eligible voters lack birth certificates, predominantly in rural areas. Many are older people, who have consistently voted in elections, but were born at home, and not issued a birth certificate.
Additionally, transgender people would largely lack identity documents that match their names on their birth certificates. They would also be ineligible to vote.
“This is a blatant attack on the founding principles of our nation,” stated Morelle.
Burdensome Bill
The bill will have a disproportionate impact on voters of color in deep red states, noted speakers. Seventy three percent of Black Americans do not hold passports. Presenting documents in person at an election office poses a barrier to many, who must travel great distances to reach their election offices.
Sean Morales Doyle, director of Voting Rights at the Brennan Center for Justice, said HR 22 was “one of the worst voting bills in our nation’s history.” He noted that the provision mandating people to show up in person to register places an additional burden on already-overstretched election officials. Moreover, election officials would face criminal penalties if they registered people without the required proof of citizenship.
”Congress should be expanding the freedom to vote, not suppressing it,” said Morales Doyle.
Poll Tax
Eighty percent of Asian Americans are naturalized citizens, noted Yang. “We don’t have American birth certificates, but we are Americans, and have the right to vote,” he said. “We’ve seen this playbook before. When our communities start showing up, there are deliberate attempts to silence them.”
Deborah Dicks Maxwell, president of the North Carolina NAACP, said the SAVE Act was “a solution to a problem that does not exist.” She likened it to a poll tax, actively seeking to repress voter participation.
