House Passes SAVE Act 2.0 to Suppress Millions of Eligible Voters
WASHINGTON – Today the House voted 218 – 213 to pass the SAVE America Act (S. 1383). The bill is an escalation of the previously introduced SAVE Act that would not only require voters to prove their citizenship to register to vote, but would also require them to provide very specific forms of photo identification at the polls.
Because REAL IDs generally don’t demonstrate proof of citizenship, voters would be required to register with a passport—even though less than half of Americans have a passport—or a birth certificate. This may create additional barriers to registering to vote for anyone who has legally changed their name, such as the majority of married women and many trans people.
Further, the bill would force every state to disclose voter data to a database at the Department of Homeland Security that was not designed for this purpose. NWLC has previously expressed strong concerns about the accuracy and privacy of this database, and the vast majority of states have refused to participate in this program.
Alison Gill, director of nominations and democracy at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), released the following statement in response to the vote:
“This obvious attack on our voting rights is based on completely unfounded claims of election fraud. The lawmakers supporting this measure clearly aim to suppress the votes of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people in order to rig elections and remain in power.
“It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, which means that the SAVE Act 2.0 creates a convoluted and dystopian solution to a problem that does not actually exist. Americans strongly opposed legislation when Congress considered this issue last year, and yet the Congressional Republicans are trying to double down on this deceptive policy.
“In America, voters should choose their leaders, and leaders shouldn’t be able to dodge accountability by restricting who can vote. We urge the Senate to reject this dangerous, anti-American voter suppression bill.”
