A Republican-backed bill in Congress that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote could disenfranchise many transgender people and married women, and some men as well. It’s called the SAVE Act, and it’s been passed by the U.S. House and has just gone to the Senate. Here’s a look at the bill and its potential consequences.
What is the SAVE Act, and what would it do?
The SAVE Act — SAVE stands for Safeguard American Voter Eligibility — would require presentation of a valid U.S. passport, a birth certificate, or another document proving citizenship when registering. The others include a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license that shows the holder is a citizen, a military ID card indicating citizenship, a report of birth abroad to U.S. citizens from a consulate, or a certificate of naturalization. Those registering would have to submit their proof in person at a local election office, a problem for residents of rural areas. Democrats are worried that this will be the end of online registration and “motor voter” systems that automatically register people to vote when they get a driver’s license in a new state.
Its backers say it won’t affect those already registered, but it would if they change their address or their name, or have some other reason to update their registration. Its author, Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, admitted this “to some extent” in a recent hearing, the Associated Press reports.
“The idea here is that for individuals to be able to continue to vote if they are registered,” he said. “If they have an intervening event or if the states want to clean the rolls, people would come forward to register to demonstrate their citizenship so we could convert our system over some reasonable time to a citizenship-based registration system.”
The bill is intended to stop noncitizens from voting, but that’s already illegal in elections for the president and Congress, it’s sometimes simply due to a mistake rather than bad intent, and it’s rare. One example: “A recent review in Michigan identified 15 people who appear to be noncitizens who voted in the 2024 general election, out of more than 5.7 million ballots cast in the state,” according to the AP.
Still, House Republicans and Donald Trump say the SAVE Act is needed. They have often acted as though noncitizen voting is common. Plus the conventional wisdom is that high voter registration and turnout usually help Democrats, but that wasn’t the case in 2024. Trump has also issued an executive order requiring proof of citizenship when registering to be eligible to vote in federal elections and further saying all ballots have to be turned in by Election Day. Eighteen states currently allow mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but received later to be counted. At least four lawsuits have been filed against the order.
This bill passed the House Thursday by a vote of 220 to 208, mostly along party lines. Every Republican present voted for it, along with four Democrats: Ed Case of Hawaii, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington State. It now goes to the Senate, where it might not receive the 60 votes required to overcome a filibuster — not like Sen. Cory Booker’s recent filibustering speech, but a procedural move requiring 60 votes to close debate on a bill before going to an actual vote. The Republicans have 53 Senate seats, and probably most of the 47 Democrats and independents won’t join them.
Who would the SAVE Act hurt?
Millions of Americans don’t have a birth certificate with their legal name on it, due to name changes upon marriage or gender transition. “An estimated 69 million American women and 4 million men do not have a birth certificate that matches their current legal name,” The 19th reports. About 21 million don’t have easy access to documents that prove their citizenship, and about half of Americans don’t have a passport. Also, many states don’t have a citizenship marker on REAL ID’s.
State laws generally allow name changes on birth certificates due to gender transition, but a court order is needed, according to Legal Zoom. The court order proves a person legally changed their name, and those who obtain the order should get a certified copy, which bears the seal or stamp of the court, the site notes. Then, in most cases, they must submit an original, certified copy of their existing birth certificate, an application for the name change, and in some states supporting documents with their original name, such as a passport, Social Security history, military discharge papers, or school records to whichever state agency is in charge of birth certificates. Everyone should check their state’s particular requirements.
For those who’ve changed their name upon marriage, the SAVE Act tells states to set up a process through which marriage certificates and other documents can be used to show the name change is legal, its Republican supporters say. “Democrats counter that the bill should have specified how this was to be done, rather than creating the potential to have 50 different rules,” the AP reports. And some men as well as women change their names when they marry, both in same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
Who’s opposing it?
Many LGBTQ+ and other progressive activist groups are opposing the SAVE Act, as are numerous lawmakers.
Jennifer Pike Bailey, director of government affairs at the Human Rights Campaign, issued this statement: “Access to the ballot box is a sacred American value. But the extreme and unnecessary SAVE Act would impose significant new obstacles to voting. It would require additional, excessive citizenship proof in order to register to vote or update voter registration information. This burden is substantially increased for anyone who has changed their name and whose IDs do not match their birth certificates, including transgender people and many married individuals. Our leaders should be looking for ways to improve access to the ballot, not making it harder for citizens to participate in our democracy.”
Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law, which works to strengthen democracy, had this to say: “The House has just passed one of the worst pieces of voting legislation in American history. The Senate must stop it. The SAVE Act would put voting out of reach for millions of American citizens. It should not become law.”
U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández, chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus in the House, and Vice Chairs Hillary Scholten and Emilia Sykes released a joint statement when the bill passed in that chamber. “Trump and Republicans’ SAVE Act is a direct attack on women’s ability to register to vote. Republicans’ requirement to register using a birth certificate or a passport that matches a voter’s current name would make voting harder and more expensive for millions of women. It will be devastating for as many as 69 million women voters who changed their name after marriage because their birth certificate would not match their current legal name. Passports cost more than $130, and the nearest office to get one is often hours away. This is too expensive and out of reach for millions of working women and moms. If women can’t register, we can’t vote. 105 years after finally gaining the right to vote, we cannot afford to lose our voice.
“We’ve raised the alarm about how this bill harms women voters over and over. We sent a letter to Speaker [Mike] Johnson demanding he pull this bill from the floor. We put forward amendments to fix this glaring problem so married women would still be able to register to vote as easily as men. We’ve shared our concerns with Republican colleagues just as hundreds of their own constituents have. It is clear Republicans aren’t interested in fixing this bill and this decision will haunt them in the voting booth. This is a dark day for women, but we’ll keep fighting to make sure we are heard.”
Greta Bedekovics, associate director of democracy policy at the Center for American Progress, issued this statement: “The SAVE Act is not about protecting elections; it’s about silencing American citizens by making it harder for them to vote and harder for them to hold politicians accountable. … Major provisions of this bill — including those that pertain to REAL ID — aren’t even workable, and sponsors of the bill know this. Yet they have refused to make any attempts to improve this disastrous bill. They do not care about citizens’ constitutional rights; they care about passing this bill. The Senate must block this dangerous bill from becoming law.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, posted on Facebook that “the SAVE Act has voter suppression written all over it,” adding “Under my leadership, Senate Democrats will make sure this power grab does not pass the Senate.”
Hillary Clinton, U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Becca Balint, and many others have joined the chorus. And Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell has spoken out, not against the SAVE Act, but against Trump’s executive order on voting — because, he says, more federal government involvement in voting might help Democrats down the road. It could “make it easier for a future Democratic President and Congress to use more sweeping mandates to carry out a complete federal takeover of American elections,” he wrote in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece. “The current administration has better ways to spend its time than laying the groundwork for a leftwing election takeover,” he added.