Democrats contend the SAVE Act, short for Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, would lead to mass voter suppression of women and minorities.
The House passed a measure requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration on Thursday. The bill gained four Democrat votes in the House vote Thursday. The Republican-controlled House passed the measure sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, last year.
But the then-Democrat controlled Senate didn’t vote on the bill. Republicans now have a Senate majority, but not enough to override a Democrat filibuster. However, the GOP could apply public pressure, as polling has shown that more than 70% of Americans oppose proposals to allow noncitizens to vote, while more than 80% support requiring proof of identity at the ballot box.
Here are four key points Democrats have made about the legislation.
1. Disenfranchise ‘20 Million Americans’
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., denounced the SAVE Act during a House floor speech, claiming Americans don’t have access to documents to prove citizenship.
“Over 20 million Americans lack easy access to these documents the law would require for voter registration,” Tlaib said. “The SAVE Act would target marginalized communities like those in my community, of course impacting people of color, naturalized citizens, low-income voters.”
Similarly, Democracy Docket, a website run by Democrat election lawyer Marc Elias, reported: “One in 10 voting-age citizens, which is over 21 million people, can’t readily access documents to prove their citizenship.”
Some of the same Democrats have opposed proposals to require a driver’s license list whether someone is a citizen.
Americans already have to prove citizenship or legal residency when getting a job, noted Hans von Spakovsky, manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative at The Heritage Foundation.
Among the many forms new employees have to fill out when taking a new job, one is an I-9 form, or employment eligibility form, from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“All the SAVE Act does is take the same federal requirement people have for getting a job and applies it to voting,” von Spakovsky told The Daily Signal. “You have to prove you are a citizen, or if you’re an alien, prove you’re here legally.”
“Voting is important, but if you asked most people to pick one, they would say having a job so they can feed themselves is more important,” von Spakovsky added.
2. ‘Mansplaining’ to Married Women
The Center for American Progress, Teen Vogue, and others on the left assert the bill would take away the right of married women to vote. That’s because about 69 million women have taken their husband’s name and don’t have a birth certificate matching their legal name.
Democrats in Congress have run with the argument, including Tlaib.
“The SAVE Act would create new barriers to the ballot box for millions of eligible votes. That includes almost 70 million American women who got married and changed their last name,” Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., said on the House floor.
The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State posted a similar argument on X Thursday.
“If enacted, it would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters – including married women, rural communities, low-income Americans, and millions of other marginalized groups,” the X post said.
However, the state of Arizona has required proof of citizenship to vote in state elections for more than a decade, but there has been no reported disenfranchisement of married women in that state.
The legislation directs states to “provide reasonable accommodations for disabled Americans and applicants that have discrepancies on their documentation due to a name change.”
“To say that married women can’t cope with proof of citizenship is a patronizing view of women,” von Spakovsky said. “It’s mansplaining.”
Cleta Mitchell, a conservative election lawyer and chair of the Election Integrity Network, previously told The Daily Signal: “When women change their names upon marriage (or divorce) there is a process for changing/updating [the] name from [the] birth certificate or a prior marriage. Millions of women do it every day so they can operate their lives under their married names.”
3. ‘Voter Suppression Plain and Simple’
Tlaib denounced the SAVE Act during a House floor speech.
“The SAVE Act is not about protecting elections. It is about silencing voters. It’s voter suppression, plain and simple.
This bill would create unnecessary new barriers that would disenfranchise millions of Americans. This will also increase the purges of registered voters, literally kicking people off of the lists.”
The SAVE Act does two things. The legislation requires proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. It also mandates federal agencies respond to state requests about an individual’s citizenship status.
These are essentially the same arguments used for two decades against voter ID laws at the state level, which have not reduced voting, von Spakovsky noted.
“It’s the same argument from 20 years ago that voter ID laws would keep people from voting,” he said. “That claim is patronizingly racist to say African Americans couldn’t cope with ID.”
4. It’s Already Illegal for Noncitizens to Vote
It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote, critics of the SAVE Act note. But supporters of the bill contend that hasn’t stopped noncitizens from registering to vote–and in some cases voting.
“Let’s be clear, it is already against the law for non-Americans to vote. This bill is a solution in search of a problem,” Sewell said on the House floor.
The numbers known to have voted are not large. A Chinese national was charged with illegally voting in Michigan last year. This week, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office reported 15 noncitizens voted in the state’s November election. In March, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate released an audit that found 277 noncitizens were registered to vote and 35 voted in the 2024 election. In 2016, 41 noncitiens voted in North Carolina.
But the number of registered noncitizen voters is much higher. In 2019, Pennsylvania found that more than 11,000 noncitizens were registered to vote. Also, since 2021, Texas has removed about 6,500 noncitizens from voter rolls, and 1,900 of whom had voting histories. Since 2022, Virginia has removed 6,300 noncitizens from its rolls, Alabama removed 3,251 noncitizens, and Ohio 597.
“Yes, non-citizens can and do vote in our elections thanks to an enormous loophole in current law exempting individuals registering via the federal form from verifying their citizenship,” former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said in a statement.
“And yes, that our government relies on a literal ‘honor system’—whereby non-citizens need only check a box promising they’re citizens—is not only ridiculous but downright embarrassing. Only U.S. citizens, not foreign nationals nor illegal aliens, should ever decide the outcome of U.S. elections.”
For federal elections in Arizona, voters can be requires to state they are U.S. citizens, but can’t be requires to show proof of citizenship.
In 2004, Arizona voters approved Proposition 200, which mandated individuals provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 2013 the state could not require proof of citizenship for those using the federal voter registration form because of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, but the state could still require proof for state elections.
