HR22, known as the SAVE Act, passed the House yesterday. Introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and backed by President Donald Trump, the bill would change the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require “proof of United States citizenship to register an individual to vote in elections for Federal office.”
The Senate should vote it down.
If passed, the law would make it harder for some people to register, regardless of their citizenship status. Acceptable documents under the bill include passports, military IDs, and sealed birth certificates. The issue is simple: not everyone’s documents match their legal name.
For example, nearly 80% of married women change their last name, according to Pew Research. Because of this, Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-OR) introduced an amendment to protect them.
“If this amendment fails, we are putting 70 million American women at risk of disenfranchisement. That’s one in four voters,” Dexter said. “I cannot believe, in the year 2025, I have to stand here on the House floor of the United States to defend a woman’s right to vote.”
The amendment was rejected.
“The SAVE Act isn’t about preventing fraud, it’s about preventing participation in our elections. That’s why I demanded that House Republicans adopt my amendment to give assurances that married women who change their last name will not be shut out of the ballot box,” Dexter said. “And House Republicans voted it down.”
Many Americans also don’t have passports or REAL IDs. Some voters could be turned away just for lacking the right documents rather than citizenship status.
“Our research indicates that more than 9% of American citizens of voting age, or 21.3 million people, don’t have proof of citizenship readily available,” the Brennan Center for Justice said in a 2024 study. “If those documents were required for voter registration, most would not have them readily available to take advantage of opportunities they encounter at schools, churches, or other community spaces where registration drives register many Americans to vote.”
Section 8(j)(2)(A) of the bill tries offering a backup plan. If someone lacks proper documentation, they can submit a signed legal statement claiming and provide “other evidence” of citizenship. A state official would then decide if it’s good enough.
This is dangerously subjective. One official might accept a hospital record or naturalization paper. Another might reject the same thing. In this case, your right to vote would depend on a stranger’s mood.
The bill also makes registering someone who doesn’t show proof of citizenship — even if they are a citizen, there was no way to verify their status, or the mistake was unintentional – illegal.
Election officials may reject more applicants to avoid potential lawsuits. Instead of focusing on helping voters, they’d focus on protecting themselves – increasing the likelihood that eligible voters will be turned away.
House Republicans downing the Dexter’s amendment shows that changing the bill is out of the question. Because of this, senators must do everything in their power to ensure it fails. Otherwise, millions of Americans may lose their right to vote because of a cautious clerk or name change.
