2026 Elections

Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act or the SAVE Act

This bill requires individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.

Specifically, the bill prohibits states from accepting and processing an application to register to vote in a federal election unless the applicant presents documentary proof of U.S. citizenship. The bill specifies what documents are considered acceptable proof of U.S. citizenship, such as identification that complies with the REAL ID Act of 2005 that indicates U.S. citizenship.

Further, the bill (1) prohibits states from registering an individual to vote in a federal election unless, at the time the individual applies to register to vote, the individual provides documentary proof of U.S. citizenship; and (2) requires states to establish an alternative process under which an applicant may submit other evidence to demonstrate U.S. citizenship.

Each state must take affirmative steps on an ongoing basis to ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered to vote, which shall include establishing a program to identify individuals who are not U.S. citizens using information supplied by certain sources.

Additionally, states must remove noncitizens from their official lists of eligible voters.

The bill allows for a private right of action against an election official who registers an applicant to vote in a federal election who fails to present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship.

The bill establishes criminal penalties for certain offenses, including registering an applicant to vote in a federal election who fails to present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship.

 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22/text

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/128/text

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Action: Ask your Senators to vote NO on the SAVE Act.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, S. 128 / H.R. 22, passed the House by a narrow 220-208 vote on April 10, 2025. The SAVE Act now moves to the Senate where it would need 60 votes to pass under current filibuster rules. Though this is a high bar, the threat of its passage remains. Help us send a message to the Senate that the SAVE Act is bad for voters, bad for election officials, and bad for democracy.

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Questions to Ask Senators and Representatives

• Is voting by noncitizens an issue in our state? How do you know? 

• How do you already work to ensure noncitizens cannot get on voter rolls, or vote? 

• Who does this work? Is it staff at the state level or is it a responsibility of local jurisdictions? 

• What resources or funding are devoted to this work? 

• Is the work done uniformly throughout the state? 

• Do you have an agreement to access the DHS SAVE database to check any records that lack proof of citizenship? 

• Does our state use jury dismissals to look for potential noncitizens? If not, do you think that would be useful? 

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Problems with This Bill*​​