The SAVE Act, approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday, would drastically overhaul elections across the country and potentially disenfranchise millions of voters. President Trump has been urging Congress to pass the bill for years, and it passed the House on a near party-line vote, with all Republicans voting in favor and all but one Democrat voting no.
The bill now moves to the Senate, but faces a tough road to becoming law. Democrats have vowed to block the bill from moving forward, and House Republican leaders have so far balked at calls to change the rules to bypass Democratic obstruction.
What would the SAVE Act do?
Currently, rules on voter registration, the types of ID people need to show when they go to vote, and mail-in voting vary widely from state to state. The Rescue Act, formally known as the Save America Act, falls far short of Trump’s ambition to “nationalize” U.S. elections, but it would impose strict new rules on the entire country. Here are some of the most important terms:
Proof of citizenship for voter registration: The SAVE Act would require anyone registering to vote anywhere in the United States to present “documentary proof of U.S. citizenship.” Under the bill’s provisions, information such as a driver’s license, REAL ID or Social Security number would not be sufficient. Potential voters will need to provide a valid U.S. passport, military ID, tribal ID or birth certificate.
These requirements will apply to new voters as well as anyone re-registering because they moved to a new state or changed their name. This creates an additional hurdle for women who take their husband’s surname after marriage, requiring them to provide additional documentation to explain why their current name does not match that listed on their birth certificate or passport.
Only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote in most U.S. elections. States already require voters to prove they are citizens when registering or face legal penalties. States also regularly audit electoral rolls to purge the names of anyone who should not be on the rolls. Despite claims by Trump and many Republicans that non-citizen voting is rampant in U.S. elections, researchers have found that the number of actual recorded incidents is “shockingly small” — too few to affect the outcome of even small local elections.
Only eight states currently require voters to provide proof of citizenship to register. Expanding these standards nationwide would prevent 21 million eligible voters from voting, according to estimates from the Brennan Center for Justice. Only half of Americans have a passport. Millions more do not have or cannot easily obtain birth certificates.
National Voter ID: The SAVE Act requires all voters to present a valid photo ID when voting. While most states already have some sort of voter ID law in place, most of those laws are far less stringent than the standards set forth by the SAVE Act. For example, many states accept non-photo ID or have procedures in place to allow voters without ID to still vote. Only 10 states currently have the strict voter ID laws that the SAVE Act imposes nationwide.
While the vast majority of Americans support voter ID laws, many experts say the rules do little to prevent fraud and instead disenfranchise otherwise eligible voters. As with non-citizen voting, cases of voter impersonation are extremely rare. According to a database compiled by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, there have been only 34 cases of someone forging their identity at the polls over the past 40 years among the billions of individual votes cast in the United States.
Studies are mixed on how many people are prevented by voter ID laws from voting, but most find that they have at least some impact on turnout. Older voters and people of color are likely to lack the photo ID required to vote under the standards established by the SAVE Act.
New restrictions on postal voting: The SAVE Act would not override state mail-in voting rules or satisfy Trump’s desire to ban the practice entirely. But it will make voting by mail more difficult. That’s because new proof-of-citizenship rules also apply to voters registered to vote by post. With limited exceptions, anyone registering for an absentee ballot must still show up in person at a local elections office to present a passport or birth certificate for the registration to be valid.
Other provisions: The SAVE Act would also impose strict new requirements on how frequently and thoroughly states audit noncitizen voter rolls, create criminal penalties for election officials who allow people to register who fail to show proof of citizenship, and give private citizens the power to sue election officials they believe violate the law.
Will the SAVE Act become law?
For now, the SAVE Act’s prospects of passing the Senate appear slim. Republicans need at least seven Democrats to vote for the bill to overcome a filibuster, but the party is unanimous in its opposition to the legislation – which Senate leader Chuck Schumer has dubbed “Jim Crow 2.0.”
Some hardline Republicans in the House tried but failed to pressure the SAVES Act to be added to a key funding bill that ended the brief partial government shutdown earlier this month. They have also been calling on Senate Republican leader John Thune to change the filibuster rules so that the “rescue bill” can pass with a simple majority. Thune would need the support of nearly all Republican senators to do so, but he’s unlikely to get it.
“The vote is not even close — not even close — enough to stop a filibuster,” he said Tuesday.
Even with a majority vote, there is no guarantee that the SAVE Act will pass. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Tuesday she opposed the bill, which she called a “federal overreach” into states’ authority to conduct their own elections. Several other Republican senators, including Susan Collins of Maine and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, have also expressed misgivings about the legislation.
