Voting bill faces Democratic skeptics, wins GOP's praise

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(The Center Square) - Congress is considering legislation to end voter registration online or by mail and add requirements of in-person passport or birth certificate verification for most citizens.

The election measures are bundled into the SAVE America Act that the U.S. House passed in February by a narrow vote of 218-213, with just one Democrat voting in favor. The Senate is currently considering the bill, which would require 60 votes to pass. Republican senators currently have a 53-member majority.

Proponents of the bill have argued it would root out a nationwide noncitizen voting problem and restore trust in elections. But experts, including those in Southwestern states, have widely expressed concern that millions of Americans, including most married women, would face unnecessary barriers at the ballot box.

“The bill is a tool that would be used to likely disenfranchise eligible citizens from being able to cast a ballot,” American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada Executive Director Athar Haseebullah told The Center Square.

Critics of the bill contend a nationwide noncitizen voting problem doesn't exist. They point to voter citizenship counts showing nearly no examples of noncitizen voting, which is already a federal crime punishable by jail time.

In Nevada, three individual votes were found to have been illegally cast by noncitizens out of 1.1 million in the 2016 election, according to the Nevada Secretary of State’s office. Similar findings have been reproduced across many states in recent years. A January 2026 statewide citizenship review by the state of Utah found one noncitizen in the voter database – 99.9% of Utah voters were verifiable U.S. citizens.

“It's a non-issue – the voter rolls are maintained here,” said Haseebullah.

Efforts to further prevent noncitizen voting have nonetheless gained widespread support. A February Harvard survey of 1,999 registered voters found that 71% supported the SAVE America Act, including 50% of Democrats.

“This is about restoring trust in our elections, not disenfranchising voters,” Arizona state Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, told The Center Square, answering questions by email. “This is an 80/20 issue with overwhelming public support. There is no excuse it has not passed.”

The White House has advocated for the measure. 

"The President is calling on Republicans and Democrats to pass the SAVE America Act," the White House said in a statement. "Requirement for Voter I.D. to vote should be something that NO American should oppose. If you want to register to vote in the United States, you have to be a citizen in the United States.

"The SAVE America ACT will direct states to remove non-citizens from the voter rolls," the White House said. "AMERICA lags behind other nations in enforcing basic and necessary election protections." 

The White House cited election security measures in countries such as Canada, Germany, India, Brazil, Denmark and Sweden.

But experts at the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice argued that the national government would do more harm by creating new barriers for legal voters than the few noncitizen votes the SAVE America Act would prevent.

The bill would increase voting registration requirements, mandating in-person proof of citizenship at an election office for everybody. Only 6% of voters currently register at election offices, with online voting being the most popular method available in 42 states according to vote.org.

This change would have an outsized impact on rural and young voters, according to media reports. In Nevada, some rural voters would have to drive more than 4 hours round-trip to register to vote, KNPR reported.

“Especially in a place like Nevada, which is quite a large state geographically, there's not a polling place every two minutes,” said Haseebullah.

Neither a standard driver’s license nor the new REAL ID would qualify as voter ID under the SAVE America Act. Military IDs and tribal IDs would require additional verification, with only five states (Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington) providing enhanced IDs that would be considered valid forms of voter ID, according to vote.org.

For the rest of the country, either a passport, birth certificate paired with photo ID, naturalization certificate, or consular report of birth abroad would need to be verified at an election office. Existing registered voters would have to follow the same standards when they re-registered, which is required after moving.

An estimated 21 million citizens lack access to proof of citizenship documents, according to the Brennan Center. Half of citizens lack passports. People of color are disproportionately represented here, including many older Black Americans born pre-civil rights era who were never issued birth certificates, according to the Brennan Center.

The proof of citizenship requirement also presents additional challenges to people who have changed their name. According to the Center for American Progress, roughly 69 million married women would need to present a marriage certificate to vote under the SAVE America Act because of last name changes from marriage. Similarly, an estimated 210,800 transgender people who have changed their name to better suit their post-transition gender would need to present name change documents to vote, according to The 19th news website.

“Arizona doesn’t need Washington politicians telling us how to run our elections,” Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ Press Secretary Liliana Soto told The Center Square, answering questions by email. “Governor Hobbs opposes any legislation that threatens Arizonans’ rights, including secure mail-in voting, a method trusted by Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike.”

Opponents have raised questions about the proposed increased involvement of the federal government in elections. Elections have historically been mostly overseen by local and state governments with only a minimal federal role, according to the Constitution Center.

Others have voiced concern over the cost of citizenship-proving documents. Passports cost a total of $165, while a birth certificate can be anywhere from $10 to $50. 

“Our position is that it is a poll tax – that charging people to go and obtain documents in order to exercise a fundamental, constitutionally protected right is inherently unlawful,” said Haseebullah.

A poll tax, or required cost to vote, is unconstitutional, as per the 24th Amendment. Critics say the price of required documents is an indirect cost to vote.

“The real effort here is to create voter suppression and to preclude individuals from being able to vote, as they're entitled to do,” said Haseebullah. “[This is] including those who have had name changes as a result of marriage.”