SAVE Act passes House: What to know

House GOP House pass bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote

The U.S. House on Thursday approved legislation requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for anyone registering to vote, something voting rights groups have warned could disenfranchise millions of Americans.

A bill that requires documented proof of U.S. citizenship for anyone registering to vote has passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Four House Democrats – Reps. Jared Golden, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Henry Cuellar and Ed Case – joined Republicans in voting for the bill.

What is the SAVE Act?

What we know:

The bill, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the SAVE Act, requires states to reject any voter registration application in which the applicant has not presented "documentary proof of United States citizenship."

Among the acceptable documents for demonstrating proof of citizenship are:

A REAL ID-compliant driver’s license that "indicates the applicant is a citizen."
A valid U.S. passport.
A military ID card with a military record of service that lists the applicant’s birthplace as in the U.S.
A valid government-issued photo ID that shows the applicant’s birthplace was in the U.S.
A valid government-issued photo ID presented with a document such as a certified birth certificate that shows the birthplace was in the U.S.

The legislation says applicants who submit the federal voter registration form by mail must present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in person to their local election office under a deadline set by their state.

The SAVE Act directs states, in consultation with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, to ensure that "reasonable accommodations" are made to allow individuals with disabilities who submit the form to provide proof of citizenship to their election official.

The legislation also considers that some states permit same-day voter registration and says, in those cases, voters must present proof of citizenship at their polling location "not later than the date of the election."

What we don't know:

It’s less clear what this means for those states that have online voter registration systems or automatic voter registration set up through their state’s motor vehicle agency. Democratic state election officials have raised concerns that the legislation means these processes would no longer be operational under the proposal.

FILE - Voting booths are pictured during early primary voting at Campos Plaza Community Center on April 2, 2024, in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

The legislation says anyone registering through a state motor vehicle agency also is required to provide proof of citizenship. It directs the Election Assistance Commission to issue guidance to state election officials about implementing the law’s requirements.

What they're saying:

Republicans say any instance of voting by noncitizens, no matter how rare, is unacceptable and undermines confidence in U.S. elections.

The other side:

Voting rights group say the list of documents doesn’t consider the realities facing millions of Americans who do not have easy access to their birth certificates and the roughly half who do not have a U.S. passport.

They say noncitizen voting is already rare and, as numerous state cases have shown, is typically a mistake rather than part of a coordinated attempt to subvert an election.

It's already illegal under federal law for people who are not U.S. citizens to cast ballots and can lead to felony charges and deportation.

What if your driver’s license doesn’t list birthplace or citizenship?

Driver’s licenses generally don’t list a birthplace or indicate that the card holder is a citizen – even many that are REAL ID-compliant.

REAL ID was passed by Congress in 2005 to set minimum standards for IDs such as driver’s licenses and requires applicants to provide a Social Security number and demonstrate lawful status either as a citizen or legal resident.

After years of delays, any driver’s license used for identification to pass through airport security will have to be REAL ID-compliant beginning May 7. U.S. passports will still be acceptable.

Although states designate REAL ID compliance on driver’s licenses with a marking such as a gold or black star, that alone would not indicate U.S. citizenship. People who are legal residents but not citizens also can obtain a REAL ID.

States are currently not required to label IDs with a "citizen" mark, although a handful of states (Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington) offer a citizen-only REAL ID alternative that might meet SAVE Act requirements. Republicans say they hope more states will move in the direction of IDs that indicate citizenship.

How could the SAVE Act affect married women?

Dig deeper:

Groups opposed to the SAVE Act also worry about additional hurdles for women whose birth certificates don’t match their current IDs because they changed their name after getting married. There were examples of this during local elections last month in New Hampshire, which recently implemented a proof of citizenship requirement for voting.

Republicans say there is a provision in the SAVE Act that directs states to develop a process for accepting supplemental documents such as a marriage certificate, which could establish the connection between a birth certificate and a government-issued ID.

They argue the process is similar to obtaining a U.S. passport or REAL ID-compliant driver’s license.

"We have mechanisms giving the state fairly significant deference to make determinations as to how to structure the situation where an individual does have a name change," Roy said. "The process is specifically contemplated in this legislation."

Democrats counter that the bill should have specified how this was to be done, rather than creating the potential to have 50 different rules.