What is the SAVE Act and what does it mean for you?
You may have heard that the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act or SAVE Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday night.
The bill requires individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.
The bill passed the chamber by a 218-213 count with all 10 Pennsylvania GOP congressional representatives voting for the bill, while all seven Democratic representatives voted against it. The legislation now heads to the Senate.
For those who have been demanding Voter ID for years, this is the commonsense solution to “restoring faith” in American elections.
“Voting is a fundamental right and responsibility that is reserved for U.S. citizens,” tweeted Sen. Dave McCormick, a cosponsor of the Senate bill. “That’s why I’m proud to support the #SAVEAmerica Act, a commonsense bill that ensures only American citizens can register to vote, and establishes voter ID requirements.”
His Democratic counterpart, Sen. John Fetterman, also showed support for Voter ID in an appearance on Fox News.
“It’s not a radical idea for regular Americans to show your ID to vote, and absolutely those things are not Jim Crow or anything,” Fetterman said. “Of course, that’s part of an awful, awful legacy of our nation.”
For those who are opposed to Voter ID, this is suppression of the vote by disenfranchising those most vulnerable.
Gov. Josh Shapiro said on Thursday that “The SAVE Act is designed to nationalize our elections. That’s why I am vehemently opposed to it… We are not going to turn our elections over to Donald Trump. The last person who should be running our elections in the United States is Donald Trump. Elections are run by the states and by our counties. We believe that the administration of elections should be nonpartisan. And we’re going to keep it that way.”
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-05) said that “75% of Pennsylvanians don’t have a Real ID, and 50% don’t have a passport. If the SAVE America Act passes, they wouldn’t be able to vote THIS November. Any member of Congress from Pennsylvania who votes yes is voting against the interests of their constituents.”
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-02) called the SAVE Act a “modern day poll tax” and called out congressional Republicans as well as Fetterman for supporting it.
Who is right?
Does it affect you?
Depends on who you talk to. Or, perhaps, your means.
What Is The SAVE Act?
Specifically, the SAVE Act 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.
What are the acceptable proofs of U.S. citizenship under the bill?
- A form of ID issued consistent with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005 that indicates the applicant is a citizen of the United States
- A valid United States passport
- An official U.S. military ID card, together with a United States military record of service showing that the applicant’s place of birth was in the United States
- A valid government-issued photo ID card issued by a Federal, State or Tribal government showing that the applicant’s place of birth was in the United States
- Must be presented together with A certified birth certificate issued by a State, a unit of local government in a State, or a Tribal government
- A U.S. hospital Record of Birth created at the time of the applicant’s birth which indicates that the applicant’s place of birth was in the United States
- A final adoption decree showing the applicant’s name and that the applicant’s place of birth was in the United States
- A Consular Report of Birth Abroad of a citizen of the United States or a certification of the applicant’s Report of Birth of a United States citizen issued by the Secretary of State
- A Naturalization Certificate or Certificate of Citizenship issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security or any other document or method of proof of United States citizenship issued by the Federal government pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act
- An American Indian Card issued by the Department of Homeland Security with the classification ‘KIC’
The bill goes onto state that “a State may not register an individual to vote in elections for Federal office held in the State unless, at the time the individual applies to register to vote, the individual provides documentary proof of United States citizenship.”
Why Can’t I Use My Pennsylvania Driver’s License
Good question.
The initial requirements to qualify for a Pennsylvania driver’s license are 1) proof of identity such as a birth certificate or passport; 2) a social security card, and; 3) two proofs of residency such as a utility bill or lease agreement for those over 18.
A driver’s license does not meet the SAVE Act’s requirements, despite having to present a birth certificate or passport to receive it. The SAVE Act requires you to present them again when registering to vote.
The number of licensed drivers in Pennsylvania in 2024 totaled 9,166,658.
What About My REAL ID?
Seems like that would work, right?
It was just last May that the federal government required a REAL ID, a valid passport, or a military ID to fly within the U.S. or enter certain federal buildings.
However, REAL IDs are available to both citizens and noncitizens. Pennsylvania’s REAL ID does not explicitly mark citizenship status, nor does the state-issued driver’s license.
According to PennDOT, more than 2.5 million Pennsylvanians have opted into the REAL ID program. The TSA estimates that nearly 95% of air travelers nationwide now have a REAL ID.
But My Passport Works?
Yes, your passport fills the bill.
But just 46 percent of Pennsylvanians have a valid passport, according to 2024 figures from the Center for American Progress. That means 6,738,823 residents of the Commonwealth do not.
Passport ownership is highly correlated with income, education level, and race. Only 1 in 5 Americans with a household income below $50,000 have a passport, while just 1 in 4 with a high school degree or less hold one. And, two-thirds of Black Americans lack a valid passport.
So What Do I Need?
The act requires a government-issued photo ID that indicates you are a United States citizen to vote in person, and a copy of an eligible photo ID both when requesting and submitting an absentee or mail-in ballot.
Election Office Penalties
The bill also adds criminal penalties for any election official who registers an applicant who fails to provide documentary proof of citizenship. Those penalties apply even if an individual is a U.S. citizen, said Rachel Orey, director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Elections Project.
Excuse me? Election officials could face criminal penalties?
Did you know that noncitizens can receive a social security number? Generally, only noncitizens authorized to work in the United States by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can get an SSN.
Imagine a scenario where this application falls in your lap to approve or deny.
The form indicates that the registrant is a citizen and a SSN is provided. All else checks out.
How does your election office know is someone is a noncitizen based upon the information provided?
How Do Voters Feel?
Not surprisingly, 83 percent of those surveyed in an August Pew Research poll favored requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote. Less popular but still favored by a majority included questions on early voting at least two weeks prior to Election Day (80%); making Election Day a national holiday (74%); and automatically registering all eligible citizens to vote (59%).
Voter ID “gets such broad support because large majorities of people have these documents and have them ready, and they don’t quite realize that significant portions of the public don’t, or that it’s hard to get, or that the information’s expired,” said Michael J. Hanmer, director of University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement.
It is the lack of knowledge of who will be affected that may have the biggest impact.
According to the American Communities Project, large majorities of key Republican voters lack a valid passport, including 58 percent of working-class U.S. adults, 53% of adults in rural middle America, and 52% near military posts.
Who Would Be Most Affected?
In 2023, the Brennan Center for Justice found in a national survey that nine percent of American citizens – or 21.3 million people – don’t have ready access to proof of citizenship.
Only about half of Americans own a passport.
According to the University of Maryland, more than 3.8 million adult U.S. citizens lack any form of citizenship documents, such as a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization papers.
Younger people between the ages of 18-to-24 are also less likely to have access to these documents, not knowing where their birth certificate might be stored with parents or other family members.
Oh, and about those birth certificates …
Birth Certificates
A birth certificate is a legal document that shows your birth record. Pennsylvania birth certificates are printed on security paper with a raised seal.
You may apply for a birth certificate online, through the mail, or in-person at a Vital Records public office. Eligible applicants must be 16 years or older (18+ for online orders), complete an application, present valid photo ID, and pay the application fee of $20 per certificate.
Processing times vary based on application method. Online and mail applications are processed within about 3 weeks and certificates will be mailed to you for no additional charge. In-person applications may be available same-day at a Vital Records public office.
Now the kicker … birth certificates are not amended to reflect name changes due to marriage.
That’s right. Millions of married women who have taken their spouse’s name now have birth certificates that do not reflect that change.
The Center for American Progress estimates that 2.86 million female Pennsylvania citizens have names that do not match their birth certificate (last name change or hyphenation).
What Does The Constitution Say?
It is unclear whether Congress even has the power to enact it. This is the key constitutional question.
The U.S. Constitution imposes no citizenship requirement when it comes to voting. The original text of the Constitution, in fact, said very little about the right to vote. It was not until legislators passed subsequent amendments, starting after the Civil War up through the 1970s, that the Constitution even explicitly prohibited voting laws that discriminate on account of race, sex or age.
Aside from these amendments, which include the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th, the Constitution is largely silent about who gets to vote.
Who, then, gets to decide whether someone is qualified to vote? No matter the election, the answer is always the same – the states.
Indeed, by constitutional design, the states are tasked with setting voter-eligibility requirements – a product of our federalist system. For state and local elections, the 10th Amendment grants states the power to regulate their internal elections as they see fit.
States also get to decide who may vote in federal elections, which include presidential and congressional elections.
The SAVE Act implicitly says that someone must be a U.S. citizen to vote in federal elections – a power that the Constitution leaves exclusively to the states.
Normally, when state and federal laws conflict, the Constitution’s supremacy clause mandates that federal law prevails.
Yet, in this instance, where Congress has no actual authority to implement voter qualifications, the SAVE America Act would seem to have no constitutional leg on which to stand.
What’s Next?
The bill now heads to the Senate, where it faces significant hurdles. It would need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and several Republican senators — including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have expressed opposition, citing concerns about federal overreach into state-run elections.
Should the Senate pass the legislation, President Donald Trump will almost assuredly sign the bill into law, placing it all back in the hands of the courts and most likely landing on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Steve Ulrich is managing editor of Politics PA.
