What’s Happening
The House has advanced two related bills: the SAVE America Act and the Make Elections Great Again Act which will now be referred to together as SAVE Act 2.0. The SAVE America Act has passed the House but has not been taken up in the Senate, while the Make Elections Great Again Act has only been introduced. Similar legislation known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act) moved through the House last year but stalled in the Senate after significant public opposition. These new bills revive many of the same provisions under updated names.
US Citizenship is Already Required to Vote
It is important to note that U.S. citizenship is already required to vote in federal elections. Federal law requires individuals to attest to their citizenship when registering and voting as a noncitizen is illegal and subject to penalties. There is no demonstrated pattern of noncitizens voting in federal elections.
What These Bills Would Do
- NewDocument Mandate of Citizenship Proof to Register
This legislation would require documentary proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, U.S. passport, naturalization certificate, or adoption records, in order to register to vote. Common forms of identification like REAL IDs, state-issued student IDs, or standard driver’s licenses would not satisfy the requirement unless accompanied by separate proof of citizenship.
Under the legislation, documentation cannot simply be mailed or uploaded through existing systems, making registration more dependent on transportation access, flexible work schedules, and physical possession of specific records. The proposal also does not clearly explain how these requirements would integrate with current online voter registration systems, which many states rely on to verify eligibility electronically.
While citizenship is already required under current law, this proposal adds a new documentation mandate. More than 21 million Americans do not have ready access to these documents. Roughly half of Americans do not have a passport, and millions do not have immediate access to a paper copy of their birth certificate.
Although the requirement would apply to all voters, it would likely create disproportionate obstacles for younger voters, people of color, senior citizens, and women whose names have changed due to marriage. What is currently a standard registration process would become dependent on locating and presenting specific paperwork many eligible voters may not readily possess.
- Make Voting by Mail Significantly Harder
The legislation changes the method of verification in a way that restricts access to absentee voting. Under current law in many states, eligible voters can register and, where applicable, submit documentation to verify eligibility through online voter registration systems. This legislation would go further by requiring documented proof of citizenship specifically in connection with absentee ballot requests and returns. Because the proposal requires documentation to be presented directly rather than submitted electronically or by mail, it would significantly restrict access to vote-by-mail.
Seniors, people with disabilities, rural voters, and working families frequently rely on mail voting. Requiring in-person documentation in connection with absentee voting would limit participation for individuals who cannot easily travel to election offices due to distance, health, work schedules, or caregiving responsibilities.
- Accelerated Voter Roll Purges Increase Risk of Wrongful Removals
The bills would require voter rolls to be reviewed and potentially purged every 30 days, replacing the typical 90-day safeguard period before elections. The longer timeframe currently helps protect voters from being mistakenly removed too close to Election Day.
Reducing that window increases the likelihood that eligible voters could be removed from registration lists with limited time to identify or correct errors before voting.
- Expand Federal Supervision and Penalties
Under the SAVE America Act, states would be required to submit full voter registration lists to the Department of Homeland Security for comparison with federal citizenship verification tools. If a state declines to provide those lists, every voter in that state would be required to show documentary proof of citizenship to cast their ballot.
The legislation also creates criminal penalties for election officials who register applicants without documentary proof of citizenship, even if that applicant is in fact a U.S. citizen and authorizes private citizens to sue election officials in certain circumstances.
These provisions increase legal exposure for election administrators and introduce additional uncertainty into the registration process. The potential for penalties and litigation may lead to more restrictive registration practices and fewer opportunities for voter assistance.
- Immediate Implementation
These bills do not allow time for voting administrations to implement these changes. All changes are required to be implemented immediately upon being signed into law. This compressed timeline would place extraordinary strain on state and local election officials, forcing rapid overhauls of registration systems, training protocols, public guidance materials, and database coordination without adequate preparation or funding. Counties would need to update forms, retrain staff, modify technology systems, and educate voters all at once, significantly increasing the likelihood of administrative errors, processing backlogs, and inconsistent application across jurisdictions. In practice, rushed implementation could result in eligible voters being turned away, registrations being delayed or rejected, and confusion among both election workers and the public.
Overall Impact
These bills do not alter who is legally eligible to vote. Instead, they replace existing verification systems with more restrictive documentation requirements and procedural hurdles. Citizenship is already required to vote, and unlawful voting is already prohibited under federal law. These bills add new documentation requirements, tighten voter roll timelines, restrict mail voting, and expand federal oversight. The result would likely be more barriers for eligible voters, greater confusion, and a higher risk of errors, particularly for communities that already face challenges in accessing the ballot.