Motivated by election security concerns like voter fraud, the Republican-backed SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act, a voter ID policy, is making its way through Congressional proceedings and sparking considerable partisan debate along the way.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy R-Texas on May 7, 2024, aims to amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 by mandating that people registering to vote or changing their registration do so in person and show proof of citizenship during the process. Citizenship is already required to vote in the U.S., but it is generally proven through attestation at the risk of perjury rather than through documentation.
Photo identification, typically in the form of a driver’s license, is commonly used in voter registration proceedings, but the SAVE Act would require a passport, birth certificate or other documentation of identity to be shown. The name on the photo ID would need to match the name on the documentation to be considered valid.
The act was passed by the Republican-majority House of Representatives on July 10, 2024, but the Senate did not take it up for a vote. In January of 2025, Roy brought the bill back into consideration, and the House passed it again on April 10. To become law, it must pass the Senate by the same simple majority — a stiff test, since Democrats will likely filibuster against the bill, and to end a filibuster would require the votes of 60 out of the 100 senators (the GOP currently holds 53 seats).
Ongoing discourse on the act exemplifies the stark divide between the Democrat and Republican stances on intertwined issues of election security and voting rights. Democrats, largely opposed to the act, see it first and foremost as a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
“This is an attempt to expand Federal control, or at least the current President’s control, of a function the Constitution has specifically reserved for the states,” Kari Issacson, Chair of the Walla Walla County Democrats, said in an email to The Wire.
Issacson refers to Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution, which gives states control over their election policies. This same clause is cited in the SAVE Act’s Constitutional Authority Statement, however, as proof of its constitutionality because it qualifies that, “Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations [made by states].”
Walla Walla County Democrats also dispute the fears of foreign influence on American elections on which the act is ostensibly predicated.
“Republicans have long tried to make an issue of non-citizens voting, which, after many audits of elections across the U.S., has not been documented beyond a very few instances,” Issacson said.
Democrats and other opponents see the SAVE Act negatively impacting the people they say it purports to protect — American citizens themselves. Many, including Beth Lynk, the Executive Director of When We All Vote, worry that the act will disproportionately impact certain demographic constituencies who already struggle to participate in elections.
“This legislation could silence more than 140 million citizens who do not have a passport, and 21 million who do not have ready access to their birth certificate or other documents. And like most voter suppression tactics, the SAVE Act’s impact will be disproportionate: 69 million married women and up to 3.3 million trans voters whose birth certificates don’t match their legal name could lose ballot access, along with many rural voters who live four-and-a-half hours away from an election office,” Lynk said in a statement to The Wire.
As Lynk mentions, married women and trans voters are particularly vulnerable to the stipulations of the SAVE Act because it does not include proof of name change or marriage certificate as permissible types of identity documentation. As a result, the birth certificates of individuals who change their legal names won’t be accepted on account of the name discrepancy.
In Washington, the proof of citizenship requirement could disenfranchise scores of residents. According to Diane Molleson of League of Women Voters of Benton and Franklin Counties, over 2.7 million people who lack passports, over 1.5 million who have name changes due to marriage and those who lack enhanced driver’s licenses or ID cards (78% of all Washingtonians in 2024) could be disenfranchised by the SAVE Act.
To fully illustrate what an election landscape would look like under the SAVE Act, Lynk used class registration at Whitman as an example.
“Picture this: To register for classes at Whitman, all students would need to go in person to the Registrar’s Office and provide their birth certificate or passport, and these documents must match their legal name. No more class registration online, and new or transfer students would have to drive in, some for hours, just to register for courses. If a student doesn’t have access to their birth certificate or passport, they can’t register for classes, despite already being enrolled with a student ID. That is what registering to vote under the SAVE Act would look like, especially for young voters, Black and Brown voters, women, lower-income voters, rural voters, trans voters, and more,” Lynk said.
For the GOP, the focus is less on these minority communities and more on non-citizens. The Walla Walla County Republican Party and other right-leaning organizations like Heritage Action For America and the Only Citizens Vote Coalition have not responded for comment on the SAVE Act at the time of publication. However, they’ve been vocal in their support of it.
In a press release on April 10, a statement from Heritage Action Executive Vice President Ryan Walker was shared in which Walker lauded the House for passing the bill.
“The SAVE Act seeks to codify President Donald Trump’s executive order to restore the American people’s trust in federal elections by banning foreign nationals from interfering in the democratic process. We commend the House for taking bold action to safeguard the integrity of our elections and urge the Senate to swiftly send the SAVE Act to the President’s desk for his immediate signature,” Walker said.
Only Citizens Vote is also in favor of the act and emphasized its importance in countering what the coalition sees as a Democrat-led attack on U.S. elections.
“Radical progressive Democrats are taking drastic steps to fundamentally remake America through open borders, the release of millions of illegal aliens into our communities, and by waging a full-scale assault on election integrity laws. … Rep. Chip Roy’s SAVE Act would fix this problem, thwart Democrat efforts to cement one-party rule, and uphold and strengthen current law by requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in Federal elections,” the coalition stated on their website.
As the bill continues to be deliberated, campus groups like Whitman Votes remain devoted to their work to get out the vote. Jonathan Becker, junior and president of Whitman Votes, expressed this.
“Whitman Votes is an organization committed to the protection of voting rights and voting access. …[W]e will do everything we can to help make voting accessible to members of the Whitman community. Through education and outreach in the campus community, we will continue to help encourage voting and civic engagement for Whitman students. We recognize that voting is a crucial constitutional right and civic obligation, which we strive to protect. We remain committed to this work even in the face of nationwide voter suppression and challenges to voting rights,” Becker said in an email to The Wire.
Becker expects local connections to sustain Whitman Votes’ work should the SAVE Act become law.
“…[W]e have a strong relationship with the Walla Walla County Election Center, and we will be able to continue directing students there for support with voter registration,” Becker said.
