1. United States
2. Nev.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to oppose the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which passed the House in a 218-213 vote and would create unnecessary barriers to voting for millions of eligible American citizens. While I understand the intent to secure our elections, this legislation would disenfranchise far more legitimate voters than it would protect against the virtually nonexistent problem of non-citizen voting. According to the Brennan Center for Justice and the University of Maryland's Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, 21 million Americans do not have documents proving their citizenship readily available, and 2.6 million lack any form of government-issued photo ID. These are citizens who have every right to vote but would face significant obstacles under this law. The bill's requirements are particularly burdensome for married individuals who have changed their names and may not have matching documents across their passport, birth certificate, and photo identification. This disproportionately affects women and creates a bureaucratic maze for citizens simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. The legislation also imposes criminal penalties on election officials who register voters without obtaining required proof, which will likely make officials overly cautious and reject legitimate registrations. Federal law already mandates that voters in national elections be US citizens. What we need is to make voting more accessible for eligible citizens, not to erect new barriers based on unfounded claims of widespread fraud that have been repeatedly debunked. Even Senator Lisa Murkowski has indicated she would not support this measure, recognizing its flaws. I ask that you stand against the SAVE Act and instead support policies that expand access to the ballot box for all eligible American voters. Our democracy is strengthened when more citizens participate, not when we make it harder for them to vote.