1. United States
2. N.C.
3. Letter

I am writing as one of your constituents to urge you to vote NO on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, also known as the SAVE Act. While I understand the stated goal of ensuring only citizens vote in federal elections, this legislation is unnecessary and deeply harmful to eligible American voters. Non-citizens voting in federal elections is already illegal and has been consistently shown by researchers to be vanishingly rare. Existing law already requires applicants to provide a driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number, which election officials are required to verify through federal databases. The SAVE Act solves a problem that does not meaningfully exist — while creating very real problems for millions of legitimate voters. Here is what concerns me most: Millions of Americans will be disenfranchised. Most driver's licenses do not indicate citizenship, meaning tens of millions of eligible voters would suddenly need a passport or birth certificate to register. Roughly 69 million American women who have changed their last name upon marriage may find their birth certificate no longer matches their current legal name — creating a bureaucratic maze simply to exercise their constitutional right to vote. It eliminates accessible registration options. The bill would severely disrupt or eliminate mail and online voter registration, which more than 18 million Americans used in 2022 alone. It puts election officials at risk of criminal prosecution. Under this bill, a county clerk could face up to five years in prison for registering a voter who turns out to lack the correct documents — even if that voter is a U.S. citizen. This will have a chilling effect on the dedicated public servants who run our elections. It mandates aggressive voter purges. The bill would require frequent voter roll purges based on databases known to contain errors, which would inevitably remove eligible American citizens from the rolls. It forces states to share sensitive voter data with the federal government with no restrictions on how that data may be used. Our democracy is strongest when every eligible citizen can participate. I urge you to stand up for your constituents and vote NO on the SAVE Act. Thank you for your time and your service.