1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to oppose the SAVE America Act, which recently passed the House and now faces consideration in the Senate. This legislation represents an unprecedented federal intrusion into state election administration that would immediately disenfranchise millions of eligible American voters. The bill requires all voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate plus photo ID, when registering to vote. It also mandates photo ID at the polls, including for mail-in ballots. These requirements would take effect immediately before the midterm elections, with no additional funding for election officials who would face criminal penalties, including imprisonment, for registering voters without proper documentation. The practical impact is severe. About half of Americans lack a passport as of 2023. Obtaining birth certificates and other documents requires time, money, and access to government offices that many working Americans simply don't have. The name discrepancy provisions, while attempting to address concerns about married women whose names changed, still require additional affidavits that create bureaucratic barriers. Most troubling is the SAVE system verification requirement, which forces states to submit voter lists to the Department of Homeland Security for citizenship checks. This system has already erroneously flagged U.S. citizens as noncitizens in states that have used it, threatening to purge eligible voters from the rolls. This solution seeks to fix a problem that doesn't exist. Non-citizen voting in federal elections is already illegal, and proven instances of such fraud are vanishingly rare. Current law requires sworn attestation under penalty of perjury, which has proven effective. The timing and scope of this legislation reveal its true purpose: not election security, but voter suppression. I urge you to oppose the SAVE America Act and protect every eligible citizen's fundamental right to vote.