1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to oppose the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, reintroduced by Rep. Chip Roy on January 3, 2025. This legislation would create insurmountable barriers to voting for millions of eligible American citizens while claiming to address a problem that extensive research shows does not exist. The SAVE Act would require all voters to prove citizenship in person with documents like passports or birth certificates when registering or updating their registration. This includes routine updates like address changes after moves or name changes after marriage. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, more than 21 million citizens lack the required documentation. The Center for American Progress found that over 140 million Americans do not have passports, and approximately 69 million women who changed their names after marriage may not have documents matching their current legal name. The in-person requirement would disenfranchise approximately 60 million rural voters who would need to travel great distances to register. Some voters in Hawaii and Alaska might need to take flights just to update their voter registration. These are not hypothetical concerns but real barriers that would prevent eligible citizens from exercising their constitutional right to vote. The justification for this bill rests on claims of widespread voter fraud that research has repeatedly debunked. Studies by the Brennan Center for Justice show that voter fraud is exceptionally rare and voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent. Even Trump's Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2016 election. Florida's experience with Senate Bill 524 in 2022 illustrates this disconnect. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced arrests of 20 individuals for voter fraud, but records revealed most charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. Many arrested individuals had received voter registration cards from the state itself. It is already a legal requirement to be a U.S. citizen to vote, and our current system effectively detects the rare instances of fraud that occur. The SAVE Act would not strengthen election security. It would simply prevent millions of eligible Americans from participating in our democracy. I urge you to oppose this legislation and protect the fundamental right to vote.