1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

I urge you to oppose the SAVE America Act and any legislation that would impose documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements for voting. Non-citizen voting in federal elections is already illegal and extremely rare. Studies and audits across the country—including reviews of millions of voter registrations—have consistently found virtually no cases of non-citizens voting. Yet the SAVE Act would impose sweeping new barriers on eligible American voters. The bill would require citizens to present proof of citizenship such as a passport or birth certificate in person at an election office to register to vote or update their registration. More than 140 million Americans do not have passports, and many others do not have easy access to their birth certificates. Obtaining these documents often costs money and requires travel, effectively creating a modern poll tax that would put voting out of reach for many working-class Americans. These requirements would disproportionately affect women who have changed their names after marriage, rural voters who may live hours from election offices, young voters, seniors, and Americans whose records were lost in disasters. Military members and Americans living overseas could also face new barriers to absentee voting. The legislation would also effectively eliminate the registration systems most Americans rely on today. Online registration, registration at motor vehicle agencies, mail registration, and community voter-registration drives would all become far more difficult or impossible. Civic organizations, churches, and community groups that help millions of people register to vote would be severely restricted. At the same time, the bill would require states to provide their voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security and conduct regular purges of voter rolls, raising serious concerns about privacy, erroneous removals, and federal overreach into state-run elections. Election officials could even face criminal penalties or lawsuits for mistakes in verifying citizenship documents, creating enormous pressure to reject registrations over minor discrepancies in names or paperwork. Passing such sweeping changes in the middle of an election cycle would create chaos for election administrators and confusion for voters. It would make voting harder for millions of eligible citizens while solving a problem that does not meaningfully exist. The right to vote is the foundation of our democracy. Congress should be working to expand access and participation, not erect new barriers that disenfranchise eligible American citizens. Please oppose the SAVE America Act and protect the fundamental right to vote.