1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I urge you to oppose the SAVE Act (HB22), which would create substantial barriers for eligible citizens while addressing a problem that evidence shows does not exist. This legislation would require documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration, fundamentally undermining voting access for millions of Americans. Noncitizen voting is already illegal under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, and comprehensive data demonstrates it is extraordinarily rare. Utah's review of over 2 million registered voters between April 2025 and January 2026 found only one confirmed instance of noncitizen registration and zero instances of noncitizen voting. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' verification program shows only 0.04% of voter verification cases return as noncitizens. In Travis County, Texas, 25% of voters flagged as potential noncitizens had already provided proof of citizenship when registering. The SAVE Act would prevent far more eligible citizens from voting than the virtually nonexistent number of noncitizens it might stop. Research shows 9% of all eligible voters do not have easy access to documentary proof of citizenship, 52% of registered voters lack an unexpired passport with their current legal name, and 11% do not have access to their birth certificate. Kansas provides a stark warning: after implementing documentary proof requirements, roughly 31,000 eligible citizens—12% of all applicants—were prevented from registering, while noncitizen registration had been only 0.002% of registered voters. The legislation creates an unfunded mandate with no implementation timeline, requiring states to overhaul registration systems immediately while providing no resources. It establishes criminal penalties for election officials who register applicants without documentary proof even if the applicant is actually a citizen, and authorizes private lawsuits against officials, further straining an already overburdened election workforce. Better alternatives exist. Back-end verification using government databases places responsibility on officials rather than voters and avoids disenfranchising eligible citizens who face difficulties obtaining documents. I ask that you oppose the SAVE Act and support verification methods that protect both election integrity and voting rights.