Oppose the Save Act to Protect Voting Rights and save our Democracy

I urge you to oppose the SAVE Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration in federal elections. This legislation would create substantial barriers for eligible American citizens while addressing a problem that essentially does not exist. More than 21 million Americans lack readily available documents like passports or birth certificates. The SAVE Act would force these eligible citizens to navigate bureaucratic processes and potentially pay fees to obtain documents simply to exercise their constitutional right to vote. This burden falls disproportionately on elderly citizens, low-income individuals, and naturalized citizens who may struggle to obtain decades-old naturalization records or birth certificates from states with incomplete vital records systems. Federal and state laws already prohibit non-citizens from voting in elections. The SAVE Act does not address any documented widespread problem but instead creates an unfunded mandate that imposes massive costs on state and local governments without providing resources for implementation. States would bear the expense of developing verification systems, training personnel, and processing documentation for millions of registrations while conducting retroactive audits of existing voter rolls. The legislation raises serious constitutional concerns. The documentary requirements may effectively function as a poll tax if citizens must pay to obtain proof of citizenship, violating the Twenty-Fourth Amendment. The rigid mandate provides no hardship exceptions or alternative verification methods, creating a system that could disenfranchise eligible voters unable to obtain documents despite their citizenship status. Additionally, the intersection with executive actions like the September 25, 2025 NSPM-7 order creates concerning scenarios where passport revocation based on ideological suspicions could strip citizens of acceptable documentation, potentially blocking them from registering to vote for exercising constitutionally protected speech. I ask you to reject this legislation that would suppress voter participation among eligible citizens while solving no actual problem. Protecting voting rights requires opposing measures that create unnecessary barriers to the ballot box.