Oppose S.128 – The SAVE Act Is an Attack on American Democracy

As a lifelong voter and concerned Iowan, I am alarmed by the dangerous implications of S.128, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act). This bill is not about safeguarding elections—it is about blocking millions of eligible Americans from the ballot box. What This Bill Really Does: • Targets Women: Over 69 million women have changed their last names through marriage. Most do not possess a birth certificate that matches their current ID. This bill would force them to navigate burdensome legal hoops just to register. • Discriminates by Race: Citizens of color are three times more likely to lack the documentation this bill demands—like passports or naturalization papers. That is not election protection; it is systemic exclusion. • Punishes the Poor and Rural Voters: Roughly 21 million Americans don’t have immediate access to proof of citizenship. More than 140 million do not have a passport. The in-person registration requirement disproportionately harms rural, elderly, and low-income citizens. • Crushes Civic Participation: The bill criminalizes voter registration efforts unless done in person with documents—effectively shutting down outreach by churches, nonprofits, and community organizations. There Is No Justification: State audits and federal investigations—including by the Trump administration’s own election security agencies—have confirmed again and again: non-citizen voting is virtually nonexistent. This bill is a solution in search of a problem, and its real target is voter participation, not fraud prevention. A Chilling Historical Parallel: S.128 echoes a dark chapter in history. In 1933, the Nazi regime passed the Enabling Act—a law justified as necessary for stability and order. In reality, it was a tool to consolidate power and exclude the politically inconvenient from democratic life. The tactics of that era—restricting who can participate, weaponizing bureaucracy, and criminalizing dissent—should be a warning, not a blueprint. There is no place for such tactics in American governance. I urge you to vote against S.128 in its entirety. Supporting this bill aligns you with some of the darkest legislative tactics in modern history. If you choose to back it, know this: you are risking a direct comparison to the Nazis—and you will be remembered for it.