Voting is part of every American’s civic duty. Voting in political elections are a fundamental right given to every citizen living in a democratic country. Voting for citizens is a fundamental right, however, throughout history, voting has not always been accessible. Throughout American history, excessive requirements for voter registration have been imposed and have stopped many Americans from voting. For example, literacy tests and poll taxes were unnecessary requirements in the Jim Crow Era that suppressed African American voters for generations. These requirements have not stopped popping up in policy in the modern day. A new bill, called the Save Act is being criticized for its role in furthering voter disenfranchisement.
What is the Save Act?
The Save Act is a new bill that would require all Americans to provide a birth certificate, a passport, or one of a few other citizenship documents every time they register to vote, or re-register to vote. Driver’s licenses and military and tribal IDs would not be sufficient proof of citizenship under this new bill. Why is this new bill facing so much backlash?
The Problem
The SAVE Act has become a topic of great judgment and scrutiny for its potential to increase voter disenfranchisement. One major solution to low voter turnout in elections is offering accessible ways to vote through mail-in registrations, automatic voter registration, and online registration. If the SAVE Act is implemented it would eliminate mail registration and many other registration systems that make voting possible for many Americans. This bill threatens accessibility to voter registration for thousands of Americans. The SAVE Act imposes barriers to the registration process by demanding documentation that many Americans cannot afford or do not possess.
Who will this impact?
While the United States has implemented requirements to vote for citizens, requiring additional information is being seen as unnecessary by many civic advocacy organizations and non-profit organizations. Most Americans have birth certificates, but many are still unable to access the necessary documents to register to vote. More than 21 million Americans are unable to access the additional documents that are required to vote under the act. The demographics this bill directly impacts are people of color, married women who have changed their names, disabled individuals, and the elderly. A survey from the Pew Research Center found that 79% of married women have taken their husband’s last name. Millions of married women would not be able to register to vote due to birth certificates not reflecting their current legal name. This leaves huge demographics of Americans with the inability to vote in important elections and to exercise their right to vote.
The SAVE Act could drastically decrease voter turn-out and undo the years of hard work that non-profits and organizations all over the country have worked so hard to accomplish. In 2022, only 5.9% of voters registered to vote in person. However, 55% of registrations were collected through motor vehicle departments online. This is a huge percentage of people who registered to vote whose voter registration may not be renewed due to the restrictions of the SAVE Act.