Fight Back on Efforts to Limit Voter Access to the Ballot

Efforts are ramping up in the House and Senate to make it harder for citizens to register to vote, limit vote-by-mail, change voter maintenance practices in states, and more. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act has passed the House and could get a vote in the Senate at any time. The Make Elections Great Again Act was introduced in the House last week.

The SAVE Act, which is now in the hands of the Senate, would require citizenship documentation to register to vote, despite the fact that voters in every state are already required to affirm or verify their citizenship status when registering. It is already illegal for non-citizens to register and vote in federal or state elections. Plus, we have processes to ensure our elections are secure and that only eligible voters are casting ballots. State election officials have systems to verify an individual voter’s eligibility and ensure voter rolls are accurate.

Tell your Senators to oppose the SAVE Act.

Many communities of eligible voters would be unnecessarily burdened by the requirements of the SAVE Act. Among them are military voters who would be required to present documentation every time they re-register to vote when their family moves. Families who have been impacted by natural disasters may have lost necessary documentation and would be required to jump through hoops to replace these documents to register to vote while also going through the traumatic process of rebuilding their lives. Additionally, Americans who have changed their name, like married women, would also be required to secure updated documentation to register to vote.

The legislation lists several different forms of identification that can be used to provide documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC), such as passports, birth certificates, military IDs in combination with a record of service that lists a member's birthplace, certain tribal IDs, and a few others. Married women whose names on their birth certificate do not match their married names would be required to show one of the approved documents, most likely a passport. As many as 140 million American citizens do not have a passport. This is especially true in rural areas. In West Virginia, Mississippi, and Alabama, over 70% of citizens don’t have a passport.

Tell your Senators to oppose the SAVE Act.

In addition, compared to white US citizens, citizens of color are three times more likely to lack documents such as birth certificates, passports, naturalization certificates, or certificates of citizenship or face difficulties accessing them. For example, while approximately half of all American adults possess a passport, two-thirds of Black Americans do not.

The Make Elections Great Again Act was introduced in the House last week to require photo ID to vote, require DPOC to register to vote, change voter list maintenance in states, require mail-in ballots to be received by election day, ban universal vote by mail, and more. The League will not stand idly by, and we need your help to stop these unnecessary requirements.

Legislation like the SAVE Act and the MEGA Act are part of a long list of tactics that seek to make it more difficult for voters of color and naturalized citizens to vote. Americans do not need MORE obstacles to vote. Congress must act to ensure that every eligible US citizen has the freedom to vote unimpeded by discriminatory rules rooted in fear and division.

Tell your Senators to oppose the SAVE Act.