Urgent: 4/10/2025:
US House just disenfranchised voters with the SAVE Act! Make sure it does not pass the Senate!
On April 10 the U.S. House passed the SAVE Act (“Safeguard American Voter Eligibility”), a dangerous bill that could strip millions of citizens of their right to vote. It is a blatant, underhanded attempt to kick lawful voters off the rolls and suppress voter participation under the false guise of preserving and protecting election integrity. We must do everything possible to stop it.
The SAVE Act is unnecessary.
Its proof of citizenship requirement for all Americans - even those already registered - is illegal, discriminatory, and unjust. Current federal law already states that only citizens can vote in state and federal elections. This act is a deliberate obstacle designed to keep eligible citizens from exercising their fundamental right to vote.
There is no room in our democracy for this kind of legislation. The League won’t stand for it, and neither should you.
With this bill now heading to the Senate for a vote, it is halfway to becoming the law of the land.
The only way to stop this is with the power of the people. We are ramping up efforts to stand against any and all attempts like this one to make voting harder for citizens, whether by Congress or the current Administration. But we need your support NOW to get this done.
Your help is crucial to stopping this attack on democracy.
This shameful, anti-democratic bill will disproportionately harm:
- Married Women and Anyone with a Changed Name, including Adoptees and Children of Divorce: Americans who have changed their name, such as married women, adoptees - including children whose parents divorced and then changed their name (first or last) after a parent remarried (with or without formal adoption), and many members of the trans community, would be required to secure documentation in addition to birth certificates, so they could register to vote; including marriage, divorce, adoption, and/or name-change certificates.
- Older Voters may have greater difficulty obtaining necessary documentation due to lost or destroyed files or faulty computerization.
- Disaster Survivors: Families impacted by fires or other natural disasters often lose important documentation. The SAVE Act would require them to jump through hoops to replace these documents in order to register to vote while also going through the traumatic process of rebuilding their lives.
- U.S. Military: Service members and their families would be required to present documentation every time they moved - to re-register to vote. Further, they would not be able to use their military ID alone to prove citizenship and would need additional documentation to show their birthplace (and US registration if born overseas) or their naturalization status.
- Voters of color; Low-Income Voters, and Other Historically Marginalized Communities, are less likely to hold a passport or readily accessible birth certificate, and may not have the time or finances to obtain them - disproportionately harming their ability to vote under this bill.
- Tribal Citizens: would be unable to register using their Tribal ID alone. The SAVE Act requires Tribal ID to show the holder’s place of birth in the US, but most Tribal IDs do not list a place of birth, so other forms of ID that may not be readily available will be demanded.
The SAVE Act will also weaken the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993, a law passed over 30 years ago to ensure voter access nationwide. We at the League worked for years with legislators to pass the NVRA and we cannot let the protections of this longstanding law be stripped from millions of voters.
As guardians of voters’ rights, we were prepared for this outcome — and even as I write this, League members are mobilizing and taking action. We will not stay silent while the SAVE Act threatens our rights as citizens to vote — the very foundation of our democratic process.
Now is the time to redouble our efforts to speak out against any legislation that suppresses the vote.
We’re working every day to defend democracy, and we need your support to do it now. Your gift can help us stop this anti-voter legislation in the Senate.
Sincerely,
Celina Stewart, Esq.
CEO, League of Women Voters of the United States