The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act in April. The Senate can still stop the bill from becoming law, and I believe they should.
The stated intent of the bill is to prevent non-citizens from voting in federal elections, but in fact, it will make it more difficult for many people to vote, especially married women and people in poverty, but make no mistake it will be more difficult for everyone. That is a bold claim, but I will lay out the reasons for my opinion.
This bill has several problematic sections, but the main issue is that the SAVE Act will require all American citizens who register to vote or update their registration to present documentary proof of United States citizenship. Still sounds good until you realize how difficult it can be to get the documentary proof.
The first form of acceptable identification must be issued consistent with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005 that indicates the applicant is a citizen of the United States. The most common type of REAL ID is a drivers license. Great, right? Most of us already have that, case closed. Well, maybe not. I have a new 2025 South Dakota drivers license and nowhere does it indicate that I am an American citizen. None of our congressmen have given me a straight answer to whether a SD drivers license will work and now you know why. When I contacted Rep. Dusty Johnsons office, a staffer attempted to point to this section to imply that my drivers license would work for this purpose. So I begin to question If the staffer, and apparently our state representative, is woefully misinformed or if this is the intent of the bill!
So, if a drivers license doesnt work, what are the acceptable forms of identification? The options are a U.S. passport, a U.S. military ID with proof of birth in the U.S.; photo ID card issued by a federal, state or tribal government showing proof of birth in the U.S.; or other government-issued photo ID paired with a matching document from a list of about a dozen choices.
Even the most accessible options listed can be prohibitively difficult. For example, most people dont have a passport, and it currently costs $165 to get one -a significant burden for many voters. Next, the problem with requiring an ID and matching birth certificate is that many married people dont have that. If a woman chooses to take their spouses last name, they no longer have a matching birth certificate. Surely, our legislators would have realized this before the law passed through the House of Representatives. In fact, Maxine Dexter of Oregon put forth an amendment that would require states to certify that the SAVE Act would not prevent eligible women from voting if the documentation didnt match because of a name change. That amendment was voted down by House Republicans.
Finally, I ask, is all of this effort even necessary? In short, no. According to the Heritage Foundations research on voter fraud, since 2005, South Dakota has only had five cases of voter fraud (by all people, not only non-citizens) and each of them resulted in criminal convictions. That is five votes total over 20 years in a state with over 600,000 registered voters. The same story is told in the evidence in other states.
Whether intentional or not, this act creates obstacles to voting that could and would cause some people to simply give up trying. We do not need more obstacles to voting.
Demand accountability, demand truth from our representatives, and protect our democracy.
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