The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act was reintroduced in the House of Representatives on Jan. 3 by Texas Rep. Chip Roy. If passed, the SAVE Act would require all citizens registering to vote to show documentary proof of citizenship in person. For most Americans, that would be a passport or birth certificate. Driver’s license, REAL IDs, tribal IDs and military IDs do not meet that bill’s requirements.

In a press release from the Rep. Chip Roy website, the bill was proposed to push back against illegal immigrants registering to vote in federal elections “by upholding and strengthening current law that permits only U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections.” The article claimed that “Millions of illegal aliens remain in our country illegally and many have been given the opportunity to register to vote in federal elections.” According to the Migrant Policy Institute, though, there has been lack of evidence of noncitizens committing voter fraud and occurrences are rare despite the claims that millions have.

While the target of the SAVE act are non-citizens, the SAVE Act may hinder the voting ability of millions of Americans.

Junior Sophie Donahue plans to vote in the next federal election. Just a few months ago, she got her passport. After hearing about the proposed SAVE Act Donahue felt like she was cutting it close. Donahue is also sceptical about how the bill fits into the Trump administration’s recent plans for deportation.

“At this point, [the Trump administration] has been deporting a number of groups of people…So, I feel like this could lead to a lot of racial profiling at the ballot box,” Donahue said.

As of September 2023, about 140 million Americans do not own a valid passport. For reference, about 155 million people voted in the 2024 presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Passport ownership is, overall, even between Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. However, passport ownership is shown to vary among socioeconomic status. 24% of Americans with a high school degree or less have a valid passport. 21% of Americans with a median household income of $50,000 own a valid passport. The bill will complicate voting registration for America’s underprivileged citizens.

The bill could also make voting harder for married women who took their husbands’ surnames. A study from the Pew Research Center showed that 79% of women took their spouse’s last name and another five percent hyphenated theirs and their partners names. Republican-leaning women are twice as likely to take their husbands’ surname. This means that these women do not have birth certificates matching their legal names. Since the bill does not mention anything about taking into account name changes, they might not be able to use their birth certificate to prove citizenship.

Furthermore, the bill calls people to show proof of citizenship in person. This means that rural Americans would have to travel to register to vote instead of registering online.

Senior Cerena Karmiliani pre-registered to vote last year. The first question on the online pre-registration form asks if the person registering is a citizen. It can be answered by simply clicking a “yes” or “no” button, there are obviously more questions to confirm identity afterwards.

“Adding another step would not be helpful,” Karmiliani said. “[The SAVE Act] would create a bigger barrier to equal representation in the voting system.”

The reason driving the SAVE Act is to prevent illegal immigrants from voting by showing documented proof of citizenship, primarily through passports or birth certificates. However, if passed, this bill may disenfranchise millions of Americans as well.