The Problem That Does Not Exist
Noncitizen voting in federal elections is already illegal. It has been since 1996. Violators face deportation, fines, and prison. The Brennan Center found that suspected noncitizen votes account for roughly 0.0003% of ballots cast. In a country of 160 million voters, that is fewer than 500 cases.
The SAVE Act would require every voter to present documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, before registering. It is framed as election security. Its effect is voter suppression.
21 Million Citizens Blocked
21 million eligible American citizens do not have ready access to documentary proof of citizenship. They are disproportionately low-income, elderly, Black, Latino, and Native American. They are citizens. They have the right to vote. They do not have a passport in a drawer.
21 million citizens lack the documents the SAVE Act demands. The problem it claims to solve affects 0.0003% of ballots.
The Act would not stop noncitizen voting, because noncitizen voting barely exists. It would stop millions of citizens from registering, because millions of citizens do not carry the documents it demands.
Who Is Affected
The 21 million citizens without documentation are not evenly distributed. 7% of white citizens lack proof. 25% of Black citizens do. The gap is not accidental. It is the product of a system that has never made documentation equally accessible.
A birth certificate costs money to replace. A passport costs more. In rural counties, the nearest office may be hours away. For elderly citizens born before hospital births were standard, a birth certificate may not exist at all.
It is easier to get a gun in most states than it is to get the documentation the SAVE Act requires to vote.
The Pattern
The SAVE Act fits a sequence. The Supreme Court gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in Callais. States are purging voter rolls with error-prone data matching. 19 congressional seats have been lost to discriminatory redistricting.
The bills do not work independently. Each one narrows the electorate. The SAVE Act narrows it by 21 million.
Read more on the Voting Rights series and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.