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21.3 Million Citizens. No Passport. No Birth Certificate.
21.3 million voting-age American citizens do not have ready access to a passport or birth certificate. Eight states now require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. The SAVE Act, which passed the House, would make this requirement federal.
21.3 million citizens lack citizenship documents. Georgia audited 8.2 million voters and found 20 noncitizen registrations. 9 had voted. The problem these laws claim to solve does not exist at any meaningful scale.
The Heritage Foundation’s own database documented 24 instances of noncitizen voting across the entire country from 2003 to 2023. Georgia audited 8.2 million registered voters and found 20 noncitizen registrations. Nine actually voted. The voter fraud that justifies these laws is statistically nonexistent.
Who Gets Blocked
The 21.3 million without documents are disproportionately low-income, elderly, Black, and Latino. Obtaining a birth certificate costs $10 to $50 depending on the state and requires navigating government offices that are often inaccessible to people without transportation, internet access, or time off work. A passport costs $165.
Proof-of-citizenship requirements eliminate mail registration and online registration for anyone who cannot upload or present documents. About 40% of Americans have never held a passport. The SAVE Act solves a problem that affects 24 people by creating a barrier that affects 21.3 million.
What You Can Do
- Tell your senators to vote no on the SAVE Act →
- Check your voter registration at vote.org.
- Read the Voting hub and the mail voting executive order brief.