Married women who have changed their names among those who would be affected
Attorney General Dan Rayfield and a coalition of 17 attorneys general, sent a letter to congressional leadership opposing H.R. 22, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The coalition argues that the proposed legislation would add extra, unnecessary hurdles for people to prove their citizenship, making it harder for millions of eligible voters to cast their ballots.
“This law just makes it harder for people to vote,” said Rayfield. “We can protect the integrity of our elections while still making sure that every legitimate voter has an equal opportunity to cast their ballot without obstacles or discrimination.”
The SAVE Act would amend the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship before registering to vote. The coalition emphasizes that this requirement would reverse three decades of progress made under the NVRA, which was designed to remove barriers to voter registration and promote greater participation in the democratic process.
In the letter to House Speaker Michael Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the coalition emphasizes that non-citizen voting is extremely rare. Studies show that in jurisdictions with high immigration populations, only 0.0001% of votes cast were by non-citizens. Despite this negligible risk, the SAVE Act would impose substantial burdens on eligible voters, particularly affecting poor and minority communities.
The attorneys general warn that the legislation would create significant obstacles for eligible voters, including:
• Requiring expensive documentation such as passports or birth certificates that perfectly match current names;
• Mandating in-person presentation of citizenship documents, effectively eliminating online voter registration systems currently available in 42 states;
• Creating barriers for married women whose birth certificates don’t match their current names; and
• Jeopardizing the franchise for active-duty service members who cannot return to their local election offices.
“Over 21 million voting-age citizens do not have ready access to a passport, birth record, or naturalization record,” the coalition notes in their letter. “And 80% of married women would not have a valid birth certificate under the SAVE Act because those women chose to adopt their partner’s last name.”
The attorneys general also highlight concerns about the substantial administrative and financial burdens the Act would place on state election systems. The legislation would require states to fundamentally restructure their voter registration procedures and create new systems for document verification, while criminalizing mistakes made by election officials with penalties of up to five years in prison.
Joining Attorney General Rayfield in sending this letter are the attorneys general of Maryland, Illinois, Connecticut, Minnesota, New York, Nevada, Rhode Island, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai’i, Vermont, District of Columbia, California, Maine, Washington, New Jersey and Michigan.