SAVE Act
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act has recently passed in the House and is on its way to be voted on by the Senate. There are a lot of confusing and conflicting conversations going on about this Act and we hope to help make this topic easier to digest so you can advocate for yourself to your representatives.
📣 The SAVE Act would make people show extra paperwork to prove they're U.S. citizens before they can vote. It sounds simple, but it could actually block millions of regular Americans from voting because a lot of people don’t have the right documents handy. If you care about keeping voting fair and easy, now’s a good time to speak up, get involved, and make sure your voice is heard! Keep reading for more facts and ideas on how you can get involved!
What is the save act?
The SAVE Act, also known as H.R.22, is a bill introduced by Texas Representative Chip Roy that will make voters prove they are citizens with documentary proof when registering to vote.
“Specifically, the bill prohibits states from accepting and processing an application to register to vote in a federal election unless the applicant presents documentary proof of U.S. citizenship. The bill specifies what documents are considered acceptable proof of U.S. citizenship, such as identification that complies with the REAL ID Act of 2005 that indicates U.S. citizenship.” 🔗 [read more here]
The SAVE Act also establishes criminal penalties for election officials who register voters without these documents. It is important to note that a REAL ID will not be acceptable to prove citizenship as it is available to legal residents who are not citizens. Nor will military identification be accepted. You will need documents such as birth certificates, adoption paperwork, naturalization documents and marriage certificates delivered in person to your election offices.
Why the save act has been proposed
The SAVE Act is an attempt by the Republican party to assure that no non-citizens can vote in a federal election. What is important to recognize about this effort, is that it is founded on the widespread belief that noncitizens have been voting and changing the outcomes of our elections. This belief spread by some representatives and social media is not supported by the data or our courts. There has been a law in place since the 1990’s that makes it illegal and criminally punishable to vote in a federal election as a noncitizen. The threat of prosecution, huge fines, or deportation has proved effective. Organizations who study voter fraud and allegations of noncitizen voting have found that while it does rarely happen that someone ineligible registers to vote, it is exceedingly rare they go on to vote in an election. The Brennen Institute has compiled the studies into this issue and goes on to show that instances of noncitizens registering to vote is less than 1% and actually voting, even less than that. 🔗 [read more here]
What the Save Act would mean for the average voter
The SAVE Act is dominating headlines at the moment because of the fear that it will disenfranchise millions of voters. While some will argue that it’s just verifying documents you should already have, that argument dismisses a lot of the issues with the bill.
Older birth certificates have no raised official seal and will not be accepted as proof.
Many critics rightly consider this a poll tax as the only way to secure any missing documents you may have will be costly and time consuming.
The bill also does not address the valid concerns of many who have had a name change due to adoption, marriage, or personal reasons, as their name on any current identification will not match their birth certificates. It is estimated this Act could disenfranchise as many as 70 million voters.
The bill would require people who have already registered to go in person to their nearest voting office to submit these documents and be re-registered. This would immediately disenfranchise our federal workers, military, and expats abroad. As well as prevent anyone who is incarcerated and otherwise eligible to vote from registering as they could not do so in person.
The Save Act ignores recent cuts to our federal work force who would process documents like our passports which less than 50% of citizens have, leaving millions of Americans to try and obtain these documents from understaffed federal offices.
The bill and those arguing for it do not address the fact that these elections are staffed by local volunteers who are not equipped to officiate documents that come from all over the country, and in the case of military dependents and adoptions, the world. With the fear of prosecution should the election volunteer register someone without proper documents we risk massive voter purges. As we would be asking people who are untrained to know what makes a document from other jurisdictions official. “Under the SAVE Act, election workers could go to prison for up to five years if they help to register somebody without the correct documents, even if the registered voter is a citizen.” 🔗 [read more here]
What can you do?
If you find these issues with the SAVE Act as concerning as many Americans, do the best thing you can do for yourself, and your neighbors - get involved!
📞 Call, write an email or letter
👀 Look up your local political and activism groups and volunteer
🪧 Go to any rallies or town halls in your community
🗳️ Vote with your money by donating to organizations trying to protect your voting rights
📧 Share our newsletters, emails, and posts to help others in your community understand these complex and nuanced issues
🤳 Post on social media to your representatives and friends your concerns about the SAVE Act
🗯️ Post testimonials if you’ve ever dealt with the frustrations of trying to get these documents or prove citizenship
📣 Tell your family, friends, coworkers, church, clubs, and community about how these changes to the voter laws would affect you
Does Activism actually work?
In this time of increasing uncertainty, conflict and division it is very easy to be discouraged. The best thing you can do for yourself is recognize that a lot of the conflict you see over these issues is manufactured. That algorithms and organizations are increasingly bogged down by bots. Some of these bot campaigns our own state department have warned are from foreign governments attempting to sway our elections and sew division. We as Americans have far more in common than social media would have you believe. We here at Accountable.vote believe the best way forward for all Americans is to find common ground and push our representatives towards bipartisan solutions that protect our election integrity without disenfranchising the average American voter. While many will feel discouraged because sometimes the person you voted for, or issue you voted on did not go your way, we should be aware of just how powerful our voice is. Just in the last few months we have many encouraging examples of citizen activism.
Many Americans upset with recent cuts, or in fear of proposed bills and the next budget have overwhelmed small local town halls. Filling them to capacity with voters from every demographic demanding to be heard and say their piece to their representative. Videos of this have gone viral on platforms across the world. When you feel discouraged, know that this has been so effective that many representatives have begun cancelling speaking engagements because they fear the bad press and inability to defend their policies. 🔗 [read more here, here and here]
There has also been an enormous effort to protest throughout the nation. A Hands Off Protest was held on April 5th in over 1200 cities in all 50 states. The call to protest was so loud it was heard and met worldwide. With many protesters across the globe coming out to support Americans concerned about recent changes to our federal government and tariff policies. 🔗 [read more here, here and here]
And just this weekend Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York held a rally in Los Angeles California that had over 36,000 attendants. Tens of thousands of people showed up to the “Fighting Oligarchy” rally, just one stop of a nationwide tour that has seen massive numbers show up despite this not being an election year or election rally. Their next stops will be in Nampa Idaho, Bakersfield California, Folsom California, and Missoula Montana. Yet another way for you to get involved if these areas are local to you! 🔗 [read more here and here]
These are events that have already passed, but don’t be discouraged if you want to get involved some big protests are on the way! The '50501' group stands for "50 protests in 50 states and plans to get numbers to rival the Hands Off protests.
🔗 [read more here]
There is also a grassroots “March for Integrity” protest being held on the 27th of July in Washington D.C. organized by our friends at “Money out of Politics” an organization led by American veterans.
🔗 [read more here]
Whatever you decide to do, do it loudly, now is the time for your voice to be heard, to try and affect change and fight for your rights as an American secure in your knowledge that we here at Accountable.vote are fighting alongside you.