Trump's SAVE America Act: How this voter ID bill could reshape US elections

The SAVE America Act became a flashpoint for Republican infighting last week when Trump said he would refuse to sign a bipartisan housing bill until the legislation passed Congress

By Aidan Williams and Steven T. Dennis

 

President Donald Trump and his staunchest congressional allies have threatened a legislative blockade over a contentious voter identification law that would significantly reshape how Americans vote in November.

 

The SAVE America Act, which would create strict requirements nationwide, became a flashpoint for Republican infighting last week when Trump said he would refuse to sign a bipartisan housing bill until the legislation passed Congress.

 

After the Supreme Court on Monday upheld state laws permitting the counting of mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, Trump said in a social media post it is “more important than ever” to pass the voting law. He also reiterated his push for even more stringent provisions, such as a ban on most mail-in voting, that aren’t in this legislation.

 

 

A Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutional right to US citizenship for all people born in the country was also a blow to Trump, rejecting the administration’s planned restrictions and invalidating a central plank in his immigration agenda.

 

Here’s what to know about the SAVE America bill:

How would the bill change voting?

The SAVE America Act would require those voting in person to present “valid physical photo identification,” while individuals voting by mail would have to provide a copy of their photo ID.

 

Voters could present a state-issued driver’s license or state-issued photo ID card issued by a state motor vehicle authority, a US passport, military ID or photo ID issued by Native American tribal governments that includes an expiration date, according to the bill championed by Trump ally Senator Mike Lee. Student IDs, various tribal IDs without an expiration date, hunting and fishing licenses and other state-specific identity cards would not be sufficient.

 

Voters who do not bring a photo ID for in-person voting could cast a provisional ballot, after which they would have three days to present that identification to election officials, with an exception for people attesting that they have a religious objection to being photographed.

 

To register or re-register to vote, typical forms of identification such as a state-issued driver’s license or student ID would typically no longer be enough. Prospective voters would generally need to provide a passport, birth certificate or naturalization papers, or else convince a state election official they are a citizen with “other evidence” of citizenship along with an affidavit. Rules would be determined on a state-by-state basis.

Why do Democrats oppose it?

Eighty-three percent of Americans support requiring voters to show government-issued photo ID to vote, according to a nonpartisan Pew Research Center poll conducted in August. 

 

“This is a 90/10 issue that you should have photo ID and be a citizen to vote in American elections,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Thursday. “We think that is a non-controversial prospect.”

 

In practice, however, the SAVE America Act’s heightened requirements could stop millions of US citizens from voting. A 2024 University of Maryland study found that 21.3 million people in the US, over 9% of voting-age citizens, cannot readily access proof of citizenship. 

 

Just under 2% of voting-age American citizens, or over 3.8 million people, lack necessary documentation, like a birth certificate, passport, naturalization certificate, or a certificate of citizenship. People of color are disproportionately affected compared to White Americans. 

 

Meanwhile, people who change their names due to marriage or other reasons could face identification hurdles. According to Pew, 84% of married American women in opposite-sex marriages have changed their surname, meaning their birth certificates are not considered sufficient voter ID unless they also present additional documentation of their name change.

 

“People often hear about voter ID and they think it’s an on-off switch, that it just means one thing,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, director of voting rights and elections at the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice. “It doesn’t. There’s a whole spectrum.”

 

Supporters of both political parties could encounter more obstacles to voting, according to analysts Bloomberg interviewed. Republicans and Democrats who rely on more accessible means of registration and voting, including those from rural communities, older voters and Native American tribe members, are likely to face steep hurdles to voting under the bill, the analysts say.

 

A requirement that voters present citizenship documents in person to election officials would add a burden on elderly people moving into a nursing home or living in a rural area without easy access to transportation.

 

Morales-Doyle added that restrictions on mail-in voting could hurt Democrats more given they have disproportionately embraced the practice in recent elections.

How widespread is the problem of noncitizens voting?

Numerous studies have found that instances of noncitizens voting illegally in US elections are rare — likely a minuscule fraction of the voters who risk being disenfranchised from strict voter ID requirements.

 

The number of alleged instances of noncitizens being on voter rolls falls drastically when claims of widespread fraud are investigated, according to a report by the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research.

 

Similarly, only 100 cases of noncitizens voting have been recorded since 1982, according to an election fraud database compiled by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that has championed the SAVE America Act.

 

Hans von Spakovsky, a former manager for Heritage’s election law initiative, said the database was only a “sampling” of cases. He added that Trump’s Justice Department has increased its scrutiny of the issue following decades in which such investigations weren’t a priority.

 

Part of the reason that few cases of noncitizens voting have been identified is that states have already taken measures to ensure only citizens can vote in compliance with federal law. The policies, which vary on a state-by-state basis, range from requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration to using jury lists to help maintain accurate voter rolls.

 

On Thursday, a federal judge barred the Trump administration from enforcing the most controversial provisions of an executive order that demanded states require proof of citizenship to vote.

 

“There is no evidence in this record of widespread illegal voting, discrimination, fraud and other forms of malfeasance and error within American elections, which the executive order purports to safeguard against,” said Chief US District Court Judge Denise Casper.