The right to vote is one of the most fundamental rights Americans have. Activists have worked for over a century to expand voting rights to disenfranchised groups. Lawmakers are now threatening that right.
Introduced in Congress on Jan. 3, 2025, House Resolution 22 is referred to as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) sponsored this bill, which is intended to keep illegal immigrants from voting. It is already illegal for non-American citizens to vote in federal elections under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996.
“We in Congress have a duty to our fellow citizens to provide that confidence and put concrete enforcement in place to ensure that our elections and our sovereignty cannot be hijacked and influenced by foreign nationals who have no business voting in this country,” Roy said.
This bill will require people to present proof of citizenship, which could be either a birth certificate or a valid passport, when registering to vote. While this doesn’t sound like a big deal, it will have a severe impact on voting rights and is an affront to democracy.
If an individual’s name does not match the name on their birth certificate, they won’t be able to use it to register to vote. The 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey found that nearly half of transgender respondents do not have an ID (including a birth certificate) that has the name they prefer to use.
This problem also affects many married women. As of 2023, 79% of married women in the United States changed their last name to their spouse’s. On the local level, approximately one million women in Kentucky have a different name than what is on their birth certificate, either due to a last name change or hyphenation.
Luckily, under the SAVE Act, anyone unable to use their birth certificate would be able to use a passport instead. The only problem is that the processing time to get one is 4-6 weeks on average. This doesn’t include the time it takes to get passport photos, schedule an appointment to get a passport and the mailing time of waiting for it to arrive. The lengthy process of getting a passport shows that this is not an acceptable alternative to providing a birth certificate.
This is only further proven by the fact that only around 53.1% of people in the United States owned a valid passport in 2024. Kentucky had one of the lowest passport ownership percentages, with only 29% of Kentuckians having one.
Providing identification to register to vote is not an unreasonable requirement. The problem is that this bill limits the types of identification that can be used. Limiting the forms of valid identification that can be used for voter registration makes it harder for people to vote, thereby depriving those who are unable to meet these strict requirements of one of their fundamental rights as American citizens.
Dr. Gail Henson, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Louisville, explained that even though this bill may not pass the Senate, its implications are still worrying.
“This legislation creates a thoughtless “othering” against a targeted group. It’s thoughtless because the sponsors don’t realize the hardships such legislation imposes. It’s thoughtless because such legislation may indicate intent to disenfranchise people who do not know how to jump through bureaucratic hoops to get such documents, who lack the funds to get them, who are discouraged by a time-consuming requirement,” Dr. Henson said.
Though many teenagers aren’t old enough to register to vote, there are many actions they can take to make sure their voices are heard on this issue. Take the time to learn about the history of voting rights by studying historical activist movements and landmark judicial cases and legislation, such as Shelby County v. Holder and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Get involved with voting rights organizations, such as the League of Women Voters, which accepts members age 16 or higher. Attend metro council meetings or reach out to lawmakers to share your thoughts on issues that are important to you.
Social media is another useful tool to utilize for spreading the word about the dangers of this bill and other threats to voting rights. On X, users shared their thoughts on the SAVE Act utilizing the hashtag “#HandsOffHerVote.”
Even if it doesn’t pass the Senate, the SAVE Act is a slap in the face to democracy. There is nothing democratic about trying to make voting more difficult for the everyday person. Though most teenagers aren’t yet old enough to vote, our futures and rights are on the line.
“What we need is more access to the process of voting, not less,” Dr. Henson said.
