Last week, some eligible New Hampshire voters experienced significant roadblocks to participating in the state’s first elections since it enacted a law that requires a birth certificate, passport, or other proof of citizenship to register to vote. The mess provided a preview of the steep hurdles prospective voters across the country will face if Congress passes the SAVE Act, a bill that will imperil Americans’ ability to participate in elections.
For one voter in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, satisfying the state’s new requirements was like a bad visit to the DMV. Betsy Spencer, 70, told New Hampshire Public Radio that it took multiple attempts over several hours with different documents proving her citizenship to re-register to vote on Election Day (New Hampshire is one of 23 states that allows same-day voter registration). Among other problems, her birth certificate didn’t match her married name. Spencer wasn’t the only one to experience difficulties: other voters who needed to register reported being turned away because they didn’t bring a birth certificate, passport, or other proof of citizenship with them to the polls. While some returned with the required proof to vote, others did not.
This would effectively end mail registration, online registration, and voter registration drives.
If the SAVE Act becomes law, voters nationwide will face similar problems to those in New Hampshire, if not worse. Like the New Hampshire law, the federal SAVE Act would require voters to show a document like a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization papers in person to an election official to register to vote. But the federal version would be even stricter than the New Hampshire law. Our research shows that at least 21 million American citizens don’t have ready access to those documents. The SAVE Act’s show-your-papers requirement would block millions of American citizens from voting, and it would be especially burdensome for young Americans and Americans of color.
The bill could also jeopardize voting access for tens of millions of married women who have changed their last names. Roughly 80 percent of American women in opposite-sex marriages took their husband’s last name, according to a 2023 Pew study. Yet the bill doesn’t address what happens when a person’s legal name is different than the name on their birth certificate or passport.
The SAVE Act’s damage would extend beyond the millions of American citizens who don’t have ready access to citizenship documents. Eligible voters would be required to present their citizenship documentation in person to an election official both when they register the first time and anytime they need to re-register.
This would effectively end mail registration, online registration, and voter registration drives — all extremely popular and convenient methods American voters rely on. Between 2018 and 2022, these three ways to register accounted for about one in every three registrations nationally, according to the Election Administration and Voting Survey. In the two years before the 2020 presidential election alone, more than 37 million people either registered for the first time or updated their registration using one of these methods, the survey found. The reality is that federal and state laws are already in place to ensure that only eligible U.S. citizens vote, and carry steep penalties for those who violate them. Yet, the House is currently expected to take up the bill during the week of March 31. This year marks the 60th anniversary of President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law to eradicate racial discrimination in voting and expand access to the ballot box for people of color. If Congress were to enact the SAVE Act, it would be an unprecedented departure from its longstanding commitment to protecting the freedom to vote. Congress should not turn its back on this duty. The SAVE Act is a voter suppression bill. It would keep many millions of eligible American citizens on the sidelines of our democracy. It must never become law.
Jasleen Singh
Jasleen Singh is counsel in the voting rights program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law. 
