Dear Representative:
On behalf of the 63 affiliated unions of the AFL-CIO, I write to express our strong opposition to H.R. 22, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. Mandating documentation of citizenship to vote, despite the fact that federal laws already prohibit noncitizen voting and there is no evidence of widespread fraud, will suppress U.S. citizens’ participation in their own democracy.
The SAVE Act creates unnecessary barriers for segments of U.S. citizens to participate in elections. It limits acceptable IDs to passports, excluding others like REAL ID driver's licenses and military IDs unless coupled with additional documentation such as a birth certificate. This places an extreme burden on many Americans, including military personnel, Native Americans, those who have changed their names (particularly women), the elderly, the young, and the poor.
This bill makes it harder to vote if you only ever vacation in the United States, at, say, Ocean City, Maryland, or Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, compared to those who holiday in the Caribbean or take frequent business trips to Europe and Asia. In other words, not every American has a passport or has had a reason to apply for a passport. Among Americans whose highest level of education is a high school diploma or less, approximately 1 in 4 have a valid passport. Among Americans with a household income below $50,000, only 1 in 5 have a valid passport. And only two-thirds of Americans (64%) with a household income above $100,000 have a valid US passport.1 The lower your income, the harder it will be to vote under H.R. 22.
Having made registration more difficult, the bill threatens prison for election officials who register U.S. citizens to vote without the precisely required documented proof of citizenship. It also mandates the already stretched Social Security Administration to verify voter citizenship information for states without providing additional funding.
Moreover, the bill relies on third-party databases to verify citizenship and mandates frequent voter roll purges, which can erroneously disenfranchise U.S. citizens due to administrative errors and unreliable data sources.
In short, the SAVE Act functions to deny Americans access to their democracy, not improve election integrity. Congress must safeguard free and fair elections by opposing the SAVE Act and supporting measures that make it easier for U.S. citizens to vote in elections, not harder.
Sincerely,
Jody Calemine
Director, Government Affairs
1 https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-save-act-would-disenfranchise-millions-of-citizens