The SAVE Act and the SAVE America Act are two of the most searched bills in Congress right now—and they’re confusing a lot of people. By digging into what these bills actually do—and the long history they fit into—you’ll see why they’re widely considered voter suppression efforts and how they could affect your ability to vote. And more importantly, you’ll learn what you can do right now to protect your ballot before any of this becomes law.
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Background Sources
Photo ID Requirements
“FACT FOCUS: Only some driver’s licenses usable for voter registration under the SAVE America Act.” Melissa Goldin. March 27, 2026. AP News.
Noncitizen Voting
“Election Fraud Map.” The Heritage Foundation.
“Georgia citizenship audit finds few noncitizens on voter rolls.” October 23, 2024. AP News.
“Can noncitizens vote in US elections?” Ali Swenson. October 19, 2022. AP News.
“Noncitizen Voting: The Missing Millions.” Douglas Keith at al. May 5, 2017. Brennan Center for Justice.
FOX News
“GOP governors, AGs back Trump SAVE Act push, warn system gives ‘undue influence’ to states with illegal aliens.” Jasmine Baehr. March 18, 2026. FOX News.
“Trump’s SAVE America Act to face first official test vote in Senate.” Anders Hagstrom and Greg Wehner. March 17, 2026. FOX News.
“Republican senators blast Democrats for ‘fear-mongering’ over election security SAVE Act.” Taylor Penley. March 17, 2026. FOX News.
GOP History of Voter Suppression
“Daschle vs. Thune, Temporary Restraining Order, 2004.” U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, Southern Division.
“Caging Democracy: A 50-Year History of Partisan Challenges to Minority Voters.” Teresa James. September 2007. Project Vote.
“Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election.” U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
DNC vs. RNC
“DNC v. RNC Consent Decree.” November 5, 2016. Brennan Center for Justice.
“Amended Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief and for Damages, 1981.” U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
“Complaint in Intervention for Preliminary and Permanent Injunctive and Declaratory Relief, 2004.” U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
“Memorandum in Support of Intervenor’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction, 2004.” U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
“Opinion, 2016.” U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Laws
Executive Orders
“Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” [Executive Order 14248.] March 25, 2025. The White House.
- “Memorandum Opinion.” April 24, 2025. U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” [Executive Order 14399.] March 31, 2026. The White House.
Audio Sources
House Floor
April 10, 2025
21:00 Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI):
The SAVE Act is aligned with President Trump’s recent executive order, Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of Elections, which will help restore trust in American elections,
enhance our election administration, and make our elections secure. This legislation is just one step that we can take to ensure President Trump’s executive order could not be undone.
40:30 Rep. Deborah Ross (D-CA):
This backward legislation would immediately disenfranchise the 69 million women who have changed their names after marriage or divorce and do not have a matching birth certificate. There is no cure in this bill.
47:10 Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK):
I will add this: The claim is that it will disenfranchise married women and others who might have to change their names because the documentation might show two different names, but the SAVE Act itself addresses this point in the text. Page 14, line 9 directs the States to create a process for addressing this exact issue.
48:35 Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY):
I hate to disagree with my dear friend, the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Rep. Bice), but the words ‘‘marriage certificate’’ do not appear anywhere in the SAVE Act. In fact, it could have been written in that way since Republicans are adding all these lists and requirements for people to do. Yet, it actually does make it harder for almost 70 million American women to vote.
“Women Need To Be Heard:” Meryl Streep Speaks Out Against The SAVE America Act
Jessica Yellin (@jessicayellin) on Instagram
April 2, 2026
Murkowski Speaks Out Against SAVE Act on Senate Floor
March 19, 2026
6:35 Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK):
As the bill is drafted right now, these provisions are effective upon passage of the bill. So that means that Alaska and every other State is going to have to comply with a new set of laws that, in my State’s situation, contradict our State laws, and we are in the midst of an election cycle. We are less than 8 months away from our general election. In addition to immediate implementation of the provisions under this bill, there is no support that comes to the State. When I say support, there are no Federal resources that come and say: All right, you
need to figure out how you can get more photo identification mobile units out to remote areas where it is hard to do. You need resources. You need people in order to absorb this. The numbers that you will see when people come to your division of elections or your public assistance office with original documents—you need more folks. Well, here is the money. Well, we are not helping with that, so the States would be forced to bear the entire cost of implementation right away—just right away. So this is a tall order. Again, you are trying to stand all of this up while we are in the midst of an active election year. Certainly in my State, we would be redirecting—if we had to comply with the Federal law, we would redirect funds from elsewhere. But this is just— OK. It is a logistical challenge. Is it insurmountable? Maybe not. Is it going to be really hard to do in certain places? I think that is fair to say. So maybe I am starting with the easiest point here, which is the implementation on the timeline that this bill outlines is pretty near impossible in a State like Alaska right now given the lack of infrastructure that we currently have.
21:20 Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK):
This is hard. This is hard. And so I fear that they won’t register because financially they won’t be able to register. And if they are not able to register, they can’t vote. And while disenfranchisement may not be the intent of the SAVE America Act—and I don’t think that it is—I think we will see that. In fact, I fully expect it to be an outcome of this.
36:20 Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK):
This version also goes further and sets a new default rule for Federal elections of in-person voting. This contradicts Alaska’s long-allowed, no-excuse absentee voting by mail. In the way the amendment is drafted, absentee ballots would only be allowed if the voter were a member of the armed services or is stationed abroad or out of State, unable to vote in person due to illness,
infirmity, hospitalization, or physical disability, is the primary caregiver of an individual who is medically incapacitated, or will be absent from the State due to verified travel. Now, there is a fifth ‘‘hardship’’ category, but we understand that the drafters are pretty clear that this is meant to be construed narrowly. The bill then goes on to describe very different and specific chain-of-custody rules for a State’s handling of absentee ballots, on top of the other changes that SAVE America would mandate be implemented immediately.
41:30 Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK):
I am also not happy to see some provisions tucked into the substitute that target transgender individuals simply because there is, apparently, an opening to do so. I don’t know that
that has anything to do with voting, but these provisions add to the opposition that I have.
House Floor
February 11, 2026
56:05 Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA):
The bill before us is a prime example of how awful the process has been under this Republican majority. The SAVE America Act was introduced by the gentleman of Texas just 12 days ago, and it included significant changes from its original version, the SAVE Act. After the SAVE America Act’s initial introduction, the Committee on Rules posted a complete rewrite of it last Friday. Even after two sweeping rounds of edits, Republicans were not done changing their half-baked bill. Yesterday, they posted a manager’s amendment, which makes more changes, including changing when the bill would take effect and which voter IDs would be acceptable. We have seen three totally different versions of this bill in a dozen days. It is important to say that all of these changes were backroom deals. There were no hearings, no markups, no regular order. The chairman of the Committee on House Administration didn’t even feign a desire to include rank-and-file members in the process.
1:05:55 Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX):
With respect to the other claims, claims about the implications for married women, the fact is that the SAVE America Act does not, as is alleged, disenfranchise voters but, rather, it provides a very specific process for anyone who changes his or her name to register to vote, including by signing an affidavit. We believe the original form of the SAVE Act would have provided ample ability for States to have taken care of it, but we went ahead and added an additional provision to ensure that the affidavit process was there for the small fraction of the population it might have impacted. We wanted to ensure there was no chance of issues. Questions were raised about our uniformed personnel, our men and women who serve this country overseas. We believe our previous version would have made it fine for them to be able to do what they needed to do to register to vote and vote, but we made a clarification to ensure that UOCAVA governs what happens with our men and women in uniform. We have made every attempt to work to ensure that this bill is doing exactly what it is intended to do, which is ensure that only citizens vote and that we present voter ID at the polls.
Music
Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito
