SAVE AMERICA Act

As soon as Trump took office in January 2025, he tried to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, claiming rampant illegal fraud by noncitizens. Instances of voting by noncitizens are extremely rare, and it’s already against the law for noncitizens to vote.

The SAVE America Act was passed in the House of Representatives in February. It’s currently stalled in the Senate (as of May 2026). But, if it were to become law, every American, including people who have been registered for decades and who need to update their registration (moving, change of party, name change), would need to appear in person at an election office with qualifying documents (a passport or a birth certificate).

Online voter registration, which 42 states currently rely on, would be upended or eliminated. Mail registration would end entirely.

Voter registration drives would become functionally ineffective, since they depend on reaching people at events and public spaces where no one carries a passport or birth certificate. If your name does not match across those documents, additional paperwork such as a marriage certificate would also be required.

Because the documents required to prove citizenship aren’t free (over 51% of Americans don’t have passports — and only 1 in 5 Americans with incomes below $50,000 has one) this is also a modern poll tax. The 24th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1964, prohibits any fee as a condition of voting in federal elections. Poll taxes were historically used to prevent low-income people from voting.