The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is a proposed congressional bill that would disenfranchise over 100 million Americans from voting. On April 10, the bill passed in the House.
Aimed at preventing undocumented immigrants from voting, SAVE will also target young voters due to extraneous voting registration requirements. The notion of undocumented immigrants voting has existed for years, but there are very few verified cases.
Valid forms of ID under the bill that “prove citizenship” would now be limited to a passport and birth certificate as the bill aims to remove driver’s licenses as a valid form of ID. American Progress states over 140 million people don’t have a valid passport and not all students have easy access to their birth certificate. Limiting IDs to passports and birth certificates makes voting increasingly selective and inaccessible to young voters.
Madelyn Byers, president of Supporting Women in Political Science (SWIPS), said drivers licenses are the most accessible for students when registering to vote.
“A lot of people have drivers licenses and that’s one of the easiest forms of identification because not everybody brings their passport around,” Byers said. “Not everybody has a passport and student IDs are not applicable to use when voting.”
SAVE would also require voter registration to be entirely in person, as all voters would need to prove citizenship and have their identification items checked. Hays County registered 174,668 voters in the 2024 election cycle, according to the Secretary of State. Students make up a large portion of these voters, meaning those who don’t have a passport or access to their birth certificate would no longer be able to register and cast their vote. The U.S. Census found 49.1% of people aged 18-24 registered to vote in the 2022 election.
This already imposes major concerns since two Texas State students had their immigration statuses changed by the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System (SEVIS) program on April 11.
Texas State encourages students to vote, causing students to make up a large portion of voter registration in Hays County. Nearly 50% of Hays County voted in past elections partially due to Texas State’s planned registration events.
Minority voters will be most affected by this bill. Because Texas State is a Hispanic Serving Institution, many students are especially at risk of these proposed changes. Byers said imposing an act like SAVE could lower the turnout among young voters due to the bill’s targets on race, gender and ethnicity.
“Young voters make up a large percentage of our presidential elections. Although turnout is lower during midterms, younger voters are still essential in creating these new policies and electing new politicians,” Byers said. “It is our right to vote and just because people are of a different ethnicity, gender or race, does not mean they should be targeted for going to vote.”
Voting is an American right, and disallowing eligible voters defeats its purpose and undermines the vital voice of young voters.
