The SAVE Act is awaiting a Senate vote, leading Texas State students to demonstrate against the bill, urging it not to pass.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act) is a federal bill that aims to ensure only U.S. citizens vote in federal elections. The act will prohibit online registration and mail-in ballots and require voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
The approved forms of citizenship include a U.S. passport, a birth certificate paired with a photo ID, a naturalization certificate or a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, according to Congress and The White House.
Texas State’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) student chapter organized an demonstration on March 26 against the SAVE Act.
“It’s an act that doesn’t do anything; it’s called the SAVE Act, but who is it saving?” Felicia Jones, public administration seniorand the political action chair of Texas State’s NAACP Collegiate Chapter 6875-B, said.
Non-citizens are prohibited to vote under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, however if The SAVE Act is passed will amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which created registration requirements for federal elections.
Currently, voters are allowed to present a driver’s license as a valid form of identification, according to VoteTexas.org.
A 2023 survey found that 21.3 million eligible voters could be disenfranchised by the SAVE Act, as they do not have access to the documents required to register and vote, according to the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement.
“You need to prove you are who you were at birth, and a lot of people don’t have access to those documents; that’s essentially a poll tax,” Jones said.
Linda Calvert, the vice president of advocacy for the Hays County League of Women Voters, said if the SAVE Act passes the Senate, disabled people, individuals in the military, people in rural areas and elderly individuals who use mail-in voting will be affected.
“In order to actually register, people would have to go to the elections office, and people that don’t have transportation or have jobs and can’t get there in working hours would simply be disenfranchised,” Calvert said.
Calvert also said she found it interesting that President Trump, a proponent of the bill, used mail-in voting in Florida’s House District 87 special election in March and the 2020 Florida primary elections.
“In my own opinion, this is certainly an attempt to disenfranchise people who don’t vote ‘correctly,’” Calvert said. “The intention is to suppress the vote, and the people who are most likely to be affected are low-income people and people of color.”
The SAVE Act would also impact married women who changed their last names, requiring them to present a marriage certificate, and transgender individuals, according to Calvert.
A 2025 study from the American Civil Liberties Union on federal data regarding voter verification found that non-citizen voting occurred at a rate of .04%, which contradicts the claim President Trump made during the State of The Union Address that voter fraud is rampant.
“What this bill is purporting to do is to fix a problem that we do not have; there is no problem with illegal voting,” Calvert said.
The SAVE Act would also mandate that individuals who do not meet the requirements to vote be purged from the voter registration system, with voter roll purges occuring every 30 days, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
The SAVE Act, which passed the House on Feb. 11 by a vote of 218-213, is currently blocked in the Senate due to an ongoing filibuster, which is a prolonged debate or delay intended to prevent a vote on a bill. However, multiple states have introduced bills like the SAVE Act to pass similar legislation at the state level, according to Calvert.
Hyun J. Yun, a political science professor at Texas State , said that while the bill could provide some benefits regarding election integrity, the burden of proof should not be on the individual voter.
“There’s already a low voter turnout and hurdles for registering, and then when you add more steps that people have to complete, it leads to not only voter suppression but voter depression as well,” Yun said. “Regardless of party line, this act will affect every American voter.”
If the SAVE Act passes the Senate, it would apply to all federal elections, including the presidential election in 2028.
“If this were to pass, it would show that we are rapidly losing our democracy, our voice and our representation,” Jones said.
