The US Senate has voted down the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act for the second time, blocking a piece of Trump-backed legislation that would have required citizens to present documentary proof of citizenship — a passport or birth certificate — simply to register to vote. Civil rights organisations warned the bill would have effectively disenfranchised tens of millions of eligible Americans.
What the SAVE Act would have done
The legislation, formally named the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, would have added a documentary proof-of- citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration process. Under current law, applicants attest to their citizenship under penalty of perjury when registering — a system that has been in place for decades and has produced no evidence of widespread non-citizen registration.
The new requirement would have imposed a practical barrier that critics argued would fall disproportionately on lower-income, elderly and rural voters. In Deep South states including Alabama and Mississippi, fewer than 30 percent of residents hold a valid US passport. Nationally, an estimated 69 million married women possess a birth certificate that no longer matches their current legal name.
The Senate vote
This marks the second time the Senate has declined to advance the SAVE Act. A prior version of the legislation faced the same outcome the previous year amid widespread public opposition. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which had campaigned against the bill, credited public pressure — calls, letters and grassroots organising — as a significant factor in the outcome.
“We are glad the SAVE Act died in the Senate. The American people have now rejected this kind of legislation twice. Yet some lawmakers in Washington are intent on continuing to push bills that would block the right to vote instead of addressing urgent issues like skyrocketing costs, unaffordable healthcare, and unaccountable ICE agents.”
— Laura Williamson, Senior Policy Advisor, SPLC
What comes next
Advocates were careful not to declare the issue resolved. Williamson said those seeking to restrict ballot access are “relentless,” and that the SPLC expects further attempts to advance similar legislation in future sessions. The organisation pledged to continue opposing any measures that would impose additional barriers to voter registration beyond the existing attestation system.
For now, the existing registration framework remains intact — meaning the millions of Americans who would have been unable to meet the documentary requirements retain their ability to register and cast a ballot.