Current system: You register by submitting a form and attesting under penalty of perjury that you are a U.S. citizen. States verify identity and maintain voter rolls. Proven cases of noncitizen registration or voting under this system are rare.
Under this bill (SAVE Act): A State cannot accept and process a federal-election voter registration application unless you provide documentary proof of citizenship with the application.
That shifts the constraint from: attestation + verification to document production at registration
⸻
What that requires in practice: • Producing a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization document • Resolving name mismatches (e.g., marriage, records inconsistencies) • Obtaining replacement documents if unavailable • Potential fees, delays, or in-person steps depending on the document
A State Department figure has put passport possession at about 48% of Americans, and estimates suggest ~9% of voting-age citizens (~21M people) don’t have proof of citizenship readily available.
⸻
If you want to evaluate the bill, start here:
Registration becomes conditional on producing a qualifying citizenship document. @DarthCoin @OriginalSize
To keep this grounded in the bill text:
Current system:
You register by submitting a form and attesting under penalty of perjury that you are a U.S. citizen.
States verify identity and maintain voter rolls.
Proven cases of noncitizen registration or voting under this system are rare.
Under this bill (SAVE Act):
A State cannot accept and process a federal-election voter registration application unless you provide documentary proof of citizenship with the application.
That shifts the constraint from:
attestation + verification
to
document production at registration
⸻
What that requires in practice:
• Producing a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization document
• Resolving name mismatches (e.g., marriage, records inconsistencies)
• Obtaining replacement documents if unavailable
• Potential fees, delays, or in-person steps depending on the document
A State Department figure has put passport possession at about 48% of Americans, and estimates suggest ~9% of voting-age citizens (~21M people) don’t have proof of citizenship readily available.
⸻
If you want to evaluate the bill, start here:
Registration becomes conditional on producing a qualifying citizenship document.
@DarthCoin
@OriginalSize