President’s Message – The SAVE Act saves nothing.

               The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, the current version of the SAVE Act that is awaiting Senate vote, could seriously undermine the ability to register new voters for the midterms and impact previously registered voters who seek to change their registration in some manner.  The act requires that proof of citizenship be presented at voter registration including an original or certified copy of a birth certificate, a U.S. Passport, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, a Certificate of Citizenship, or a Naturalization Certificate. A Texas REAL ID will NOT suffice. The name on the document must match the current name of the voter or additional documentation must be presented.  For someone who has changed their name, such as a married woman, miliary voters who need to reregister when they move, families impacted by natural disasters and others this presents a significant burden. 

The supposed reason for this burdensome legislation is to protect elections from voter fraud.  However, non-citizen voting in the U.S. is virtually non-existent.  The conservative Heritage Foundation found less than 70 cases of non-citizen voting over the last 40 years. Utah reviewed over 2 million voter registrations from April 25, 2025 to January 2026 and found only 1 case of non-citizen registration.

What is factual is that this will disenfranchise people and the Republicans are hoping that the burden will fall disproportionately on Democrats.  The state of Kansas enacted a similar documentary requirement for registration in state elections and found that non-citizen registration accounted for approximately 0.002%.  However, the documentation requirement did prevent approximately 31,000 eligible voters, or 12% of all applicants, from registering.

The act would become law immediately and require citizenship documentation to be presented at an election office in person effectively nullifying mail-in registration.  This alone could be a significant burden in a state the size of Texas with enormous rural counties.  There is little guidance about how to administer the provisions, but civil and criminal penalties for not following the act which could encourage election officials to err on the side of caution.  There is no additional funding to help states comply with this act.  One can only imagine the confusion that will result.  Many Texans remember the months long delays and frustrations of renewing their drivers license when documentation was required for a REAL Texas Drivers License.  In the recent Dallas County primaries we saw how simply changing the place for people to vote resulted in mass confusion.

House Republicans and Trump are saying that they will not approve any new legislation until the SAVE Act is passed.  As of now, the Act doesn’t have the votes in the Senate to pass but there is pressure to do away with the filibuster so only 50 votes would be required.  Cornyn is teetering on the filibuster to get Trump’s endorsement. We keep pressure on elected officials. You can call the Capitol switchboard and 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senators and Representative.  Make it clear that the Save Act saves nothing and will hurt Texas voters.