By Marguerite Adelman

On April 10, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, H.R.22, passed the US House and is on its way to the Senate. 

The League of Women Voters of Vermont (LWVVT) opposes the SAVE Act because it would require all American citizens registering to vote or updating their registration information to present documentary proof of citizenship in person at an election office.

The legislation purports to protect elections from non-US citizen voting. It is already illegal for non-US citizens to register and vote. Violations can lead to heavy fines, imprisonment, and deportation. 

According to the Brennan Center, during the 2016 election, officials identified 30 incidents of suspected non-US citizen voting across a sample of 23.5 million votes cast in 42 jurisdictions–comprising 0.0001% of total votes cast.

WHAT THE SAVE ACT ACTUALLY DOES is make it harder for American citizens to vote. More than 21 million American citizens won’t have easy access to the documents required by the SAVE Act, including married women, rural and working-class voters, people of color, elderly, disabled, natural disaster survivors, military members, citizens abroad, tribal members, and inmates. 

Furthermore, the bill would eliminate the many modes of voter registration that millions of citizens rely on: registering by mail and online, through motor vehicle agencies, and at voter registration drives.

LWVVT calls on the US Senate and our Vermont Senators Sanders and Welch to oppose the SAVE Act and protect the rights of American citizens to vote without undue obstacles. Call or write your senators to oppose the SAVE Act at www.senate.gov/states/VT/intro.htm.

For information about the SAVE Act, watch this GNAT(Greater Northshire Access Television) public access program: https://gnat-tv.org/the-news-project-in-studio-league-of-woman-voters.