The H.R.22, short-titled the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act or the SAVE Act, was passed in the House of Representatives on Feb. 11, 2026. The vote was 218-213 with the Republicans unanimously voting in favor of the act. It entered the Senate March 17, opening up for debate on the floor. This act amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 which requires each state to establish voter registration procedures with driver’s licence, mail and in-person applications, to preserve voter rights.
The SAVE Act would require federal election voters to have a valid ID and proof of citizenship when registering to vote and no mail-in ballots. Proof of citizenship must be presented to an election official in-person. Voters must provide photo ID at the time of voting. Trump aims to verify voter ID, protect election integrity and help end voter fraud, ensuring non-citizens do not vote, though this is a rare occurrence. The Conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, has found only 100 instances of noncitizen voter fraud since 2000.
Examples of proof of citizenship include a valid U.S. passport, a government-issued photo ID that says the applicant’s place of birth in the U.S., a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, a naturalization certificate, an American Indian card and birth certificates. REAL IDs in most states do not indicate citizenship status, and therefore would not work without other documentation.
The Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections executive order was introduced March 25, 2025, mandating stricter enforcement of federal election laws, emphasizing the need for voter identification and proof of citizenship. This order gives the government access to sensitive personal data of voters statewide.
Most notably, the order requires the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to amend the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0 and mandate new registration requirements. The EAC is a bipartisan organization to help election officials improve elections and make the voting process accessible, established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 .
The president does not have the power to dictate to the EAC what the content of federal voter registration forms should be. On April 24, 2025, a U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly blocked a portion of the order, including changes to the EAC and mail-in voting processes.
Originally, the act required all mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day nationwide. Universal mail voting will be prohibited, requiring all mail voters to submit an application in order to receive a ballot.
Many eligible citizens don’t have documentary proof of citizenship readily available. The Brennan Center for Justice reports that over 21 million Americans lack access to required documents. This issue largely impacts people of color, low-income Americans, younger Americans and married people who may not have access to passports and birth certificates.
In addition, birth certificates may not represent a person’s current identity due to possible name changes, making citizenship documents not match their current legal name. Up to 69 million American women changed their name after they got married, likely needing additional documentation to register to vote.
Requiring in-person registration burdens rural Americans who may not have the means of transportation to get to an election office to show their citizenship documents to an elected official. Americans doing the longest commute from a designated election office would be forced to drive across counties, on average, 260 miles. These factors may disenfranchise and block many eligible voters.
The act also states that criminal penalties apply to any elected official who registers an applicant who fails to provide documentary proof of citizenship; they may be prosecuted for human error. No later than 10 days after the enactment of this act, the EAC will offer guidance. This will apply to applications on or after such date.
In Trump’s 2026 State of the Union Address, he said, “Yet they don’t want identification for the greatest privilege of them all: voting in America. Why would anybody not want voter ID? One reason because they want to cheat. There’s only one reason.”
Voting is not legally considered a privilege; it is considered a fundamental right of U.S. citizens protected by constitutional amendments, federal laws and judicial interpretations, establishing protections against discrimination in voting.
The Senate debate could take weeks. Democrats are openly opposing the legislation and aim to bar it from the Senate.
