The SAVE Act Election Bills: Massive Barriers to Vote, Huge Costs for Elections Offices to Administer
LWV ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress to oppose the SAVE Act Suite of bills
On February 11, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) America Act. As of February 18, this bill is now awaiting a vote in the U.S. Senate, and if passed, will be signed into law by the president.
If this bill becomes law, it will go into effect immediately and does not provide adequate time or funding for our 56 county election offices in Montana to set up the necessary administrative procedures or staff training to administer these many, large-scale election changes in 2.5 months when ballots are to be mailed May 8th for the June 2nd primary election.
If this bill becomes law, all eligible U.S. citizens of Montana will have to provide proof of U.S. citizenship in person with their county election office to register to vote or update their voter registration as the Act clearly states “the applicant presents documentary proof of United States citizenship in person to the office of the appropriate election official…” This bill could potentially impact 60,000 to 100,000 Montanans per busy election year to register as new voters or update their voter registration.
Since 55% of Montanans don’t have a U.S. Passport, approximately 495,000 Montanans will have to show their certified state-issued birth certificate and a valid government-issued photo identification card issued by a Federal, State or Tribal government in person at their county election offices to register to vote. Montana Real ID or Driver’s License are only acceptable as a valid photo ID and not proof of citizenship as these IDs do not show status of U.S. Citizenship. Married women, not married men, will also have to show a certified county marriage certificate due to their last name change, costing more in money and time for Montanans to register to vote or update their voter registration.
Imagine a high school student in Eureka having to take time away from his school studies to travel 140 miles round trip to his county election office in Libby just to register to vote. Or a senior center in West Yellowstone which will have to transport seniors, some who have voted for decades, 180 miles round trip to Bozeman to update their voter registration to change their address so they can keep voting. Getting these seniors’ state certified citizenship documents and valid government-issued photo ID might be extremely difficult.
The SAVE America Act could severely impact “Voting by Mail” in Montana, a method of voting referred to as voting with an absentee ballot, a method that 71% of Montana voters (~430,000) choose. It states in the SAVE America Act Section 3 Part 2 “Absentee Voting - In the case of an individual voting by absentee ballot, the individual shall include a copy of the eligible photo identification document (A) with the request for an absentee ballot: and (B) with the submission of the absentee ballot.” Does this mean all Montanans voting with an absentee ballot must submit a copy of an eligible photo ID document to get a ballot and then include another copy of an eligible photo ID document to submit their absentee ballot for their vote to count?
Remember, the reason behind pushing this election bill so quickly is to ensure only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections, not non-citizens. In Montana, supposedly 23 out of 784,911 registered voters, were flagged as non-citizens voting in Montana elections in 2024; that equates to .0029%. As of today, the number of non-citizens voting has not been verified publicly.
Why are we being pushed to rush into massively alternating our election systems across our country, in this very busy election year, to address a very small “problem”? Will this Save America Act save elections or more likely impede voters from voting and election offices from running smooth elections?
Please click on the link above, write or email Montana U.S. Senators Daines and Sheehy to ask them to vote NO on the SAVE America Act. Running this bill so quickly through Congress will overburden our election offices and hinder our right as citizens to vote. Ask them to please stand up for our rights as U.S. citizens and do more to empower voters, not take away this most fundamental right under the U.S. Constitution.
