SAVE America Act Talking Points

On February 11, 2026, the SAVE America Act (previously the SAVE Act) passed in the House. We are focusing our advocacy efforts on the Senate now. 

• The SAVE America Act would undermine election integrity based on lies about who is voting.
• This bill will make it significantly harder, if not outright impossible, for millions of eligible voters to register or re-register to vote and have their voices heard.
• Voters are already required to show identification or affirm their identity in order to vote. The SAVE America Act is an attempt to trick us into making it harder for millions of eligible Americans to cast their votes.
• The SAVE America Act isn’t about safeguarding elections — it’s about silencing voters. We must join together to oppose this dangerous legislation and protect people’s freedom to vote.
• With the SAVE America Act, legislators are proposing changes to our elections that would severely limit access to the ballot for eligible Americans, especially voters of color, rural voters, senior voters, and women.
• The SAVE America Act is an attempt by the federal government to usurp authority over elections at all levels.
• The SAVE America Act  was introduced and passed the House in early 2026. In addition to requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, the bill requires voters to show a photo ID when they vote at the polls. It also requires all states to run their voter lists through the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification of Entitlements (SAVE) system to identify voters who may be noncitizens. Additional legislation, like the Make Elections Great Again Act, also requires documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and other measures. 

Burdening Citizens

• The SAVE Act in all of its forms would put up barriers to voting by requiring every single American citizen to provide very specific documents, chiefly by either presenting a passport or an original copy of their birth certificate, in person when registering to vote and anytime they update their voter registration. 
  • This would be on top of voter ID laws that the majority of states already have in place. 
• The Save America Act, or the  SAVE Act 2.0, adds a requirement that voters present a photo ID to cast a ballot, in addition to the requirement to present documentary proof of citizenship, in person, to register to vote. The photo ID requirement in this legislation would be the strictest ID requirement in the country (except for Ohio). 
• This bill would especially burden rural voters, tribal voters, survivors of natural disasters, and the 69 million women in America who have changed their names. 
  • Surveys show that eight in ten married women have changed their surname, meaning they do not possess a birth certificate that matches their current legal name and therefore could not present it as valid proof of citizenship. 
  • Rural voters, working-class voters, voters of color, and older Americans are less likely to hold a passport or a readily accessible birth certificate, disproportionately harming their ability to vote under this bill. 
  • Tribal citizens would be unable to register using their Tribal ID alone. The SAVE Act would require Tribal ID to show the holder’s place of birth as the US, but most Tribal IDs do not list a place of birth.
  • This bill would prevent survivors of natural disasters from registering or re-registering to vote if their passport or original birth certificate was lost or destroyed. 

Taking Action

• Opposing all versions of the SAVE Act is a top priority for the League of Women Voters.
• Voters should voice their opposition to this bill to their members of Congress by using our Action Alert and/or calling Congress.
• Voters should ensure that they are registered to vote and have the correct documentation as required by their state to cast their ballot, by checking https://www.vote411.org/
  • For assistance acquiring documentation, VoteRiders can help! https://www.voteriders.org/freehelp/ 

The SAVE Act and the Executive Branch

In 2025, an executive order was issued with many provisions limiting access to voting (LWVUS's reaction statement), including documentary proof of citizenship requirements to register to vote. 

In 2025, the League of Women Voters Education Fund, LWVUS, LWV of Arizona, and partners filed a federal lawsuit asserting the Executive Order violated the constitutional separation of powers and federal law. Read LWVUS's statement and the legal center case. Our case was successful, resulting in the district court permanently forbidding the EAC from implementing the Executive Order's provision requiring documentary proof of citizenship for the federal voter registration form.

More recently, the president has threatened that if Congress does not pass a version of the SAVE Act, he will take executive action to codify provisions of the bill.

Use these talking points if you are asked about the executive branch as it relates to the SAVE Act. Please do not proactively bring up executive actions to require DPOC or voter ID, as it legitimizes illegal attempts of the executive branch to change voter registration rules. If you have questions or if reporters have inquiries, contact us or send them to media [at] lwv.org (). 

• An executive order is not a law, but if passed, the SAVE America Act would be.
• The provisions of the SAVE America Act are included in the executive order.
  • PIVOT TO PURPOSE: Both of these pieces are attempts to undermine voting access.
• PIVOT BACK TO SAVE AMERICA ACT: What people need to know is that the SAVE Act threatens to make voting more difficult for millions of people. Join us in calling on your members of Congress to oppose this dangerous bill.
  • Then go back to your SAVE Act talking points. 

For further questions specific to the executive order or our litigation, direct reporters to media [at] lwv.org (). The executive order is unlawful, and any effort by the Administration to require DPOC unilaterally is one more example of executive overreach. For that reason, our strategy is to focus the public on what they can do about the SAVE Act in all its forms. 

General Voter Eligibility Talking Points

• Let’s be clear: there is absolutely no evidence of widespread non-citizen voting in federal or state elections. It is just not happening anywhere in federal or state elections.
• False claims about non-citizens voting in federal elections are a pretext for undermining our access to vote, and they spread misinformation about voting.
• These claims are coming from anti-immigrant conspiracy theorists attempting to fearmonger and sow distrust in our democratic process for their own political gain.
• It is already illegal for non-citizens to register and vote in federal elections. Every state also bans non-citizens from voting in state elections. Violations can lead to imprisonment and deportation.
• Municipalities in California, Maryland, and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia, allow non-citizens to vote in local elections.
• Voters in every state are already required to affirm or verify their citizenship status when registering to vote. State election officials also have existing systems to verify voter eligibility and ensure accurate voter rolls. 

What we need 

• Americans do not need MORE obstacles to vote.  
• We need Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act and pass pro-voting reforms like Same-Day Registration, protections for voters with disabilities, and funding for the Election Assistance Commission.
• If legislators really want to secure and improve elections, they should invest in upgraded equipment, expanded staffing for election administrators, and training for poll workers.