The SAVE Act: A Battle Over Voter Integrity and Citizenship Verification Heats Up in the U.S.

The SAVE Act is an amendment to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 that would require individuals to prove their citizenship when registering to vote. Citizenship has always been a requirement to vote in federal elections, but the bill would require states to validate a voter’s citizen status with a valid passport, REAL I.D., military I.D., or other approved document indicating birthplace.

The current voter registration process does not require documentary proof but rather an attestation of citizenship under penalty of perjury for false claims. The SAVE Act would create new guidelines for state and local election officials to vet voter databases and provide free access to certain federal databases to confirm a voter’s citizenship status. Criminal penalties would be imposed on officials who materially assist or successfully register individuals to vote who are unable to show proof of citizenship.

There have been places in the USA, like California, where it is forbidden to ask for an ID card when at the polling station. So it is very easy for people without citizenship to mingle and vote, especially if they have managed to register on the electoral roll.

There has therefore always been a high level of concern about large-scale electoral fraud, especially given the high number of immigrants in the USA. Despite this, it has never been possible to do what is common in Europe and the rest of the world: to require voters to identify themselves.

The SAVE ACT solves this problem, but it seems that the law has been very controversial, perhaps precisely for this reason.
The time for voting on this law is approaching, and the political climate in the USA is heating up. There are countless pretexts against its approval, some of them improbable.

The problem, however, is simple: after the application of this law, it would be much more difficult to falsify or manipulate elections, and this explains why the Democrats are so mobilized to fight it. However, with the current Republican majorities in the Assemblies and Trump in office, it will be very difficult for it not to be approved.