Lawmakers introduced legislation in January 2026 as the SAVE America Act. The proposal would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require individuals to show proof of American citizenship before registering to vote.

The requirement could make it difficult for people who have changed their name to register if their citizenship documents do not match their driver’s license or state ID. Because many American women change their last name after marriage, the act could largely affect them and others who have changed their name, including transgender people.

In January 2025, the SAVE Act, or the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, was introduced in the House of Representatives. The House passed the act in April, but it failed in the Senate.

Janet Neeley, a former California deputy attorney general, was a member of the California Attorney General’s Office in the criminal division. She said that the act disadvantages women but is part of a larger attempt to restrict voting in general.

“The problem is that many married women in the United States take their husband’s names when they marry, and so their birth certificates are not going to match their current driver’s license or California ID,” Neeley said.

A 2023 Pew Research Center study found 79% of women in opposite sex marriages took their spouse’s last name after marriage. Married women are not the only people who commonly experience name changes. For example, a 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 30% of transgender people change their legal name.

Fifty-two percent of voters do not have a passport in their current legal name, according to a 2024 Center for American Progress study. This means that many American citizens will be affected by the act, not just women.

“So who has a passport? Mostly people of money, enough money to travel,” Neeley said. “So the people who are going to be the most disadvantaged are going to be married women who don’t have the ability to travel and can’t afford a passport.”

Stephanie Mizrahi, a criminal justice professor at Sacramento State, said women juggling jobs, childcare and limited transportation could face barriers to meeting in-person voter registration requirements.

“Getting into some place where they can, in person, provide all this documentation to be registered to vote and to be able to actually go to a polling place could be difficult,” Mizrahi said.

Mizrahi said that because state and federal elections share ballots, the act could affect how states administer elections.

“It pulls in the question of voter registration by mail because, certainly in California, we are simply sent our voter packets by mail, and we can either mail them in or go to an in-person voting place,” Mizrahi said.

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Mizrahi said the act would require more data sharing between state and federal systems, including with the Department of Homeland Security.

“Giving a lot of that information over to the Department of Homeland Security for placement in a database that’s going to check citizenship of voters is raising a lot of privacy concerns with civil liberties groups,” Mizrahi said.

Mizrahi said she was unsure whether the bill would pass. Republicans would likely need Democratic or independent support to pass it.

“To pass the Senate, some of the provisions are going to need that 60 vote, which is more than a majority,” Mizrahi said. “And they don’t have it.”

Republicans could attempt to change filibuster rules, which allow senators to block action legislation, to bypass the supermajority needed. However, Mizrahi said that Senate Majority Leader John Thune does not appear open to that.

Harry Blain, an assistant political science professor and pre-law faculty advisor at Sac State, said the act could create a national voter ID system if passed.

“[It would] probably result in many, many, many voters basically losing their ability to vote because they don’t have the necessary identification under the law,” Blain said.

The act passed the House and is under consideration in the Senate. Blain said that he is unsure if it will pass the Senate.

“President [Donald] Trump is now trying to up the ante by saying he won’t sign any other bills until the SAVE Act is signed,” Blain said. “I don’t know if Trump’s tactics are going to work to force it through because he needs the legislation.”

The act lists acceptable identification, including REAL ID, passport, military ID, service record or other identification paired with proof of citizenship.

The act calls for removing noncitizens from voter rolls. However, noncitizen voting is rare and often tied to clerical errors. According to SAVE Optimization for Voter Verification, only 0.04% of voter verification cases are returned as noncitizen registration or voting.

Blain said that the act seems to be an effort to suppress voting, as there isn’t compelling evidence that illegal voting is a problem in the U.S.

“That’s the justification to this law as far as I can see, and it doesn’t seem to be a very well grounded justification,” Blain said. “That then leads me to conclude that the real objective is to disenfranchise.”

Federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections under the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Some states allow noncitizen voting in local elections but not state or federal.

Blain said that students can voice their support or opposition to the act by contacting their representatives and putting pressure on people who will decide if the act passes the Senate.

“People can direct attentions at both the federal political leaders and also the state political leaders to try and achieve whatever objectives they want to achieve,” Blain said.

Neeley said the act would likely face constitutional challenges if passed. She said that those who can afford to can contribute to its challenge.

“Another way we could help before it passes is talking to our congressmen and senators about what we view as the terrible consequences that it will have on our elections and the fairness of elections in the United States,” Neeley said.

On Tuesday, March 17, a narrow Senate majority voted to open debate on the act. According to The New York Times, debate is expected to last for days.