everything connects

Under the bill, citizenship documents—such as a passport or birth certificate—would have to match a current photo ID. However, REAL IDs, as well as military and tribal IDs, would not be considered sufficient proof of citizenship. A preliminary analysis of the bill indicates that its documentation requirements, as presently written, are more likely to affect women in heterosexual marriages. LGBTQ+ and heterosexual couples have the freedom to keep their respective last names, hyphenate, or create an entirely new last name. In recent years, some men have become more willing to take their partner’s last name, challenging traditional gender norms. The Knot, an all-purpose international wedding website, provides information on name changes for same-sex couples.

The bill’s in-person requirement could also disenfranchise approximately 60 million rural voters, who would have to travel great distances to register to vote. Some voters in Hawaii and Alaska might even need to take flights to update their voter registration data to be eligible to vote. A name change requires voters to re-register to vote under their new name, and right now, they can do so by mail, online, by phone, or in person. The SAVE Act would eliminate all but the in-person option.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) reintroduced the SAVE Act on Jan. 3, 2025, aiming to prevent non-citizens from voting—an exceptionally rare occurrence. However, claims of undocumented immigrants voting started to gain traction during the 2016 presidential election campaign, despite a lack of evidence.

Concerns about voter fraud are not new, but Republican focus on the issue has remained persistent, particularly since the highly contested 2000 presidential election. From media coverage of hanging chads, butterfly ballots, and voter purges to present-day allegations of rigged elections, claims of voter fraud have continued to shape political discourse. Each claim, regardless of its veracity, raises doubts about the security and integrity of the U.S. electoral system.

Even credible studies, including one commissioned by Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity on the 2016 presidential election, have failed to quell growing mistrust in election systems. Rampant disinformation campaigns have taken hold within conservative political circles, fueling skepticism. Persistent falsehoods about the electoral process—including baseless claims of undocumented immigrants voting and ineligible voters registering and casting ballots in multiple jurisdictions—continue to erode public confidence.

Following the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump, his campaign surrogates, members of his legal team, and elected Republicans at the local, state, and federal levels made numerous allegations of voter fraud. They repeatedly spread false claims about a stolen election through traditional and social media, and promoted unsubstantiated right-wing conspiracy theories alleging that thousands of illegal votes were cast.

Extensive research, including studies by the Brennan Center for Justice, has shown that widespread voter fraud is rare, and voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent. When instances of voter fraud are identified in either in-person or mail-in voting, they are often the result of administrative errors rather than nefarious intent. However, the “Big Lie” of the 2020 election persists, fueled by political rhetoric and misinformation.

Republicans in Florida have supported and enacted new laws aimed at preventing voter fraud, improving election security, and protecting the integrity of elections. For instance, in 2022, Florida Republicans passed Senate Bill (SB) 524, which created the Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS), a state agency with broad authority to investigate alleged illegal voting practices. OECS has been tasked with examining voter fraud, voting with a felony conviction, voter registration irregularities, candidate or issue petition activities, and election related actions such as “ballot harvesting.”

Senate Bill 524 also established an election integrity unit, informally called the “election police force.” Later that year, to great fanfare, Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference to announce the arrests of 20 individuals for voter fraud or for voting despite being disqualified due to past felony convictions. However, records from the Office of Election Crimes and Security later revealed that most of the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence. A report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, “Shelby County v. Holder Continuously Harms Voting Rights in the Deep South,” detailed cases in which individuals arrested for alleged voter fraud had received voter registration cards from the state, registered without issue, and voted in the 2020 presidential election.

Today, Republicans in Congress are advocating for the passage of the SAVE Act, a bill that claims to prevent undocumented people from voting. However, the proposed legislation is more likely to disenfranchise and suppress legally married individuals who have changed their names, as well as rural voters, rather than effectively prevent voter fraud.